BSA Bantam - Tony's C11

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TONY'S C11 RESTORATION - PAGE THREE

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Two years on - the pleasure and the pain

May 2008 I now have over two and a half years riding behind me and the C11 has covered about 5000 relatively trouble-free kilometres. Not bad for a 56 year old ride-to-work 250! Along the way I have learned some lessons and have listed them below.
THE SIZE OF THE BIKE I am six foot three inches tall. The seat is too small, the footpegs are too close and the bars are never quite right. However, getting it in context, this bike is HUGE compared to a Bantam. Then again, I'll never be perfectly happy on a Bantam either! The motor plods along reliably, starts easily and is a dream to work on. It's more powerful than a Bantam but still not powerful enough on modern roads. 45 mph is not safe when the rest of the world is travelling at 60mph.
WET SUMPING My C11 has wet sumped a couple of times. This can be messy, very smoky and extremely annoying. I will probably install an anti-wet sumping valve. I won't fit a tap - I don't trust my memory that much and have heard too many horror stories!
CLUTCH The BSA six spring clutch, as fitted to the C11, is the worst piece of engineering I have ever come across! Perhaps that is an exaggeration but it is very, very hard to adjust. Be patient. Start with new springs, new clutch plates and fit a new nylon-lined cable.Get to the friction plates and basket with a dremel and take off all the burrs which have gradually formed over the years. Ensure balanced pressure is on each spring so that the plates lift evenly. Getting the clutch to work is a balancing act of spring pressure, cable length and gearbox clutch adjustment. Any change in one of these alters the others! Allow a day for the job. You will be rewarded with a gearbox that glides into gear without crunching together with a single, easily located neutral!
WHEELS Lacing wheels is fun. Don't forget to record the offset - ever. Take lots of photos before you start and draw pictures of the pattern too. I mark the rim with red permanent marker by the valve so that I can see exactly where the lacing pattern starts on each side.
TANK LINING My tank leaked. A tiny hole on a seam. The hole was then repaired and the tank was epoxy lined with POR15 tank liner. If I had used the tank liner initially I would not have had the problem. Follow the directions when using tank liners - it is extremely important that you do not cut corners in the process! Lining the tank will take a few days' preparation but is well woth the effort. Highly recommended. Much better than blistering paint!
TIGHTENING DOWN THE HEAD An old mechanic told me to use the 5-5-5 rule. Five miles, fifty miles, five hundred miles. Tighten the head down cold as recommended during the engine rebuild. After the first run, get the bike hot and tighten down the head according to the BSA recommended torquing pattern. Using the 5-5-5 method it needed tightening every time! Since then it has been fine. I've seen two head gaskets on BSAs blow when not tightened correctly.
DISTRIBUTOR The distributor shaft runs in two bronze bushes. The auto advance unit (under the points plate) comprises springs and bob weights. My bronze bushes were worn and I turned up new bushes on the lathe. Worn bushes reveal themselves by a tendency to cause uneven points opening and missing under load. My auto advance springs were so rusted they crumbled away. I replaced them with secondhand springs from another unit. The auto advance unit can go back together a number of ways. One is correct, the rest are incorrect! Take a digital pic before you pull it apart and avoid the grief I went through!
FINAL COMMENTS That's about all so far. Bouquets to Podtronics for the solid state regulator (what a brilliant unit!), BARENS for the Napoleon Bar-end mirrors (just the best mirrors you can buy) and the small group of tyre manufacturers, Avon and Cheng Shin, who still make twenty inch tyres for us classic riders. Would I do it all again? You bet! My little 250 is still my bike of choice for a fun day out on a classic.
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