Hey everyone,
I have been visiting the site for inspiration and guidance on issues I have come across for a while now and thought it was time to jump in and share some of the projects I have on.
A bit of background, my plan for this year was to buy an old bsa motorcycle from the 50s, get her restored and back on the road but life had other plans. At the end of last year my wife's cancer returned and I stopped working to care for her and our kids. A week later, I came off my motorbike and broke my shoulder, leaving me unable to paint, draw or play guitar, and i quickly started losing my sanity.
I needed a project to focus on and a motorbike was out of the question with my arm in a sling and money being so tight, enter the BSA stream light vintage bicycle. Better than nothing, I thought and got to work stripping her down and doing a full restoration, (left handed and very slowly). After tackling a sturmey archer hub, rod brakes and a cottered crankset I was hooked and scouring around online for my next project, where I discovered this forum and some seriously cool builds. I am now 3-4 builds in and loving it, keeps me sane building and problem solving and I'm back into cycling for the first time in years.
I have included some pics of the BSA, I think it is a beautiful bike and decided to restore it rather than update because it was all original and has aged just perfect. The patina is just right so I used a linseed/wax mix to preserve it as is, cleaned up all the rust, regreased and rebuilt the hubs and bottom bracket etc to get it riding smooth. New tyres and tubes and new brake pads as all the originals had perished way past usable. As a lifelong BMXer this took a minute or two to get comfortable with but now I love it, smooth riding and the 3 gear hub is a lot more effective than I had imagined it would be.
Anyway, thanks for having me and thank you for the inspiration.
Piper
I have been visiting the site for inspiration and guidance on issues I have come across for a while now and thought it was time to jump in and share some of the projects I have on.
A bit of background, my plan for this year was to buy an old bsa motorcycle from the 50s, get her restored and back on the road but life had other plans. At the end of last year my wife's cancer returned and I stopped working to care for her and our kids. A week later, I came off my motorbike and broke my shoulder, leaving me unable to paint, draw or play guitar, and i quickly started losing my sanity.
I needed a project to focus on and a motorbike was out of the question with my arm in a sling and money being so tight, enter the BSA stream light vintage bicycle. Better than nothing, I thought and got to work stripping her down and doing a full restoration, (left handed and very slowly). After tackling a sturmey archer hub, rod brakes and a cottered crankset I was hooked and scouring around online for my next project, where I discovered this forum and some seriously cool builds. I am now 3-4 builds in and loving it, keeps me sane building and problem solving and I'm back into cycling for the first time in years.
I have included some pics of the BSA, I think it is a beautiful bike and decided to restore it rather than update because it was all original and has aged just perfect. The patina is just right so I used a linseed/wax mix to preserve it as is, cleaned up all the rust, regreased and rebuilt the hubs and bottom bracket etc to get it riding smooth. New tyres and tubes and new brake pads as all the originals had perished way past usable. As a lifelong BMXer this took a minute or two to get comfortable with but now I love it, smooth riding and the 3 gear hub is a lot more effective than I had imagined it would be.
Anyway, thanks for having me and thank you for the inspiration.
Piper
