1965 BSA A65 Pictures
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Many thanks to Andy Martin for these pictures and the history behind the behind the bike.
“It is my BSA A65 registered June 1965. I bought it for £40 in 1978 after it had been stood in a garden for a couple of years with the attached sidecar being used as a chicken coop (I didn’t buy the sidecar or the chickens!). The price if £40 was agreed on the spot as the owner had just negotiated that price with the local scrap metal dealer who was going to collect the bike the following day. Having rescued the bike from an undignified end my twin brother and I put in a lot of time and effort to get it back on the road and we used it and a 500cc Triumph to get about on for a few years until we both got married, had children etc. The bikes then went into our respective garages where they slowly began to deteriorate through lack of use. Some 19 years later I decided that I was never going to get the time to restore the BSA so I got someone else to do the job. It has been back on the road since August 2002 and riding it around has brought the memories of my youth flooding back. The 500cc Triumph is still in my twin brother’s garage and has not moved in over 20 years – I am sure that one day I will persuade him that he too will never find the time to restore it and get someone else to do it for him before he gets to old to appreciate riding it again.
Just a bit more about the bike if it is of interest. It is not that original, as I have had the Devimead conversion to the timing side main bearing (now done by SRM), the bike has been converted to 12 volt electrics, it now has the Boyer electronic ignition system and it has a concentric carb instead of the original monobloc. The final drive sprocket is the ‘over geared’ 21 tooth as opposed to the standard 19 tooth and the rear wheel is 19” as opposed to the standard 18”, which allows it to cruise at 60-65mph without inducing hand numbing and vision blurring vibration!”
Thanks Andy!
Hi Andy,
Great looking bike! My brother and I are in the process of rebuilding the exact bike albeit in blue.
It would be fantastic to see some of the inner workings, especially how the braking system is connected. We are struggling to work out how it is put together.
Any help or photo’s would be greatly appreciated. My email should be available.
Thanks!
Kyle