‘I RODE IT FOR A BIT THEN HOIKED THE ENGINE OUT’
This is my 1968 BSA A65. I bought it in the ’80s, from a friend who was using it for drag racing. I rode it for a few years but in the 1990s I hoiked the engine out to fix a sump plug stud I’d stripped during an oil change. My drag racing mate said: “While the engine’s out, why not get the Devimead conversion done?” It had the roller-bearing and oil feed conversion, plus 750 barrels and big-valve head at SRM, Aberystwyth.
Then my mate said: “I’ve got a spare pair of Suzuki 600 forks – we could pop them on with a disc brake and ally wheel”. He also fabricated a monoshock swingarm to take a rear ally wheel.
To cut a long story short, after a period of inactivity the project was finished by AMC wizard John Bolton in 2003. John did a painstaking rebuild, sorting all the issues (repairs to ill-advised attempt at hydraulic clutch, wheels that actually fit, re-engineering the swingarm to line up with the drive, reorganising the frame to hold the engine and oil tank properly, setting up the swingarm so it went up and down without hitting things, etc).
Finally this month it passed its MOT. Some final fettling and a polish up and she’s good to go down the Ace for an inaugural outing. John is now free to start rebuilding my 1968 Suzuki Hustler...