YOUR CLASSICS
Mike Fisher promised his father he’d restore his decrepit BSA – and he’s been good to his word
Emotionally-charged Super Rocket resto and a Honda CB350
MY DAD, KEITH Fisher, was the original lifelong biker, having gone to school on his Panther 350. He owned a BSA A10 Super Rocket, which he bought new in 1958, then modified it into a café racer, ran it on highcompression pistons and sprint raced it at the Headland in Hartlepool, his home town. I remember riding pillion on it, at the age of around seven; dad snapped the crankshaft and it was towed home – he was not known for hanging around! He rebuilt the engine with a new crank in around 1980.
It also served as his daily commute, but was last used in 1982, then stored in a distant relative’s shed which collapsed and rotted over time, along with the bike.
It was brought back to dad’s garage in a hell of a state in 2008 and he didn’t have the heart to rebuild it. I was warned never to try and start it, as it was still set up for five-star fuel. I always promised him I’d restore it – he could never be bothered as, in his words: “My R1 does everything better”. I lost my dad in 2018 and decided to carry out my promise to him.
In January 2019 I started to rebuild the BSA with a great friend of mine, Richard Varcoe of Barnard Castle. It has been treated to a full engine stripdown with a reground crank and the cylinder head repaired with new fins welded back on where they were broken, along with new valves and guides. The barrels were sourced from Australia and fitted with new pistons. It’s had new bearings everywhere and rebuilt stainless steel wheels. We discovered
‘HE DIDN’T HAVE THE HEART TO REBUILD THE BIKE’
an old repair to the frame that I could find no history of, so we repaired and jigged it before repainting it. The Dunstall seat unit was repainted in red, the colour dad had it, and refitted with a new seat pad; the Dunstall tank was also repaired and polished. Other new parts include swept-back exhausts and an Amal carb, while the dynamo and magneto have been refurbished.
After all that hard work, the bike fired into life on the third kick, with the haunting noise I remembered from the early 1980s. I’ve now covered 60 fault-free miles on it and I can feel my dad’s sense of pride over every mile I cover on it.
Mike ‘Spike’ Fisher