Keeping busy.

I realise that for a blog dedicated to a BSA chop, there is very little about a BSA chop.
That's about to change. Not anytime soon mind you, but it's about to change. Also, things for the BSA will get a lot worse before they get better, trust me, I know something you don't*.
Anyway, as we wait for the engine to be re-re-built, there is still plenty to do. Between Witold, Gianluca and the rest of the Corsica marauders there are about four or five complete motorcycles and a couple of basket cases that we will be working on throughout the winter, possibly beyond that. Things range from fixing a bent/scuffed clutch lever to a frame-up restoration.
Right now we're making progress with Gianluca's Norton: we found an ingenious solution for correcting the radius of the new aluminium mudguard (that's aluminum fender for our star-spangled friends).

This will be cut down for a sportier fit and mounted with two 'Y' shaped brackets, which we also shaped to suit.

At the back, we removed the wheel, the pillion handles and the mudguard for ease of access, to get a clear idea of how to fit the new one and also to clean out some of the grime off the back of the gearbox, battery carrier and general core area of the frame. One of the things we noticed when Gianluca first got his bike back in January, is a persistent leak from the bottom of the oil tank. From the outside you cannot tell where it's coming from and no matter what you tighten up, it always comes back. It's as annoying as a telemarketer calling you when you're having lunch. I suspect there is a crack somewhere and seeing it from the back with the wheel removed has me thinking it's probably at the very base of the oil tank. At some point in the future it will need to come off, to be cleaned and very possibly welded up and repainted. But that's for another time.

Fitting the new rear mudguard should be relatively easy. It will still require the handles to go back on for support, though these may no longer be suitable to lift the bike up on its centerstand, as the aluminium mudguard could buckle under the strain. We'll see. Also, from a purely aesthetic point of view, a new, slimmer tail light bracket will be needed to replace the original valanced type, which I think would look out of place on the slimmer mudguard.
Incidentally, the chainguard will be painted black and Witold and I are subtly pushing Gianluca to consider repainting the petrol tank too. We'd like it if he painted it a semi-matt gunmetal silver-grey.

___
*well, a couple of people know, but they will deny knowledge if pressed for information.