BSA A10      Super Rocket

     Upon reaching what was once called pensionable age, I decided to go back in time and find myself a BSA A10 Super Rocket.  That was the first "big bike" I ever had, and to this day I still regret selling it.  Anyway, one just happened to come up for sale, and like the fool that I am, I went and bought it.  What have I let myself in for ?  On the plus side, it's complete and running.  The front brake and front forks have been modified for the better.  The magneto has been refurbished, or so I was told. The dynamo doesn't really do what it's supposed to, but that ain't really a surprise.  I suppose that's enough to keep my busy for a while . . .  and that's before I even take it out on the road.

The first trip "around the block"   -  now the fun begins.

    First job is to get the charging system up and running, oh and whilst I'm at it, a set of indicators and a rewire.  Those folks at Alton make a nice alternator which fits in place of the dynamo and  is belt drive too . . . the only snag being, they ain't cheap.  Still, I intend using the bike at night, so it's worth the expense.  I also fitted a cartridge type oil filter, which I think is a must if you are running an engine with plain bearings.

One new alternator waiting to be fitted.                                                                               One new alternator fitted.

  I noticed a few of the threads on the timing side had stripped, so some of those got a thread insert fitted.  The bottom left hand screw had gone past the point of taking a thread insert, so it ended up being tapped out to take a M8 screw and a modified screw made to fit.  Right - that's taken care of the oil leaks on the timing side.  I also fitted an anti wet sumping valve.  I know some folks don't like 'em, but I've used 'em on several bikes without any problem.

Anti wet sumping valve fitted  - hole tapped out to take an M8 screw.

    That's the important mechanical bits done.  The next thing is a pair of new tyres.  So far it's cost over £1000 and the bike ain't even been on shakedown run yet . . . time to put that right, so on a Saturday evening in April I set off for a short ride of about 25 miles.   I managed 16 miles before there was a lot of banging in the exhaust and the engine stopped.  To me it sounded like the timing had slipped.   Having got the bike back home, I took the timing side off.  The timing hadn't slipped . . . .the fibre gear on the auto advance unit had got a few teeth missing.  This made me doubt that the magneto had been refurbished.  You wouldn't put an old auto advance unit on a newly built magneto ( Well I wouldn't )  Ah well that's another £500 to add to the bill.

The teeth on the fibre auto advance unit had seen better days . . . time to get the magneto reconditioned and fit a new auto advance unit.

    The next little niggle was the gearbox oil level plug.  The thread was stripped, and a random bolt was "glued" in place using silicone.   It wasn't a difficult job removing the side case and tapping the hole out to the next size up.

One repaired gearbox later.

    Having done all that lot, the A10 is now much happier.   A few shakedown runs took care of some minor problems, such as the needle falling of the newly fitted ammeter.  Rather than fit another ammeter I modified it to take a battery sense LED.  I've got these on a few bikes, they change colour depending on what the charge rate is.  I thought that a good test for the A10 would be doing the National Road Rally on it.   This is a navigational scatter rally, where you plan your route and collect the various control point numbers.  I covered 343 miles with only a few little niggles. 1- the flasher unit failed  2- the nave plate on the front wheel came off   3 -  the centre bolt on the petrol tank came loose.   All easily fixed as soon as I got home.

One of the control points on the National Road Rally.

    In September of 2023 I took the A10 on holiday up in Yorkshire.  A few minor niggles raised their collective heads:  The alternator drive belt was slipping.  The Alton unit uses a vee belt to drive the alternator, this is all very well on a Velocette where everything is external.  On the A10 the belt drive is inside the timing chest.  This means there will always be a slight bit of oil mist in there - this in turn prevents the vee belt from gripping the sides of the pulley.  This was fixed by fitting a toothed belt system - supplied by those good folks at SRM.  The next niggle was the carrier mounting lug breaking - luckily I'd already bought a new stainless steel carrier, which was fitted when I got back home.  The final little snag was the seat mountings coming loose.  This was due to the seat being a cheap aftermarket job which had a very thin fibreglass base.  The mounting bolts had nothing to prevent them from pulling through.  The answer was a new seat from R  K Leighton - not cheap, but I don't mind paying for a quality item.   I suppose the only other "expensive" item will be the exhaust system - but that can wait.

At the Ribblehead viaduct.