I had a 62 BSA 650 twin back in 1971-ish. I liked that bike. Didn't run when I bought it, of course (the beginning of a pattern). It had already been cosmetically altered before I got it. Leopard spot tank.
The mag was what had kept it from running for at least a year (that I know of). I rebuilt the mag and put it back on the bike. Kick start only of course. And, since I had no documentation on the bike, I put the mag in 180 out of phase. I think it was the third kick, that it tossed me over the handle bars to land upside down, shoulder first, in front of the bike on the sidewalk. I was relieved no one was watching at the time. There were some side bets with the Navy buddies, that I wouldn't ever get it running, just like the previous two or three owners. The scoffers would've loved to have seen that. Apart from some bumps and bruises and a torn shirt, I was OK, though. I reinstalled the mag and it roared to life on the second kick. That brought everyone out of the house that we were renting, mostly with jaws dropped and eyes wide.
Of course it wouldn't idle very well as the carb still need to be cleaned. It only had one carb for the two cylinders (Amal?). And the primary chain was scraping and making a racket inside the housing. This was a non-unit model with separate trans and engine. No one knowledgeable had worked on the bike in years. I cleaned the carb and figured out the primary chain adjustment. But, I was never happy with the that arrangement. It had a dry clutch in the same compartment as the primary chain. Over-oil the chain and the clutch would slip. Under-oil the chain and it would rust and get loose very fast. I don't think i ever really solved that annoyance with the bike. There were the usual electrical problems with the Lucas stuff, as I recall. Fortunately, it doesn't rain all that much in California. I still had to rebuild just about everything electrical on that bike.
Still, it was a pretty neat bike to ride on. First bike I ever had where you could scoot simply by twisting the throttle. The 305 Hondas I'd had previous all need gear changes to scoot.
I repainted the tank red, then draped lace fabric on the sides of it and sprayed it with black. It was a unique effect that got compliments from many, and, raspberries from others. Black tank with red lace. But, no-one else had one like it!
That was a cruising machine. It only let me down and stranded me once. 40 miles from home, it blew a head gasket, and wouldn't run anymore. I had to call for help and got it picked up in a van and hauled home. A new gasket fixed it. But, while the head was off, I noticed the pistons could be moved side to side in the bores. When I picked up the gasket at the shop in Fresno, I mentioned this fact and that I could get a .025 feeler gauge between piston and cylinder wall.
The guy didn't bat an eye, asked if the cylinder walls were smooth, they were, and said they ran a long time like that, not to worry. So, I put it back together, and never had a problem with the engine again as long as I owned it.
I couldn't doctor the headlight switch to be reliable. One night, when switching from high beam to low beam for an oncoming car, the headlight went out completely. Fidgeting with the switch made it come back, but wouldn't you know the oncoming car was a cop, who didn't have much sense of humor. After giving me the third degree, he wrote me a fix-it ticket, and I had to buy a brand new headlight switch. I think I could have fixed the old one given some time. But, the easiest way to clear the ticket was to replace with new, showing them the receipt.
I had to sell it when I shipped out over seas. Wish I could have kept it.
Cheers,
