Thursday, July 04, 2013

More Uncles and motorcycles

Over the past weekend Mrs. Surly and I went down to Seymour to hang out and went to a little party in honor of my Crazy Uncle who passed away last year. We had a great time and with the help of my Old Man, we dragged back Unk's 1971 BSA Lightning. He wanted us to have it and now we do. Not sure how joint ownership is going to shake out but this would be the third BSA twin and fourth total BSA I have been the proud (or partial) owner of. One of my friends is a motorcycle savant and has a set of sleeved carbs for this baby. With those and a little TLC, I could have this thing running in a weekend. If only I had a weekend.
The Beesa in STB's pickup.
In an unfortunate coincidence, another uncle passed away a few years ago as well. He had a 1969 XLH Sportster. I eluded to it back in June of 2011. There was a bunch of stuff that we helped sell for my aunt but understandably, she wasn't ready to sell the scooter at the time. I respectfully asked for right of first refusal and long story short...I'm picking it up on Sunday.
There's a sporting motorcycle hidden somewhere in this picture.
So I've been trying to keep the garage and my life uncluttered and I wind up with half a motorcycle and a Harley. Well I suppose that since it's Independence Day here in the good old U.S. of A the purchase of some Milwaukee iron offsets the partial ownership of the BSA from jolly old England.
This would be the target. Pic lifted from The Zon
It certainly warrants it's own post(s), but this is what I'm thinking I'll do with the Sporty. The blue bike is what it would have looked like originally. The Old Man thinks the hardtail is a bad idea. I don't know why that would make any difference to him considering he has about 10 bikes and only one is rideable. If it's parked, what difference would it make if it's uncomfortable? Just kidding Chief. I think making something like the above would be pretty attainable without too much money being spent. Of course, I've said that before.
Happy Independence Day!




2 comments:

red said...

Two cool bikes with family history. Looking forward to seeing more about them.

Gymi said...

WOW, I love that black iron head. I'm dizzy just looking at the pic. I have a Sporty rear fender and a front fender off an'04. I also have a late sixties or early seventies Super Glide rear fender. They are left overs from a couple of paint jobs I did. They're yours if you want them, they're just gathering dust in my garage so drop me a line if you want them and I will have them on the way to Indiana.