Road test and owner review of our 1954 BSA GoldenFlash 650. This was the first year of the swinging arm frame and saw a move to the standard gearbox common to the rest of the range.
My Dad had one back in the 70’s, and it was the first “big bike”I ever rode. It was truly a grand machine! After Dad passed, I sold it to a collector of British machines from the Golden Era. He restored it back to museum quality, and still occasionally rides it. It’s parked between a Gold Star on one side, and a Norton Fastback on the other, so it’s in good company!
The main problem with my A10 was premature wear in the plain main bearing. Of course I was a speed demon, I remember Dublin to Galway (130 miles) in 2hours 20 mins. And that was in the days before motorways existed, the road went through every small town on the way. I fitted an SRM bottom end with Carillo conrods while keeping the cast iron head, it coped very well with unleaded petrol. When the magneto wore out I converted it to electronic ignition, at the same time I converted the dynamo output to 12 volt. This mod absolutely transformed the performance and allowed me to ride with the headlight on all the time. Coping in modern traffic with standard single sided brakes eventually became too dangerous and as I didn't want to modify the original shabby appearance by fitting later type brakes the Beezer gave way to more modern machinery.
Well the same bearing was used on Triumphs 500s until 68 Changing the oil regularly makes all the difference Converting to 12v is ok but won’t generate any meaningful charge at lower rpms I find the breaks ok with a little thought 💭
@@bikerdood1100 BSA also used the plain bearing until the end of production on the A65.The problem I had at the time was the quality of aftermarket bearing which was all that was available. Phosphor Bronze rather than Babbit. Mine only lasted 4000 miles. British twins unfortunately gained a reputation for unreliability due to their plain bearing arrangement which contributed to them losing out to Japanese competition. SRM / Devimede roller conversion was the choice for racing engines, I also fitted a high output oil pump and changed the oil every 500 miles. I was tempted to fit an oil filter but opted for the former so as not to affect the oil pressure. I never had a problem running out of battery capacity, I used a 12V gel battery in a dummy Lucas casing, solid state regulator wired for negative Earth allowed for LED bulbs, and toothed drive belt with a better ratio than the original dynamo drive chain turned the dynamo faster. A reliable battery was essential to power the electronic ignition. My party trick at club runs used to have the old boys scratching their heads. With the bike on the stand I would first turn on the lights, (this also turned on the ignition) I would then accidentally drop a glove. As I bent down to pick up the glove I would "kick" the engine into life with my hand, jump on the bike and ride it off the stand. Electric Start? No, standard low compression pistons and electronic ignition with built in retardation meant easy starting and no chance of kickback. Another trick was to screw the steering damper down and see how many miles could be covered without touching the handlebars and arms crossed on twisty rural roads. I never crashed until I ran out of brakes on a run with a group of lads on modern machines. Something up ahead caused the leader to make an emergency stop. I think it was the sight of a cop car! A heart attack at 52 ended my teenage years, I bought a BMW with luggage ES and ABS and became a gentleman.
@@dwansbo or people skipped oil changes 🤔 I’ve had the A10 for well over a decade and it’s fine without the experience of an SRM conversation, just lists of lovely oil and a bit of consideration for a machine that’s older than I am of course
Over the years I had many British twins including Norton, A J S, Matchless and Triumph, the '54 A 10 Golden Flash was my favourite as it was born in the same year as I was!
Had a a10 around 1970 totally reliable, with out fairing no engine noise so smooth,ports were gas flowed with a 1.1/8 carb give little boy racers a surprise 60 in first 80 in second then change to third and fourth so don’t cut this old man’s bike off again.I loved Sunday afternoon riding when I limited speed to under 50mph so smooth and quiet,sometimes my brother borrowed the bike wearing my helmet and coat to cover a distance of about 10 miles and return ,one Monday morning I got told off for speeding by a coworker 95 to 100 mph guess who not me.one night I had to brake hard 90mph locked front and back wheels stopped engine released brakes at 70 and I still remember the bike bouncing off the springs.Loved the bike.
I had a 1960 A10 back in 1980, paid £400 for it. I loved the bike, a great torquey engine and would do 100mph. Brakes and 6 volt headlight were rubbish though. Had to sell it as it needed a new clutch as I was skint and could not afford the repairs. I only got £200 for it as nobody wanted old Beezers in 1980. I wish I still had it now.
Lovely bikes A10s. Had one back in the day (1968/9) My brother John had modded it to be a cafe racer, with Road Rocket alloy head, 10:1 pistons, Spitfire cams and TT carb etc. It was my first big bike, I got it off him when he bought a 500 Goldie (DBD34) in Clubmans trim from Cundles in Liverpool, where he worked as a mechanic.
As an owner of several A10's over the years I couldn't agree with the bike review more. An old BSA sales man once told me that 1 in 4 bikes sold in the 1950's was a BSA, wonder why that was?
Andy Tiernan has a 1955 one for sale .Looks pretty good and well serviced.I live in N.Ireland so not seeing it in the flesh holds me back.Always liked BSA though.
Nice little review that & it does make a good noise the closest thing to me having a British bike was an Enfield Bullet 500 that I named Harry (I'm sure I'm not the first one to give one that name) that I used to plod down the country lanes on & to a biker pub some years back, I sold it & the poor thing the last time I saw it looked like it were left to rot which is a shame.
An old mate of mine had one of these back in the 70's. Wasn't this bike the one used in the long running tv series "Heartbeat" My friends bike even had the same black panniers on like the one on the tv series. Sadly he crashed it in 1978.
I inherited an a10 and i am planning to do a full engine rebuild. It does run but the alternator is broken. Im kinda scared but exited at the same time
