tech13

Many of you that ride our club dual sport rides have seen my B44 and
probably have noted that it is a bit unusual. It uses modern Acerbis
plastics, high mount front fender, headlight/number plate combo, and
rear fender. This is complimented by standard Shooting Star parts: gas
tank, oil tank, side cover, and the classic B44 "Victor" 441 cc engine.

The core bike was purchased from a former workmate who, due to health
problems, would not have been able to complete or even start the
restoration. The friend was the same person that sold me my 1966
Hornet. When I first viewed the bike in basically stock form it was
covered in BSA cosmoline: massive oil leaks covered by years of dirt
and dust. It had sat for at least five to ten years un-ridden. Its'
history was as a junkyard bike. My friend bought it as a rebuilt crash
victim. Apparently it had been in a front end crash that left the
forks and gas tank damaged. The replacement parts included a different
front fender and stays, Starfire (blue rather than Shooting Star red)
gas tank, oil tank and side cover, and a double leading edge brake.
The forks appeared to be late 1960's BSA. The original model year was
1968. The price was RIGHT!

Not wanting to invest a fortune in an off road bike (I later did just
that, twice, in my Rickman and our CZ 400 motocross bikes) I decide to
use "on-hand" parts as much as possible but to go through the engine
and to do my usual "Pro-Taper" handlebars with "Works" levers in order
to keep the same feel between all the different bikes I own. That was
the plan.

To start with a good cleaning was in order. After several spray cans
of spay Brake Clean, several washing with Simple Green, the bike was
finally clean enough to work on. Everything was removed from the frame.

The engine work was done first for two reasons. The bike was not
running so who knew the condition of the engine internals. If the
motor was going to need too much then it might have been wise to abort
the whole project and just part out the whole bike. Luckily the engine
was sound. It was torn down, measured for wear using the shop manual,
and parts farmed out for machine work. While apart all the external
aluminum parts were cleaned with "Mag Wheel Cleaner", a cleaner that
actually attacks the aluminum generating a white foam and a terrible
smell, and Simple Green, to neutralize the other cleaner. This
approach can change old aluminum into new looking. The engine needed
a new piston and associated re-bore, all seals and gaskets, a new clutch
basket (slots in the basket walls badly marred from the clutch plate
tabs), and a new engine sprocket. The valve guides were fine as were
the valves themselves. The valves were lapped to the seats per the
manual and the valve springs were replaced. The oil pressure regulator
spring was replaced, for insurance. All bearings were checked and
found to be in good shape so were retained. The transmission gears
were inspected and found to also be in good condition. The engine was
then assembled using Yamabond selant on the cases and Gasket Cinch on
most of the gaskets. A new Amal carb was used, jetted as per stock
from the manual.

The stripped frame was cleaned again then polished with Flitz metal
polish. The good British stove enamel on the frame became clean and
shiny. Since this bike had always been a street bike there were very
few chips in the lower parts of the frame's paint. As the swing arm
bushes seemed tight the swing arm was left untouched. The rebuilt
engine was installed in the bare frame.

With a clean and shiny frame it came time to mount the forks. Sitting
in a corner of my garage I found a set of forks from a 1981 Yamaha
IT465. These forks are of the dampening rod variety but with 10.5
inches of travel, way too much for the geometry and short wheel base
of a 1968 BSA. But what if I shortened the travel and used the Yamaha
triple clamps that allow the tubes to be slid up and down? The travel
can be limited by installing a spacer on the dampening rod between the
dampener rod's top end boss and the topping spring. Such a spacer was
made on my lathe to limit travel to 8.5 inches. The fork springs are
actually two pieces: a long main spring and a real short spring. The
Yamaha concept of two springs gives a progressive spring action: a
lower spring rate in the initial travel until the short spring coil
binds then a higher rate for the rest of the travel. By removing the
short spring the overall rate became non-progressive with the overall
rate matching the shortened travel. (Shorter travel requires a higher
rate spring, achieved here by removal of the short spring which acted
originally to soften the main springs rate). Fitting the triple clamps
with the stem definitely required my lathe. The stem diameter had to
be modified to allow the original BSA cups and balls head bearings to
be used. (The tapered roller bearing of the Yamaha design would not
fit in the frame head stock). Additional spacers were made to complete
the adaptation. The front wheel hub was found in another corner of the
garage. It was a magnesium CZ hub to which I laced an Excel wheel
using Buchanan stainless spokes and nipples. A series of adapters was
required to make the axle fit the Yamaha fork legs. The CZ backing
plate had to be machined to accept the Yamaha brake stay lug.

For the rear the wheel was disassembled, cleaned, the hub painted, and
reassembled with original components. For tires I selected modern DOT
approved Dunlop's K139 front and Kenda's DOT approved Trak Master II
rear. Rear shocks were selected with the help of CR Performance
Products owner and Progressive Suspension Vintage Distributor Charlie
Richardson. The length and spring rate were selected to make the bike
ride higher overall in conjunction with the extended travel of the
front. The rear travel ended up at about 4.6 inches. I had done my
homework on the computer to determine what the right ride height would
be with the new fork setup. After the bike was finished and I rode it
several times, I did reduced the rear spring constants using lower
rate rear springs in order to plush up the ride a bit. The front forks
worked perfectly and no changes were required.

The fiberglass oil tank was thoroughly cleaned in my solvent tank to
get the last of the grunge out of it. Flitz again was called on to
polish up the neglected fiberglass components. They did shine up
pretty nicely, for a dirt bike. The next frame step was to remount the
gas tank, oil tank and side cover. A new Acerbis DOT legal head
lamp/number plate was added as was a new Acerbis DOT legal rear fender
with integral tail/stop light. The font fender was mounted high, under
the lower fork triple clamp, using spacers and sheet metal mounting
plates. For fender mounting I always try to use fender washers or
stinless steel sheet metal plates to assure that the mounting hardware
doesn't pull through the plastic. Again, spacers were made on the
lathe as necessary.

Since I like Pro-Taper handlebars I mounted them using the Pro-Taper
ATK/KTM single bolt mount. Spacers were required to adapt the mounts
to the Yamaha single bolt rubber mount on the upper triple clamp.
Another favorite of mine is the Works lever assemblies that are
billet, dog legged, use Honda CR levers, and will spin on the bars in
a crash (no crashes are planned but you never know). I also like the
Gunnar Gasser throttle assembly. The cables were measured up and
custom made by Terry Cable here in Hesperia. Oil, vent, and fuel lines
were renewed and fitted insitu. The final touch to the controls was an
Acerbis plastic ball mounted mirror. It can be folded back and down
while off road to eliminate the possibility of being impaled in a get
off (editor, with bruised ribs, please note!)

I might mention at this point that all the modern motorcycle parts
were purchased at Chaparral in San Bernadino. They have good prices
and a large inventory.

The next thing to be done was the electrics. With the plan of minimal
cash outlay I decided to go with the stock components. Unlike the
Victor 441's, the Shooting Star street bikes had a regular Lucas
alternator, not the horrible Lucas ET system. The original rectifier
and Zener were mounted under the side cover on a sheet of aluminum
which was to act as a heat sink. I don't recommend putting the Zener
in a closed area like this. It is better out in the air flow. So far
after a couple of years it has not been a problem. A Boyer analog
electronic ignition was fitted to the same plate. A new PVL 12 volt
coil was mounted under the tank. The Boyer and PVL coil came from our
Keith Moore at Moore's Cycle Center in Anaheim. The battery, a sealed
off road variety, was dropped into the battery box on the frame, and
secured with tie wraps. The first hint of trouble with this system and
I'll replace all the generating/regulating stuff, including the
battery, with a Boyer Power Box and run batteryless. The stop light
switch was an automotive one adapted with a custom made bracket to a
convenient lug on the frame. It acts as the brake lever stop as well.
It is very durable and works well. All the wiring was done point to
point without a wiring harness. The Boyer trigger wiring was twisted
and completely separated from the rest of the wiring as were the
alternator leads. Most all the wiring was 16 or 18 gauge wire, the
larger size used for the power wiring. A single point for ground
(positive ground) was used and a return wire for every component of
the system was run back to that point. A short ground wire was also
used going from the frame to the single point ground. The motor mounts
were cleaned so that the engine was also well grounded to the frame.
The power to every component was also run individually avoiding any
"daisy chaining" as much as possible.

The seat was done by an un-named fellow. Unknowing to me he used
carpet padding as the seat cushion. The first ride was brutal. I had
my Hesperia seat guy, Rip & Tear Upholstery, redo the seat and it is
fine now. It is a cut down stock seat base shortened to be single person.

The last modification was to move the foot pegs back a bit. British
bikes generally have the foot pegs mounted forward, which is fine for
the street. For off-road riding your feet belong much farther back,
under your rear end. Now I couldn't move the pegs that much but I did
move them an inch or so rearward. That was so much in fact, that I had
to shorten the shift lever to be able to have it anywhere close to my
booted foot.

The bike has been used on many BSA dual sport rides over the last few
years. It runs strong, has been reliable, and was a good investment.
Even with all the modern stuff on it, it still gets noticed as a BSA
441 by the masses. The investment was such that I could probably get
my money back if I ever decided to sell it, unlike all my other
motorcycle projects. But we don't do this Vintage thing for investment
purposes, but to relive our youth. Thank God we had an inexpensive
youth choosing motorcycles rather than cars!