Hoofddorp Barn, BSA folding Bicycle

[Alex van de Wetering]

A while ago I purchased a BSA folding Bicycle project, after looking for one for quite some time. It was clear from the start that buying a complete example in good condition was not within my budget, as I didn’t want to endanger other projects, like the C8.

In the end I found a project in the Southern part of Holland, which was basically a genuine BSA frame with incorrect wheels, incorrect chain wheel, saddle. Etc. Basically I was buying a frame with everything else missing (including brakes). The problem with buying an incomplete folding bicycle is that it is very hard to find parts as I am certainly not the only one with an incomplete bike.
Anyway, I had a genuine basis and the intention was to get it in reasonable driving condition before the 65th remembrance of D-day, so I can cycle along the coast.

Below is basically what I started with. Also included is the BSA frame number, for those listing surviving examples.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Attached you will find some pictures of the repair work on the seat-frametube. The former owner forced a new seat post into the frame. Nothing wrong so far.....but remains of the original BSA seat post were still in the tube....in the end the frame tube was forced to expend which resulted in a crack.
I wasn't satisfied with the frame crack, especially when my intention was to actually drive the bike.
It was extremely difficult to get the seat post out, in order to repair the frame tube. In the end I even had to open the crack a little further, before the seat post could be removed. I than started cleaning up the tube, bending it in the right shape again, welding it and sanding down the welds with a powerfile.
I wasn't able to get all the remains of the original BSA seat post out of the frame, so I decided to leave it and make a "custom" seat post with a slightly smaller diameter at the bottom.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Here is a picture of my "custom" seatpost, which is essentially a seatpost with the correct "BSA" measurements, which I shortened. I than welded a new steel tube with a slightly smaller diameter into the seatpost.

Also pictured is the bolt for the steering wheel. I measured up an original BSA steering wheel and looked for a replacement. I found an old chromed example with nearly the same shape and measurements, so I decided to use this as a base. I drilled a hole trough the bolt and inserted a piece of rod which I bent into the "wingnut" shape. A few welds to secure it and to creat a slightly domed end to the bolt. I than cut the ends to the correct lenght and welded a little bit of material to the ends, creating the rounded ends.

Next up.....the BSA chainwheel, cranks and peddles.

Alex

[cliff]

looks like you will have a good example of the bike once you have finished Alex.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Cliff!
Since a few months I have been closely looking at a lot of preserved examples and I realised that a lot of them carry non-original parts, especially those here in Holland. It seems the bikes were extensively used after the war....(Holland being a typically "cyclist" country of course) and therefore a lot of them have the same worn parts replaced...like the chainwheel, seats and brakes (which according to some never worked anyway).

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Work on the chainwheel and cranks.

My bike came with a non-original chainwheel and cranks whihc took a good amount of abuse during it's lifetime. A few friends of mine surprised me with a newly milled BSA chainwheel, spare crank and bushings, rods and washers to recreate the pedals. Initially I wanted to modify my current chainwheel by having letters "B, S, A" lasercut and wedling them into the existing chainwheel. But the crank was in the wrong orientation regarding the chainwheels as well. Anyway, the surprise parts were a great thing and saved me a lot of time.

Pictures below is the chainwheel and crank that came with the bike, the newly cut BSA chainwheel and a picture of three stages of crank modification to the appearance and measurement of the BSA ones.

The last picture of this post is the start of the chainwheel modification. The non-BSA one was seperated from the crank, which was a little harder than I anticipated. During production the crank was forged to the chainwheel, so I had to sand down the centre of the attachment until I saw the little tooth keeping the crank and chainwheel in the correct orientation. It took some serious hammering to get the two separated. In the picture the new BSA chainwheel is lossely positioned onto the crank.