BSA Golden Fifty finished

I got this BSA of e-bay in October as a project to keep me occupied and motivated while I went through a cancer treatment. This is my first bicycle restoration, although I have done several BSA motorcycles. The bike is Raleigh built BSA from around 1960.
The bike is not original; the aim has been to create something that could have been done at the early sixties by a keen amateur cyclist. That means most of the parts used on the bike are period correct, meaning the parts were available.

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The frame has been stripped down to bare metal, by sandblasting then primed with etch primer and some layers of paint before adding the stickers and then many layers of clear coat. All painting done by rattle can. The colour was matched from existing paint on the fork stem (not affected by the sun).

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A relative is working with graphic design and she was able to replicate some of the stickers, while others were sourced on e-bay. Yes I know the shifter is a newer Campagnolo model, I do have the correct one for the Gran Sport, but it needs some more tinkering before it is ready to be fitted to the bike.


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The rear derailleur is a Campagnolo Gran Sport that most likely is the original fitment, It was in decent condition, just some surface rust.

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At the front I have used a Campa "matchbox" derailleur, according to the period Campa catalogues it was used bot with Gran Sport or Valentino group, this one came from Hungary trough eBay for a reasonable price.

The crankset is a Campa Nuevo Gran Sport also sourced on eBay from Hungary, I bought it without checking the catalouge and realised later that this one only became available in the mid-seventies; in 1960 the only Campa crankset available was the old type Record. If I can find one of those in good condition for a reasonable price I will fit one of those until I can find a double chain ring cottered BSA crank set, but that seems to be rarer the hens teeth.

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As this is a Raleigh built BSA this frame has a 71mm wide bottom bracket with Raleigh’s 24tpi shell. The bottom bracket is fitted with a new 5ss axel turned the wrong way around to get a reasonable chain line, new balls and reused the old cups.

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The pedals are original BSA, but now fitted with large Christophe toe clips also from eBay

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I upgraded the brakes from GB Sprite to Mafac Racer, the original GB Sprite brakes is very flimsy and I asked for advise here on this forum, the reply came swiftly that the Mafac Racer is the best period brakes. They were sourced from France together with Mafac brake handles.

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I laced up a set of NOS Mavic alloy rims for tubular tires to set of period Campa Record hubs, The rims was leftovers from a friends stock and the hubs came from Ebay in UK. At the rear I also fitted a NOS Mailard Atom 5 speed freewheel sourced from Portugal. A nephew working in a bike shop came with some very nice Zipp tubular to finish the wheels.

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I believe the Wrights leather seat is the original for this bike, the seat was quite worn, I managed to straighten it up after soaking it in water and drying it in pressure between a couple of wooden planks, after drying I have used a couple of boxes of Mink Oil saddle cream. I will replace the rivet when time comes. At the front I fitted a newer Evian ally stem and a period GB alloy handlebar, I hope to find a 110 mm GB alloy stem for a reasonable price in the future as the Evian stem is not quite right. The bar tape is some modern stuff given to me as a freebie from my nephew, I will replace that with a period leather type if and when I can get hold of a correct GB stem.

I have probably spent far too much money on a bike that is not worth much, but I have enjoyed the project and it has kept me busy during a though period.

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and the story!

Best regards

Per

Re:

First off I hope you are recovering and the chemo if like my brother has not been to bad .

The bike looks cracking and will be fun for you to ride . I love the colour combination. You cannot beat a project to focus the mind .

Great job, nice looking bike and I'm glad you've enjoyed doing the restoration.

thanks for the kind words, yes I am recovering fast and is now back at job again. I am looking forward for the spring making it possible of trying out the bike. Today it was 10 below zero and a lot of snow here!

I'm glad to hear that your recovery is going well. You've done a great job with the bike! Love the blue and orange, specially the orange will look stunning in the sun. Would be cool to see a before-picture if you have one

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Here is a Picture of the staring point, before any restauration work started. I have carefully taken care of all the original parts and will keep the safely in stock if and when anybody wants to bring the bike back to original.

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Great job PerB, looks stunning! Glad to hear your on the mend too. Therapeutic this bike tinkering.

Grand job. Like this very much indeed. Some lovely old components. I like the approach to this build.

Looks good, you've done well with it. One small point, your front changer is a Valentino. These are several years 'newer' than the Gran Sport, the difference is that the Valentino has a projecting 'boss' on the body where the shaft comes out and the cage attaching screw is on the front not the top as the GS one. Whatever, it doesn't distract from the bike as a whole. Enjoy it!

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thanks for pointing out the difference, I was not avare of this smal details.

This here is a Gran sport

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this is a Valentino:

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