Friday 9 April 2010

Arturo's Lightning

A good bloke I know here in Rome has a big thing about classic Brit bikes. I spotted this BSA Lightning-based special in the street before I realised it was his. Love it. He recently flogged it and I wish I'd had the cash to snap it up. MP

Ciao Mick!
Good to hear from you, everything ok? The BSA has been sold to another guy from the club who absolutely loves it. A few facts:

Swingarm from a Ducati 450
Marzocchi forks
Front drum brake from a Laverda SF750
Twin 34mm Amal MkII carburettors
Boyer electronic ignition with Powerbox
Borrani 'Record' alloy rims, original 1960s items

My Commando is coming out of hibernation and if all goes well I should be taking it for a weekend trip in a couple of days. I’ll switch to a single carburettor when I get back as the current set up is too tricky to tune unless you’re going WFO (wide f^*king open!) – it should improve low-end torque as well… we’ll see!

How’s the Guzzi doing?
Cheers, Arturo

1 comment:

Skylar said...

Cool set up. I feel as though if you rear-ended a car you would slingshot directly into it with such a low profile tank. But I really like how the bike is put together.

Is the boxy section on the front drum to scoop air to cool the brake?