vwman18

My expertise is with air cooled VWs, not vintage bikes. However, I just couldn't help myself to another project. I picked up this bike over the weekend for my wife. Its kind of rusty, doesn't shift, and needs new tires but its got tons of character! When did the BSA brand stop being sold? According to the date on the hub, its from 1971 (Possible hub replacement?). The cool thing about it is, this is my mom's old bike and one that I rode around on in a baby carrier when I was little. Now, after a little cleaning up my daughter gets to do the same. My only problem is that I don't have a vintage bike for myself. Time to start hitting the garage sales!

With the hub not shifting, what's the best course of repair? Its a Sturmey-Archer AW hub. Should I just try to re-lube it and adjust the cable or should I just tear it down and rebuild it? The fenders are kind of rusty, but mostly surface rust. I don't imagine getting replacement BSA decals is easy, so how can I restore the fenders without destroying the decals?

I've learned a ton just by visiting this forum, so thank you all for your info and enthusiasm.

bigwoo

Congrats on the bike! It is BEAUTIFUL

Try putting about 4-6 drops of 10-30 motor oil in the hub's filler cap and close her back up. You can also spray a little bit of WD-40 into the shifter up front on the bars. Then, w/ the shifter up front in second gear, try unthreading that little spindle in back that connects to the shifter chain as loose/counterclockwise as you can get it without detaching/becoming too loose. You may simply have a cable tension issue, which is common for a 3 speed that sat for a while.

After doing that, you can play with the tension by giving it a turn in 1 direction or the other. Do it w/ the shifter in 2nd gear though. And don't forget to stop peddling for a moment after you shift it into the next gear, and then start peddling again. The spline teeth take a moment to mesh.
If the shifter cable housing is cracked anywhere along the line, that will more than likely be the culprit and is an easy fix... Hopefully, you'll be hearing the wonderful "tick tick tick" of that rear hub as you ride through the breeze....

East Hill will be along soon to welcome you

385xza

BSA were bought out by Raleigh in about 1957 but BSA badged bikes continued to be produced by Raleigh at least into the late 70's possibly later.
Some BSA decals are available from "Nick at Lloyds" here in the UK.
As for the hub gears, if externally all looks ok with the rest of the drive ie freewheel,chain,chainring and gear cable/trigger it is normally only adjustment that is required as the hubs themselves are pretty bomb proof so try lubing and adjusting.

385xza

Just looked a little closer at your second photo and it appears that the cable adjuster for the gears is not locked up properly, I bet that this is the problem, a little adjustment should cure it.

vwman18

Thanks, I really appreciate the insight folks. I'm going to have at it this weekend. Washed, lubed, and adjusted I expect it'll ride pretty nicely. Any good guides available for changing a tire? I've never done it before, but from what I've read on the 'net it seems pretty straightforward.