Bsa Airborne - Newly Acquired And Ready To Overhaul

[the freewheeler]

I recently came across the opportunity to purchase a handful of classic and vintage bikes. Two of those bikes were military related - one being this BSA Paratrooper and the other a Swiss Army Militarvelo. As soon as I laid my eyes on this BSA I knew that I absolutely had to have it. With this thread I plan to document the overhaul of the bicycle...It's quite dirty and I plan to simply clean it all up and bring back the dignity it deserves.

To my untrained eye, everything seems to be original, aside from the front tire. The nose of the saddle is ripped. To all you experts, please let me know if anything seems incorrect or missing. I'll be happy to provide more detailed pictures of specific components. The serial # on the rear dropout is R432XX - any idea what year this was?

So here she is, as found, prior to any cleaning. Let me know what you think!

 

[the freewheeler]

A few minutes in and I already have an update:

The bike is in much better shape than I initially anticipated. Most notably, the headset and bb are incredibly smooth and the brakes/cables are in good shape, so I'm not going to completely break this thing down like I had anticipated.

After a closer look at the "War Grade" tire, it is branded as "Avon Avebury," not Dunlop as I had expected. Does anyone know if that would have been typical out of the factory, or is there a chance that this isn't an original tire? I'm hoping the gentleman I bought the bike from can locate the other tire, but if he can't I'll be looking to find a match. I assume these tires are quite rare, but are there any resources out there to buy one?

 

[the freewheeler]

FYI to anybody in the market for purchasing a BSA Airborne of your own, the gentleman I purchased mine from has 2 or 3 more that he would like to sell. Send me a message for more information and his contact. Serious inquiries only, please.

 

[the freewheeler]

In the process of cleaning the frame, I attempted to remove the crank arms. The binder bolts were/are stuck on really hard, so I broke out the hammer to tap them out. Little did I know, but the quality of the bolts are cr*p (metal is EXTREMELY soft), so the only result of hitting the bolts was that the end of the bolt flattened, ruining the threads. The only fix for this I know of is to file flat (taper) the beginning threads, but this actually made it WORSE. I've used this same method many times with 100% success, but not this time for whatever reason. To say the least I am very, very p*ssed off now that these are ruined. Does anybody have any recommendation for something to try? I'll be forever indebted...

 

[BSA RIDER]

First soak the bolt with Aero Koil oil from www.kanolabs.com
Then put a nut on the screw and use a brass punch or hammer to hit it.
You bike looks very original.

 

[the freewheeler]

Thanks, I'll look into that penetrating oil. The bike is completely original, which is why it's killing me now that the bolts are ruined.

I appreciate your input.

 

[Dale Alan]

Try putting the nut back on the cotter a couple threads and giving it a good sharp whack with a hammer.There is a good chance you won't need the Kroil. You just need to break it free and then finish with the punch. You will need to measure the cotter diameter to get the right size replacement,there are at least 4 sizes I am aware of.8,8.5.,9. and 9.5 millimeters.Good luck.

 

[JOHN DANGER]

I am not sure what you plan on doing to the bike , but keep in mind these are worth the most in original UNRESTORED condition, so everything that you do to it is ruining the value, I would not do anything but add grease and dust it off

 

[the freewheeler]

I am not sure what you plan on doing to the bike , but keep in mind these are worth the most in original UNRESTORED condition, so everything that you do to it is ruining the value, I would not do anything but add grease and dust it off

Oh, of course. All I've done is disassemble and clean. There was/is quite a bit of grease/grime build-up primarily on the wheels and around the bottom bracket.

I'm not doing a single other thing to the bike and never planned to.

 

[filmonger]