# Building Harriett, 1943? BSA Paratrooper



## Kstone (Feb 22, 2018)

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Finally got our paratrooper!





This girl has had quite a life. I found her posted on another bike site.. ironically posted on my birthday. If that's not a good sign and excuse to buy a bike you've been looking for, I don't know what is.

I bought it from it's second owner, Roy Walker in Oklahoma City. The man used it for 30 years as transportation. Here's some of his story.

"In 1969 I was a high school junior in Moore Oklahoma.  A friend’s dad (last name Bugg) was a retired colonel and brought the bike back from…somewhere.  The friend gave it to me and I immediately started using it to go to school and to my checker job at a grocery store.  I used it through high school and for several more years while going to college part-time at the University of Okla."

The bike was painted aqua, "I’m sure i did that in high school (btw I’m major color blind)."

"I had a small convertible roadster at the time and carried it folded on a car rack."




"I took off the generator and tail light I installed in high school when i got it out of the attic.  i used it going home from the grocery store when they closed at 9:00 (generator made it hard to pedal).  When I was going to college at OU, I had a huge chain and lock, although that bike was probably the last one anyone would have taken."



 
"BTW- I got the license tag AFTER I got a ticket from the Norman OK police for rolling a stop sign." 
(Sadly this tag was stolen off the bike, but it still makes for a hell of a story)



 

 

 

 

 



Now, onto this bike's present because that's become an important part of its history. A fellow cabe member reached out and helped get this bike safely to me. What is even more fun is that it was a paratrooper picking up a paratrooper, for a paratrooper. @kwoodyh invested 22 years of service for this country, and added the next level of connection to this bike's history. I am forever appreciative of his generosity in picking up, packing, and shipping this bike for me (as well as adding some serious military goodies in the box with her) ...all along the way making jokes and keeping me abreast of the "Mission."

Now, the final paratrooper piece to this puzzle is my partner in crime. I've been looking for a lighter weight bike to make those longer 30 mile rides easier...and to load up with supplies for camping for weekend rides. This kind of bike fell into place with what it had to offer, along with it's history and connection to our life. 

My partner is a retired veteran who served in Iraq. He was apart of the 82nd Airborne and has stories that could take a lifetime to fully share. He comes complete with a scar on the side of his head from having a sniper bullet graze by. (YIKES is not a strong enough word.)
His career came to an end due to chemical warfare and he was retired as Sargent. Due to the chemical warfare, this boy has survived coding on the table during surgery, three months of being in a coma... And despite a scar from his chest to belly button, missing organs, and nothing but bad news, he has come from being bed ridden to the bright eyed, smiling guy who puts down thirty miles on these bikes with me. I could not be more proud of him or honored to have him as my partner in crime. 



 

So together we have taken on this bike to fix it up to it's former glory and to enjoy on many adventures with each other. We are thrilled with the life this bike has had, the stories it has, and the stories it will create.


Thanks for reading along!


----------



## stezell (Feb 22, 2018)

Glad you found one Kstone, cool project and story.
Sean


----------



## mike j (Feb 22, 2018)

Very nice, all around, looks like this ole gal has found a good home. Good luck & have fun with it.


----------



## Cowboy in NC (Feb 22, 2018)

Hey! Had another just like yours many years ago. Found it at a local recycling yard after work one day. Was painted orange over the olive color. On the same day, in another town, I was working a trade with a guy on an old Colson Bike that I wanted. He saw that piece in the back of my pickup- and I threw it in on the deal. So, I never made it home with the bike. But got my `40 Colson... was one of my favorite Bikes of all time...
The other good news is he later donated it to a local Museum Display about " General William Lee" , who was local born here and was called "The Father of Paratroopers".
He was a WWII --2 Star General. The bike has now been restored and is on display in his former home here in town.-----Cowboy


----------



## Kstone (Feb 22, 2018)

I'll be honest, we were up until 2:30 am going through her last night. It all started with a nut getting stuck on the front axle...and suddenly bearings are everywhere and hours have passed. Her headset and front hub has been greased and ready for the road. We then tackled the tires... Which look better on the outside than the inside. It took the better part of an hour to get one of the tires off. The front rim almost has rust holes going through it so I think I'll skip that trip to the dentist and change it out...but the back rim we think we can salvage. Looks like the rim strips on it were prehistoric...and being fabric, they must have grabbed the moisture and made a nice rust stew in there. My family was sent on the hunt through their collection for a spare front rim and we found what we were looking for this evening.

I live a few blocks from a river that feeds into the Ohio River, which is basically a sludge trail that they call a river. So we've decided the best way to get the patina of the back rim to match the new front one is to let the new rim sit in the river for the summer. Haaah. No but really... Every time I go to that river to enjoy the scenery, something gross gets on me. I picked up a stick once and had what I hope is tar on me the rest of the day. I never thought I'd hope that the best case scenario could be tar. Oh and that time I stepped on a dead pigeon in the river....

Moving on... We've been doing lots of scrubbing throughout the day. Just 0000 steel wool and simple green. 



 

 

 

 

 





.......


----------



## rusty.kirkpatrick (Feb 22, 2018)

Glad you got it, gonna be nice to see it rolling again.


----------



## ricobike (Feb 22, 2018)

Looking good.  If you decide to replace the rims only, it's British so it probably has 40 spoke rear and 32 spoke front rims.


----------



## Herman (Feb 23, 2018)

You should also post this in the Military Bicycles section , someone might have the original brakes , it looks like there is quite a bit of original OD paint left


----------



## Jim Barnard (Feb 23, 2018)

Ahhhhh... a girl and her bike!


----------



## Duchess (Feb 23, 2018)

Great find!—I love these bikes. In photos, that aqua paint looks like patinated bronze. Too bad the bike wasn't on the back of the Datsun in the pic, but that's still a great photo that adds to the story.


----------



## Kstone (Feb 25, 2018)

Got some work done thanks to the best friends a gal could ask for. These guys can get anything done! Thanks for working in the "bike laboratory" today @Floyd and @Herman.




 

 




Cleaned the salvageable rim. Lookin good!




Most of the way through cleaning the old paint off. Got a donated front brake to get us roadworthy as fast as possible.


----------



## tryder (Feb 25, 2018)

Beautiful.  Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Kstone (Feb 26, 2018)

Having a case of the Mondays. But looking back to this pic helps.


----------



## Herman (Feb 26, 2018)

Kstone said:


> Having a case of the Mondays. But looking back to this pic helps.
> View attachment 760792



Looking GOOD !!!


----------

