Hoofddorp Barn, BSA folding Bicycle

[Alex van de Wetering]

Dave, Bill, Keith,

Thanks for your reactions. I am having lots of fun with the bike and it gives me some oppertunity to test things and techniques, before going onto the Chev C8.

Thanks Bill. To be honest it is stressful, but I am confident I will find a nice job again and for now I try to concentrate on getting the best out of my last few months at work. The product design scene here in Holland is a small one, so I might need to look at other sectors, though.

regarding the brakes:
I have been able to buy some repro brakes parts from someone here in Holland who produced a run of repro BSA brakes some years ago. The stock was sold out a long time ago, but he offered me the test-parts and some remaining bits. Although the parts will need some work, it does give me something to start with.....which should save time. The set included most of the brake parts, but some were missing. I have ordered the missing parts at laser-cutting firm and expect them to be ready soon.

Bill, I agree with the comments on the reliability of the BSA brakes, but I do want to stay as close to the original as possible and not look for replacement brakes with a more reliable system. Who knows....maybe next month I will think different after rushing down one of the cliffs in Normandy, followed by a bunch of broken bicycle parts.
Anyway, I do plan to ride the bike, but I will probably walk when I think the stress on the bike might get too big.
The design of the BSA brakes is indeed somewhat overdesigned, allthough I do respect the way they created a brake from basically sheet metal parts, which makes them easy to produce in larger numbers.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Keith,
I can have a look for tires for you here. Finding 28inch x 1 3/8 tyres here in Holland is no problem, although you have to look a little harder for the ones without the reflective white edges on the sides and a more period looking thread. Tubes is no problem at all and you can get them here in any DIY shop. If you want me to have a look, let me know what you need and I will see what I can do. Maybe I could even bring them to Normandy and ask Lang Kidby to bring them to Australia.
Bill, the same with the plunjer for your pump. I expect to visit a good bike repair shop next week.

Alex

[Keith Webb]

Thanks Alex that would be much appreciated. Perhaps John Hedges could bring them back in his Ford Ute - he's much closer than Lang geographically.
Then I can get all excited about doing up my BSA.
Must take some pics so it can be properly identified.
Please PM me if and when you find some so we can sort out payment.

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Keith,
I can have a look for tires for you here. Finding 28inch x 1 3/8 tyres here in Holland is no problem, although you have to look a little harder for the ones without the reflective white edges on the sides and a more period looking thread. Tubes is no problem at all and you can get them here in any DIY shop. If you want me to have a look, let me know what you need and I will see what I can do. Maybe I could even bring them to Normandy and ask Lang Kidby to bring them to Australia.
Bill, the same with the plunjer for your pump. I expect to visit a good bike repair shop next week.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Alex that would be much appreciated. Perhaps John Hedges could bring them back in his Ford Ute - he's much closer than Lang geographically.
Then I can get all excited about doing up my BSA.
Must take some pics so it can be properly identified.
Please PM me if and when you find some so we can sort out payment.

Keith, I will have a look for you. Please confirm that it's indeed 28 x 1 3/8 you're after. I will let you know before buying them.
Giving it to John Hedges shouldn't be a problem, as we are on the same campsite in Normandy. Swiss Chris also sent me a PM with suggestions.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Guys,

Last weekend I was on a short holiday in France, but I wanted to test the bike before we left. After assembling the wheels, steering wheel, cranks and chain I finally did a little test-run in the dark without lighting or brakes...
The first run didn't take me further than 10meters, when the crank broke...

I thought it was my welding and put the bike in the garage and turned of the lights. The next day I realised it wasn't my welding; the crank broke about 3 centimeters further. I remembered that when sanding down the cranks for the rounded "BSA shape", there was an imperfection in one of the cranks. It seems this crank was just badly casted from new as the crack showed shearing on the edges and a hollow section with corrosion in the middle. Anyway, there was just enough time before we left, to weld it and make another testrun. This time everything went fine...slowly I am trying to increase the force on the bike when driving and all seems fine.
This is the current status.

Yesterday I realised that I will be leaving for Normandy in a week and not two weeks So, I am picking up the last repro brake parts from the laser cutter today and finally start on the brakes tonight!

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

BRAKES!!!

Last night I found an hour or so to work on the brakes. I picked up the laser-cut pieces earlier yesterday and I was happy the fellows included a few spare parts, so I have some more material for testing etc.

The first picture shows the repro parts I was able to buy from fellow Dutchman Jim. It is basically a bunch of parts he used to test the bending and forging etc,. when he did his run of repro brakes a few years ago.

The second picture shows the laser-cut parts I picked up; I traced the contours of the brake parts from an original BSA folding bike with a pen on a piece of paper, scanned the paper and than used it as bakeground in a CAD program, so I was able to trace the contour with proper arcs and lines. This way I created 3D models of all the brake parts, enabling 2d Drawings for the laser-cutter afterwards.

One picture shows three "handles". The bottom one is a brass casting I was able to buy from Jim. Sadly it was only one, so I had to make up another. I printed out a 2D drawing of the CAD model I made and cut the shape by hand from a 6mm steel strip. I welded extra material to both sides and than sanded it to to the basic shape....still a lot to do, but you get the idea.

Yesterday, I started with one of the brake handle-assemblies; I used a piece of pipe, the same diameter as the steering wheel to test-fit the parts. (steering wheel is allready painted) You can see in the pictures that it needed some hammering, bending and pusuasion of the vice to get it ligned up.

I will focus on getting the rear brake done first, because I rather have one working brake in Normandy, in stead of two incomplete brakes!

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Well,

The bike was nearly finished for D-day, when the crank broke again. My welding just wasn't good enough, so on the night before we left for Normandy, I welded the crank again. Due to the problems with the crank I wasn't able to get the painted brake parts assembled in time. In the end I packed the bike, tools, all brake parts and spares and we left for the 800km long trip to Normandy.
I assembled the crank one of the first days at the campsite and was able to make some testruns. Than a day later I assembled the brake parts in the morning sun and the bike was done! I drove some meters in Etreham June 6th and in St Aubin-sur-Mer on sunday the 7th.

Here is a picture of the bike on the campsite