Britbike forum Forums British motorcycles in general Bsa gold star forum Should be here Monday

It is with a certain hesitation that I post publicly, but my 1958 Goldstar is supposed to be here Monday.

It has been off the road for a very long while, so I reckon there will be the usual type of things... new tires, inner tubes, rim tape, maybe some oil seals. Check the brakes and electrics. Maybe decruddify connections, hope the magneto and dynamo both work. Buy a new battery. Lube cables.

There are many who would simply dismantle the engine and gearbox and rebuild same while it is cold out, and perhaps I may do this. But what would be your recommendations as to an initial "sort out?" My thought is, if it isn't broken, don't fix it, and only break into the internals if necessity demands.

I do intend to ride this bike maybe not every day, but at least once or twice a month for a couple hundred miles each time. Not a parlor queen this one. In fact, depending on how things pan out, I might even ride it to Sturgis this summer.

What do you do after you realize a goal you have had since you were a kid? I kind of feel a little silly that it was a goal in the first place, but truth is I wanted one for as far back as I can remember riding. When I was little it was the "big boy's" or "mens" bike, while I was riding smaller bikes. I reckon at first I'll sort it out and set it up for me, then spend some time taking photos. Then just look at it from time to time.

What a strange feeling of almost disbelief. Like I went to bed as me, and awoke as king of Siam or something. Anybody else felt this way?

Yep, know exactly what you mean. Current GS was a gradual colection of parts, amassed over 30 years. When I finally bit the bullet, realising I had all the parts, but no time to do it, and had it assembled, I couldn't believe that the parts I'd been looking at an visualising for years and years was a complete, running thing, siiting on the road outside my house.

Get you bike and work through the things you have mentioned. Plan for thr worst but hope for the best. You'll quickly get a feel for the knowledge and abilities of recent previous owners by what you find, which will give you confidence(or otherwise) to do little of perhaps indicate the need for more effort to be sure of reliability and avoiding expensive oversights!

Standing by for pictures!

I bought mine as a "mint condition" "restored" machine the truth was, it restored was on the outside but not inside. I thought the forks were not quite right and inspection revealed they were bone dry inside, not a drop of oil in them like wise with all the cables,and then there was the main bearing problem, it seems it was cosmetically restored and then sold and then never ridden just put in a collection for about 7 years.
I was planning to just check it out and ride it but now it is in a lot of pieces and despite being frustrating at times I am really enjoying the learning experience and I will feel confident to ride it when I get it back together.
Oh I felt the same way when I bought it I woke up the next day and went out to the garage to see if it was really there and make sure I hadn't just dreamt buying it.

I am so excited for tomorrow to come. I'm supposed to start a new job in the morning. I wonder if it would be a bad thing to call in sick?

I'm really happy for you Stubbicatt and I hope the Bike fulfills all your long held wishes..
I feel like a king every time I open the shed and see the Goldie sitting there..
Like you,I've wanted one my whole motorcycling life... 45 years.. and now I/we have one and it feels good.
There's been teething troubles as can be seen in "the Goldie Misses" thread but I'm gradually getting closer to niceness..
Best wishes for tomorrow mate....

Great. There may have been a mix up as it hasn't arrived at the terminal for delivery. It may not be delivered until later on.

ETA: It arrived at the terminal. It is on a trailer for delivery tomorrow.

We shall see...

Arrived today at 12 noon.

A little about the bike: It started out at Walridge in Canada, and was shipped to me here in the Denver area of Colorado. It was represented to be in good condition, and it is! All the fluids were drained and Mike at Walridge crated it up nicely.

I had to find a forklift to get it off the tailgate of the trailer, and this is where JC of Vintage Twins, Arvada, Colorado, rode to the rescue, as he knew of someone with a forklift, so we had it delivered to his shop.

As soon as the tractor-trailer combination backed into the parking lot, I sprang from my pickup truck and watched as the roll-up door was opened. What greeted me was the crate perched precariously on a pallet in the back of the trailer. The pallet was not centered under the crate. The crate itself has a big hole in the side of it, which was an ominous portent for the condition of the contents.







The forklift was able to remove the crate and set it on the floor inside Vintage Twins' shop. As it was extracting the crate from the trailer, the tines of the forks did not extend the full length of the crate, and I could envision the crate tipping off the poorly placed pallet, and the entire thing come crashing to the ground. I'm pretty sure it was as I watched it being removed that I was clenching my cheeks like the new guy on the cellblock.... And the pallet and crate combo were successfully placed on the floor.

The crate itself was very well constructed, Mike at Walridge did a good job here, held together as it was with several screws, not nails. I was pretty freaked out about the crush/hole in the crate. As we removed screws to examine the contents, it was apparent that nothing was damaged from the impact that caused that hole.

Then...

There it was. unceremoniously setting on its front axle in a crate, tied down at all 4 corners with rope.











JC and I wrestled with the pent up thoroughbred, and eventually extracted it from the crate, and we were able to get it set up on the center stand, and a scissor jack to hold it still while we installed the front mudguard/fender, and the front wheel and brake assembly.









That's "The Man," J.C., all around good guy and excellent Brit Bike technician.

Naturally there are several bits that I will replace or polish. The fuel line I will ask Jeremy at Baxter Cycle in Iowa to improve upon. I may replace the drive chain, the primary looks ok. There are some plated bits that will need attention as the chrome is coming off in places.

As the oil and gasoline were drained for shipment, all such fluids had to be renewed or replaced, and they were in due course. After filling the oil tank JC and I took turns cranking it over with the compression release depressed, until we witnessed oil squirting from the return, into the tank. It was easy to tell, as the new, pretty, green, oil in the tank received a dollop of black oil right into the middle of the surface, sort of like a cappuccino coffee has that dollop of coffee in the middle of the frothed cream?

So now I added 1 gallon of race fuel I just purchased at $7.50 per gallon, and the moment of truth had arrived. We turned the taps on, waited a moment, and then tickled the remote float chamber for the GP carburetor... gas squirted out two holes located other than on the tickler button, and the bike was primed. We slightly retarded the long advance/retard lever, engaged the choke/air slide, and ran it to slightly over TDC, and I gave it a good prod on the kickstarter... nothing. Ran it up again, slightly over TDC, another mighty prod... nothing. Oh Lord, what did I buy here?

Third try was a charm and it started up with a bark, and my new (to me) 1958 Gold Star was running!

Wow! What a glorious sound! Crisp and staccato! Instant throttle response, unlike my 53 AJS which must have a 250 pound flywheel.

Run the magneto lever to full advance, and I stood there for awhile blipping the throttle, while it warmed up, watching the oil return in the oil tank... the black return became nice and green, so the fresh oil was making it through the crankcases.

Then, I put on my riding gear, my helmet, jacket, and gloves, and lifted the shifter into first, and the poor old dear nearly died. The clutch thus becoming freed up, on for the short ride home.

You fellas already know what it is to ride one of these bikes, but this is my first time on a Gold Star. The exhaust note was remarkable. Intake roar was LOUD! I was in heaven for that short ride to the house from Vintage Twins. The handling was unremarkable at least for the short 30 mph ride to the house from the shop, but it was solid, and from what little I could tell, handled like a surgeon's scalpel, really precise turns. The brakes are actually adequate to stop the thing!

So it was on the first day of ownership of my Gold Star.

The dour woman at the DMV sent me away due to another issue with the paperwork. Groan. I hate that place.

Anybody have a recommendation for a battery, as I certainly need to buy one.

Congratulations mate.. I know how you feel..
Even though mine is continuing to give me grief (carburettor),Im still very happy to be a Gold Star owner..
Happy riding to you ..

Congratulations !! ... looks like you have a winner there. Starting on the third kick on a "new" Goldie .... how amazing is that?!. Enjoy for many years to come.

James.

That's a good looking Goldie, congrats.
Looks like it needs no work at all and ready to ride.
Another happy Goldstar owner. :bigt

Better than Christmas! Thanks for the images, congratulations and enjoy!

Very nice out of the box and go

I want to buy Anti Gravity batteries for my Triton and Goldie. Expensive but much better than buying a cheap Chinese battery every 6-12 months.

http://antigravitybatteries.com/ag-802-6-volt/

Very nice! You;ll be waking up and pinching yourself for a month! Lots of little trips to the garage/shed just to have a look...Thry're pleasanrt to ride in 'Touring' trim like that (though yours sounds like it has a Clbmans spec engine (GP carb).

The standard touring footrests I find a little far forward, so usually had the touring bars with rearsets -seemed to work quite well.

Anyway, enjoy, though (knowing Denver) the weather wont be your friend for a while..

Kerry