Britbike forum Forums Thread Like Summary - BSA TANK BADGES 1968-70

Does anyone know where you can purchase the large pear shaped 1968-70 metal ( two hole) BSA tank badges.......PAINTED?

My first choice would be the WHITE BSA on a red background.



My second choice would be RED BSA on a white background.





OR.........someone who will paint the new solid type?

I've tried painting them myself and I'm not happy with the results.

Tanks in advance

Gordon in NC, USA

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The new ones are only available in Gold, doubt its durable but may be. For old ones with dulled plating I use 400ml Brilliant Metallic Gold
Rustoleum spray can.

The painting is a DIY job, I use Tamiya paints, the clear colours are good for the sunbeams, red, green or yellow, an off white is less glaring on the eye than a brilliant white. 10% thinners allows the paint to flow better but you need an extra coat or more for coverage.

Here's one without the Rustoleum Gold which is a lot closer to the gold plate.



Tank is green with gold flakes so I painted the badges green to match, photo is taken in the dark with flash as bike is in back of garage.

Talk about BLESSED!!!!! Don Roe offered to paint a set for me!!!!

Cry enough and someone will take pity.

Thank you guys for all the help and replies.

I know it's NOT hard to get paint on them but IMO/IME getting it to look good isn't that simple.

Don is an artist. (ever see his freehand pin striping?) He's also the kind of motorcyclist/machinist/mechanic that if you were planning a trip around the world on two wheels and you could only have one other rider.......he'd be my first pick.....the man can fix anything.

Blessed I tell ya and happy as a little girl........G

PS, I'll post a photo of them if he gives me permission......we're not in a hurry so it's going to be awhile.

Haven't seen any new versions on the market painted

I have been told that a nail shop would be a good choice since the workers work in "detail"

Original tank? Appears larger, I like it

A lot of work for little return
There is at least 10 different colour combinations used on that badge
SO that is a lot of work and a lot of stock to carry for very few sales.
Now if BSA owner would say "Thank you very much I appreciate the effort & I am happy to pay $ 200 for these badges "
Then some one might be inclinded to do it
But in reality the vendor will get
"Highway Robbery I only paid $ 400 for the entire bike you can shove them badges where the sun don't shine "
or
"you blithering idiot you have painted them the wrong shade of red I will only pay $ 5 because they will look silly on my thank"
or
Criminal bugger these used to be £ 2 a set from Price & Clarke back in 1980 how dare you charge me 10 times that much now
or
"We represent your entire customer base so I expect to get a X% discount because I am a member of the Previously Deceased Motorcyclist Club"

Etc Etc Etc

A couple of those tiny cans of Humbrol model paint and a fine sable art brush plus 2 hours over 3 or 4 days because it takes a long time for the enamel tp dry

And it looks like you have the Firebird tank
Very common to see the tiny B44 tanks on a firebird & visa versa ..

I would look out for an airbrush artist painting models rather than an auto painter, its intricate work and model painters are used to close up work with sharp definition such as camo schemes.

I've painted a few badges myself over the years. I didn't think it was too difficult.

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Hi Gordon, I know you said "I will not paint, period", so I'm probably spitting into the wind here, but, for what it's worth, I painted a pair of those a while back with Tester's model paint (not thinned), and I thought they came out quite nice. Requires patience and a steady hand. Have paint thinner handy to wipe if you get paint where you don't want it.

You can also spray on the background (gold, silver?) and then brush the other colors over the base. (The ones I did were a re-paint, and I did not have to re-do the background.)

The 441 roadster came here badged as a Shooting Star in black with a black tank and the BSA in red on a black oval & gold star surround
Have seen the same with gold BSA on black and gold star .
The big blue & white tank can have a pale blue badge or a red one .

The gold colour is titanium dioxide and is plated on same as those gold coloured drill bits .
A good electroplater can strip that off & reapply if you remove all of the paint first , but when doing this it will also erode the sharp corners .
The anodised surface will take any ALUMINIUM paint really well and most enamels .
But it has to be dry .
And by dry I mean held in an oven at just under the boiling point of water for at least an hour
If you have a good set of scaled then you weigh it , bake it then weigh it again
Repeat as many times as necessary till the weight does not change .
Search "drying to a constant weight" if you want to read the theory of it and get some really complicated instructions .
From memory we used to bake our colourmetric glasswear at around 80 deg C then bake the sample then let them cool down to room temperature before doing the determinations .

Gordon,

Wag (wild ass guess) as far as who may have been related originally to production of the badges you are looking for: MCA (Aston) LTD, Birmingham, UK. Further wag is that MCA was successor to BSA original production. MCA makes stunning badges judging from the photos I have seen of a BSA badge that they produced. Their website states that their goods are 95% UK made and 5% made in Italy.

IMHO you can't kick much dirt at Italian craftmanship since they make cars and bikes that have names that end in i. Adoro il lambrusco!

Maybe a call or email to MCA might help some history, etc.

MCA is wholesale to the trade only. I believe the Bonneville Shop and Steadfast Cycles are authorized U.S. dealers.

There is also a Brititish cycle specialist shop in Greenville, SC that may be of interest. I forget their name, but they did have a beautiful new MCA BSA badge.

Gordon,

Guessed you might be near Greenville.

Hey, why not email MCA and ask for a photo. NOS is as high a standard as you can claim. If you do so and they reply with a photo, please post what you think.

TANKS, as always

Domiracer used to sell very nice reproductions of those BSA tank badges years ago. I sold many pairs of them on my eBay store in the mid-2000s. Whoever bought their inventory when they closed may still have some. Tony Schanz is an eBay seller under 'The Real DomiRacer'. Might be worth a check with him if knows the whereabouts of those elusive emblems.
-Dave

British Cycle Supply used to have their US warehouse in NJ--about 4 miles from where I live.
I used to order from them in Canada by phone at 9 a.m. and pick up from their NJ warehouse at 2 p.m. the same day.
It was great---same day service and no shipping charges.
Since then their lease ran out and their warehouse is now in Maine.
However-- to the point--one day when I was at their warehouse when it was still in NJ there was a 40 ft truck being unloaded.
Talking to Red there he told me that BCS had bought 50% of the stock from Domiracer and part of it was what was being unloaded at that time.
So--maybe worth contacting BCS?
HTH

the gold big bit IS anodized and then they are filled in painted after to different colors on the BSA so u are correct ,,,,some one said use nail vanish ... yep that gives a good result ....don't get the cheep stuff it doesn't cover very well different colors of nail varnish are also good for little touch up ( stone chip etc) on tanks and side covers

AFAIK Mike Riley bought all of the BSA stuff
He really only wanted the preuint single stuff but they were not going to split the inventory that small so it was all of the BSA stuff or none of the BSA stuff .Mike might have some Mikes Bikes in Qld.
However he is currently selling out so heaven only knows where what is left will go .