Thank you! That video helped me a lot in getting the AA unit and points plate correct built in. I knew it in theory from the handbook but watching it here was tremendously helpful.
I just picked up a BSA B50 that was last ran in 1975. I could not get it to run. It needed some electrical restoration and timing. This video was a big help. Now the bike starts right up. Thanks so much.
Hi Tom, Thanks for your comment, the B50 is a lovely bike, I still have mine but only ride it on warm days in summer. The spacer shim I fitted under the barrel to reduce the compression ratio makes it a lot easier to start, plus it runs a lot better on the poor quality low octane E10 petrol that we are now stuck with in the UK.
Hello Brian, I have a B50, have been making mods now for ,18yrs, still more to do. I have Carillo rod , press fit crankpin,90 bore 1.93in inlet valve American cam , different oil pump altogether, different oil system,paper oil filter, 38mm Amal mk2 carb 11.4 cr ,1/34in exhaust pipe oil cooler , and I am fitting Tri Spark ign , no kick back, the best electronic set up. I have 2 spark plugs, so use 2 6v coils in series, still 12 v battery . Much modded conical front brake altered head angle on the oif , altered swing arm . Cafe Racer, I started on it when I was 60yrs old!! To time the standard B25 ignition, on my Starfire, I set it at 13° BTC., hence I don't have to hold the auto advance open.
I had a TR25 as my first real street bike. I would like to build one to see if the bike I had was as big a POS as I remember. I knew noting about bike mechanics back then but I have gained a bit of knowledge since then.
Your TR25 was the same bike as the BSA B25 of the same year, just different tank shape and badges, although not many made compared to the B25. You are correct in saying POS compared to any Japanese of the same era, however a fun bike to ride and relive your youth.
@@TheCADengineer I loved that bike. It was a real Triumph after all. I was a kid with very little knowledge and it was always messing up. It dropped a valve requiring cylinder and head work (I learned a lot.) It never charged the battery. I rode a friends Honda XL250 and couldn't believe it was the same CC displacement as my bike. It actually had power and would move!
Ah, I've always been a fan of the BSA B25 engine, so its nice to see a video of someone working on one. But it is curious why the B25 has a reputation for having a weak big end bearing, when its plane split shell bearing is identical to those on the Triumph 350 and 500 unit twins, which are also all similar to many other plane big end bearing designs. Although for a British bike the B25 is rather highly tuned and high revving. Really it's other components failure to maintain oil pressure that wrecks the B25 big end, plus the less than efficient standard oil filtration system, and this could happen on any engine with a plain big end bearing. Anyway, I've also always liked the BSA Starfire 250 since I was a teenager in the early 1980's. So after years of owning many larger and more exotic classic British and Japanese bikes, which all came to an end in 1992, I finally bought myself a 1969 Starfire in 2015. Great bikes, just as I had hoped. Then my Starfire was joined by a 1971 B25 Victor, then a B50 Victor and finally a 1971 B25ss Goldstar. Oh dear, not sure if I already mentioned this on one of your other video's. So your workshop activities are really interesting, with your B25, a B50 and a Tiger Cub, great stuff.
Hi Jack, in my teens (a long time ago) when as a learner rider you were restricted to 250cc and as a young inexperienced rider you always “rode it like you stole it” and l think the reputation of the B25’s predecessor the C15 being bulletproof could be part of the stigma. The early Ceefers and Cubs had a sold bronze big end bush which were far more tolerant to low oil flow plus low power output of the Cefeer at 15hp compared with 25hp for the Starfire. Also the quality of oils in the day and as young teenagers you never had money to do an oil change and the bike was lucky to get the oil even topped up. I had a Cub, C15 and a Starfire before l passed my motorcycle test and can’t remember doing an oil change on any of them. When l passed my test l bought a 1970 secondhand Tiger 100, not the fastest of 500’s in the day but you didn’t need to thrash it so much to keep up with your mates, so maybe that’s another reason. If the B25 could have had a roller big end like the last series side points engine Ceefers (C and G range) it would have been another story for the B25. Also no sure about the oil delivery size on the Starfire, Barracuda and early B25’s as from 1970 onwards the pump was changed to a 3 point mount and cast iron bodied the same as on the B50 and the oil filter in the return line then came as an optional extra, later pump could even be the same part number as the B50 (will have to have a look)
i have had a few B25's and a B44 the problem with the Big end is the 12 deg of advance B.T.D.C. = 24 deg on the crank - 37deg = 13 deg static hence pig to start and you can hear the big end knock like an old diesel engine, sorted the advance unit out and it was like starting a C15 and the motor sounded far better
Hello, B50 roller big end ,has 3 bolt oil pump, but the gears are half the width of B25 plain big end bearing. As for ignition timing, why not leave advance mechanism closed and set crank at 13° BTC.
Hi; thanks. I want to ask, if is possible; about the recording of the video. I want to make one this long but I do not know if I have the right devices. 1-Did you used a cell phone or a camera? How do you managed to record an hour of video? I think the phone and camera that I have only recording 15-20 minutes in one shot... 2-Did you used an eternal microphone plugged to the cell phone or camera? 3-After the recording how do you manage those big files until the upload to TH-cam? Thank you
Hi, My video recordings are not one my strong points, l use my sons old very small Sony action cam, the model is a HDR AS15 which is a few years old but does record in HD, it uses a micro SD card and the one that’s in it is a 32gb so recording length is no problem, but the camera records in 20 minute chunks, so an hour of recording comes as 3 separate MP3 files, but you stitch them together seamlessly with editing software. However the battery only lasts about 45 minutes so l just leave the micro USB charger plugged in when recording. The microphone is built into the camera and seems to work OK, but according to the camera manual you can plug in an external microphone. The camera has no display, but has Wi-Fi, that you connect to your mobile phone (after downloading the Sony app) so you use your mobile as the monitor, you can also stop and start the recording from your mobile. I use a small fixed camera tripod as the video recorder is very light. The downside to the camera is the fixed wide angle with no zoom, which makes it difficult to get any close up shots without dismounting the camera from the tripod. The hard bit for me is the editing, I use Davinci Resolve which is free video editing software, its not the easiest of software to use but there are plenty of TH-cam video on how to use it. For me the editing is hard to do and quite time consuming considering l am only using the very basic editing settings. Even now l have another 2 BSA B25 Starfire videos in my series to edit and upload which I keep putting off; hopefully this week.
Thank you! That video helped me a lot in getting the AA unit and points plate correct built in. I knew it in theory from the handbook but watching it here was tremendously helpful.
Glad it helped you, thanks for the positive reply. Regards Brian
You are really helping me along on my 68 triumph 250...Keep up the good work !!
I just picked up a BSA B50 that was last ran in 1975. I could not get it to run. It needed some electrical restoration and timing. This video was a big help. Now the bike starts right up. Thanks so much.
Hi Tom, Thanks for your comment, the B50 is a lovely bike, I still have mine but only ride it on warm days in summer. The spacer shim I fitted under the barrel to reduce the compression ratio makes it a lot easier to start, plus it runs a lot better on the poor quality low octane E10 petrol that we are now stuck with in the UK.
Hello Brian, I have a B50, have been making mods now for ,18yrs, still more to do. I have Carillo rod , press fit crankpin,90 bore 1.93in inlet valve American cam , different oil pump altogether, different oil system,paper oil filter, 38mm Amal mk2 carb 11.4 cr ,1/34in exhaust pipe oil cooler , and I am fitting
Tri Spark ign , no kick back, the best electronic set up. I have 2 spark plugs, so use 2 6v coils in series, still 12 v battery .
Much modded conical front brake altered head angle on the oif , altered swing arm . Cafe Racer, I started on it when I was 60yrs old!!
To time the standard B25 ignition, on my Starfire, I set it at 13° BTC., hence I don't have to hold the auto advance open.
I had a TR25 as my first real street bike. I would like to build one to see if the bike I had was as big a POS as I remember. I knew noting about bike mechanics back then but I have gained a bit of knowledge since then.
Your TR25 was the same bike as the BSA B25 of the same year, just different tank shape and badges, although not many made compared to the B25. You are correct in saying POS compared to any Japanese of the same era, however a fun bike to ride and relive your youth.
@@TheCADengineer I loved that bike. It was a real Triumph after all. I was a kid with very little knowledge and it was always messing up. It dropped a valve requiring cylinder and head work (I learned a lot.) It never charged the battery. I rode a friends Honda XL250 and couldn't believe it was the same CC displacement as my bike. It actually had power and would move!
Ah, I've always been a fan of the BSA B25 engine, so its nice to see a video of someone working on one. But it is curious why the B25 has a reputation for having a weak big end bearing, when its plane split shell bearing is identical to those on the Triumph 350 and 500 unit twins, which are also all similar to many other plane big end bearing designs. Although for a British bike the B25 is rather highly tuned and high revving.
Really it's other components failure to maintain oil pressure that wrecks the B25 big end, plus the less than efficient standard oil filtration system, and this could happen on any engine with a plain big end bearing.
Anyway, I've also always liked the BSA Starfire 250 since I was a teenager in the early 1980's. So after years of owning many larger and more exotic classic British and Japanese bikes, which all came to an end in 1992, I finally bought myself a 1969 Starfire in 2015. Great bikes, just as I had hoped.
Then my Starfire was joined by a 1971 B25 Victor, then a B50 Victor and finally a 1971 B25ss Goldstar. Oh dear, not sure if I already mentioned this on one of your other video's.
So your workshop activities are really interesting, with your B25, a B50 and a Tiger Cub, great stuff.
Hi Jack, in my teens (a long time ago) when as a learner rider you were restricted to 250cc and as a young inexperienced rider you always “rode it like you stole it” and l think the reputation of the B25’s predecessor the C15 being bulletproof could be part of the stigma. The early Ceefers and Cubs had a sold bronze big end bush which were far more tolerant to low oil flow plus low power output of the Cefeer at 15hp compared with 25hp for the Starfire. Also the quality of oils in the day and as young teenagers you never had money to do an oil change and the bike was lucky to get the oil even topped up. I had a Cub, C15 and a Starfire before l passed my motorcycle test and can’t remember doing an oil change on any of them. When l passed my test l bought a 1970 secondhand Tiger 100, not the fastest of 500’s in the day but you didn’t need to thrash it so much to keep up with your mates, so maybe that’s another reason. If the B25 could have had a roller big end like the last series side points engine Ceefers (C and G range) it would have been another story for the B25. Also no sure about the oil delivery size on the Starfire, Barracuda and early B25’s as from 1970 onwards the pump was changed to a 3 point mount and cast iron bodied the same as on the B50 and the oil filter in the return line then came as an optional extra, later pump could even be the same part number as the B50 (will have to have a look)
i have had a few B25's and a B44 the problem with the Big end is the 12 deg of advance B.T.D.C. = 24 deg on the crank - 37deg = 13 deg static hence pig to start and you can hear the big end knock like an old diesel engine, sorted the advance unit out and it was like starting a C15 and the motor sounded far better
Hello, B50 roller big end ,has 3 bolt oil pump, but the gears are half the width of B25 plain big end bearing.
As for ignition timing, why not leave advance mechanism closed and set crank at 13° BTC.
Hi; thanks. I want to ask, if is possible; about the recording of the video. I want to make one this long but I do not know if I have the right devices.
1-Did you used a cell phone or a camera? How do you managed to record an hour of video? I think the phone and camera that I have only recording 15-20 minutes in one shot...
2-Did you used an eternal microphone plugged to the cell phone or camera?
3-After the recording how do you manage those big files until the upload to TH-cam?
Thank you
Hi, My video recordings are not one my strong points, l use my sons old very small Sony action cam, the model is a HDR AS15 which is a few years old but does record in HD, it uses a micro SD card and the one that’s in it is a 32gb so recording length is no problem, but the camera records in 20 minute chunks, so an hour of recording comes as 3 separate MP3 files, but you stitch them together seamlessly with editing software. However the battery only lasts about 45 minutes so l just leave the micro USB charger plugged in when recording. The microphone is built into the camera and seems to work OK, but according to the camera manual you can plug in an external microphone.
The camera has no display, but has Wi-Fi, that you connect to your mobile phone (after downloading the Sony app) so you use your mobile as the monitor, you can also stop and start the recording from your mobile. I use a small fixed camera tripod as the video recorder is very light. The downside to the camera is the fixed wide angle with no zoom, which makes it difficult to get any close up shots without dismounting the camera from the tripod.
The hard bit for me is the editing, I use Davinci Resolve which is free video editing software, its not the easiest of software to use but there are plenty of TH-cam video on how to use it. For me the editing is hard to do and quite time consuming considering l am only using the very basic editing settings. Even now l have another 2 BSA B25 Starfire videos in my series to edit and upload which I keep putting off; hopefully this week.