Veloce Books Buyer’s Guide to BSA 500 and 650 Twins
Added on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 by Carole Nash Editor
Veloce Books Buyer’s Guide to BSA 500 and 650 Twins
If you’re thinking of buying one of the venerable BSA twins of the 50s and 60s, then this handy guide will be a useful tool in sorting the wheat from the chaff when searching out that true classic.
Old bikes are always a labour of love and Peter Henshaw’s book gives you handy hints on spotting BSA twins which have had the necessary TLC lavished upon them during their working life. These are bikes you want to buy, not some bodged up and hastily Solvol-treated instant classic.
There are sections on typical running costs, a used bike value guide, plus club, website and specialist publication source information, which is essential if you’re buying anything old and inevitably needing spares in the long run. Loads of photos, an `is it genuine?’ checklist, not to mention Henshaw’s own favourite models from the lengthy BSA 500/650 total production run, all combine to make this book well worth the cost of two monthly bike magazines.
The only thing I would have liked in the book was a few pics of the US export spec Firebird 650, which was one of prettiest beezas ever built…even if it did shake itself to bits when ridden hard.
I also thought that a few more hints, and true life stories on the various scams found on e-bay and other auction sites, would have been good advice for any would-be collector of old bikes.
The book has just two paragraphs of advice regarding e-bay, which is insufficient for anyone who hasn’t wasted countless hours of their life online being lied to, emailed by virus spreaders, or been conned by the dozens of timewasters frequenting this woefully easy to rig auction site.
More at: www.veloce.co.uk
