Come to think of it I'm amazed they've even sold them with that fault. "Not fit for purpose" comes to mind. They'd get absolutely hammered if someone had a big accident as a result.

email (option): j@clogmaker.co.uk

That's interesting.

I bought mine a couple of years ago, maybe more.

I haven't had a problem with it so far and done some pretty long runs with it.

Fingers crossed, I might have been lucky.

email (option): sacombsashtrees@hotmail.com

Been running concentrics for over 20 years done well over 100,000 miles on them and would never ever go back to a type 27 or 276
Run a 930 , a 928 & a 626 and all of them ran better than the original carb.
Depends if you are making a bike to look at or one to ride.

The 600 series fit better as they are shorter
All will need long spacers, longer stud and of cause good insulation.
This is to get the carb clear of the dynamo drive.
Mine are around 2" and consist of a very thick phonelic, a B40GA alloy spacer then a thinner phonelic finally a very thick gasket and no O ring on the carb.
The pill box of a spitfire or firebird will go on but if you go overboard with the spacers then you will have to assemble the air filter on the carb.

The bike ran really well with both the 626 ( jetted for a WD B40 ) and the 928.
The 930 ran really well at higher speeds but would not idle and really gobbled the juice.
The 626 ( fitted with a 900 bowl because of the drain plug ) actually ran the best , giving a really smooth idle, sharper ( lack ) of acceleration & a slightly increased top speed.
The 928 used a bit more fuel but again allowed the engine to rev a bit higher.
Its main strength was on the taper & for that reason I am currently replacing it with a brand new premier 928.

Apart from extra fuel off the taper & WFO the only other problem is the bad curve of the throttle cable where it exits the carb cap and the tendency for rain to run down the cable & fill the float bowl, even when riding.

Over the years I have had dozens of M20 owners wonder what I have done to make the bike run so well & so fast which in the early days was nothing other than the carb.
It now runs touring cams and the next manifestation will be an M21 crank and reground inlet to delay the opening 1/2 tooth & provide higher lift.

It is a very well known bike having done 18 All British Rallies, 11 BSA Nationals where several on this list have seen it run.

You will have to run a later model twist grip as well because the slide end of concentric cable is different to that of the type 27 & 276 however once the grips are on no one will notice and they will be too busy building a cross to crucify you on.

In the UK where 20 miles is considered a huge days ride things might be different but down here where I regularly run 500+ km a day a more reliable carb makes a massive difference.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

The same here. Main 250 and no 3 slide. Alive after one kick and when the engine is idling I do not have to use the choke.

John

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl

Thanks for all the replies so far, Trevor much appreciate you taking the time to write that little lot up, very useful to know. So as I have yet to order a service kit is it worth ordering a 900 bowl also? Could you explain the benefit a bit more please?
Also the mention a hold up float, what’s that all about?
Regards and on standby to get schooled.
Scott

email (option): Larkesr@gmail.com

I still stand by my new pre-monobloc.

A long run to me is anything in excess of 200 miles in a day.

I have done this in early february (with a smattering of proper Welsh rain) and in the middle of the blazing heat of an English summer. It works fine in traffic and up some pretty steep hills.

The bike is a first kick starter and doesn't boil fuel.

Only time will tell.

Putting anything else on a WM20 is like replacing the giders with upside down forks and twin discs.

Stand back and light the blue touch paper!

email (option): sacombsashtrees@hotmail.com

Pat,
Nothing wrong with a monoblock.
In fact in many ways they are a superiour carb to the concentric which really were built down to a price.
Nothing wrong with original 276 either, apart from the fact both monoblocks & concentrics are better.

OTOH the OP asked if the concentric would work and it of course it will.

As for what one puts on their WM20, well fortunately we beat Hitler & the Russians tossed out Starlin so you are entitled to fit whatever you like to your bike for no other reason is it is your bike and we live in a free community.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

['In the UK where 20 miles is considered a huge days ride ']...

A bit of an exaggeration to say the least...and a bike will run badly, or well, over a 20 mile run or a 200 mile run so distance is not really an issue...

I would say the main advantages of the Concentrics are they are cheaper and have less inclination to leak fuel than the 276...

I've done well over 100,000 miles on my M20, all of them using a 276 carb and if starting and poor running were an issue I'd have got rid of it years ago...

If your bike isn't standard then the Concentric may be the better choice for the reasons mentioned above...If your bike is standard then don't be put off the 276, they work perfectly well...

Personally when I see a Concentric on a standard machine I tend to think it's there because the owner didn't want to put their hand in their pocket for the correct carb rather than for any real practical operational advantage...You won't turn the M20 into a sports bike just by fitting a different Amal carb...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

A 276 costs € 355,- and a 626 Wassell € 99,-

John

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl

So just to clear a few assumptions up...
It came with this carb and if it will work with a £25 service kit I can spend £300 more efficiently elsewhere,
(clutch is toast for a start) then that will do for now. I want to concentrate on making sure what I don’t have and then rebuilding to the best possible engineering standards, Having stripped and rebuilt gas turbines for 18 years I know the difference
between wet and dry torque. I plan on riding it 26 miles, each way (shock horror), to work in the summer. If I need a part then I will endevour to get the correct original one but the old girl has military history until at least 59 when she was last overhauled, so in my eyes “period correct” is slightly different to how it left the factory. I want to ride it, not count the incorrect bolt heads.

email (option): Larkesr@gmail.com

Until you've looked at it properly, you can't know what it will cost to recondition the Concentric. They have monkey-metal slides running in monkey-metal bodies with a sprung-loaded choke slide trying to push the main air slide out of line.

When they're worn (which happens quite quickly), chunks of slide can break off.

They work well when new but most older items will require boring and sleeving or replacing (I have no experience of the Wassell copies).

The concentric float bowl is a good idea but it was a very cheaply made carb. Although there are more joint faces to leak, the 276 seems to me to be made of better materials.

If you are looking to save money then a £10 Chinese Mikuni copy from ebay is probably the most cost-effective option but in my opinion, the loss of period charm would be a heavy price to pay.

I don't think the Concentric is worth fully reconditioning when the cost of a new unit is compared to overhaul costs, particularly when postage costs are factored in...There is the question of turnaround time to consider as well which isn't fast in my experience...
In the UK a 'Wassells' Concentric can be purchased for about £75-£80...

I've used a few of those, most recently on my TRW and they seem to work OK without any problems to date...

Last week I purchased a pair of 'genuine' Amal Concentrics for my 1970 Triumph T120R. I bought the 'upmarket' version with hard anodised slides and they were £140 each...The 'standard' version would come in a bit cheaper obviously...

In the case of all earlier Amal types, refurbishment is a fair bit cheaper than a new carb and if cost is an issue that is one way to go...

However, after experiencing operational problems with refurbished carbs on two occasions and a general dissatisfaction with the cosmetic finish I have now reverted to buying new units....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I have bored and sleeved Concentrics on my Commando - replacement bodies are not stamped with the correct number ! It ain't easy being a rivet-counter.

The brass sleeved slides seem to be an improvement over standard. Through the eighties and nineties I was buying new carbs every 20,000 miles, having replaced slides at 10,000 or so.

Commandos though do have a name for being hard on carbs, they are mounted on longish stubs and get a good shaking on the rubber mounted engine.

I am always amazed by the depth & breath of the experteese on this list.
here we have some one who knows more about the metallurgy of carburettors than Amal, Tilosen, Bing, Webber, Lnkert , SU, Zama , Walbro , Holley , Stromberg , Rochester ,Edelbrock , Keihin , Mikuni , Solex & Zenith.

All of which used "MONKEY" metal to cast their carbs and some of which still do.
Although he may have got the alloy name slightly wrong as Monks Metal , 4% Al , 1 % Cu was used for gravity zinc castings for around 300 years.
Now if you stuff it up and let the Al rise to 5% or better then you get a very brittle eutectic which could cause slides to break up but if within the 3 to 4 % Al the material is very stable unless you do something really stupid like try crush an ovalled slide back round again.

The alloy used to make the 276 is exactly the same for the zinc parts except it was gravity die cast so was thicker than the pressure die cast monoblocks & concentrics.

We must have gotten a lot better concentrics down here because the second hand set I put on my A 10 ran without problems for the 5 years that I rode the A 10 as daily transport, including 1/2 way around OZ with just the usual service items required, occasional slides and fairly frequent needle jet which did wear oval fairly quickly however when I stopped trying to prove I knew better then the BSA engineers and brought the idle up to the proper levels so it did not sound like an M20 when at idle , needle jets lasted a lot longer.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

Personally, I'm never surprised by the presence on this forum of Antipodeans who know it all. They all believe that they do.

Monkey-metal is pretty standard slang for what in the UK was known as mazac.

There are plenty of accounts of Amal engineers complaining that the motorcycle manufacturers refused to accept a Monobloc replacement unless it could be supplied at lower cost.

As I understand it, it is the interface of zinc alloy slides with bodies of the same material which causes the problems. I've never seen a concentric slide last more than 10,000 miles without being grooved and rattling in the bore (and I use air filters).

All the 276 slides that I've seen have been brass or hard-chromed brass which seems a better solution and 1970s Mikunis had hard anodised slides.

I've personally seen half a dozen concentric slides with pieces broken off (all of them very worn slides that had been hammering back and forth with the induction pulses) plus a couple of Commando engines where valves have contacted pistons due to the broken slide parts lodging between valve and seat.

I like concentrics. They are simple and easy to tune but they knacker quickly and bunging a worn one on a seventy year old motorcycle rather than reconditioning a 276 properly is not going to make a modern motorcycle of it.

Yes - just ask them. As a former antipodean (technically known as a "clog-wog") AND riding my WM20 with a 626, I'm pretty sure that Trevor is the ultimate Amal expert in the world. At 500km a day, he must be going through them at a rate of one a month, so he is a treasure trove of knowledge.

I'm reliably informed a good quality reline is a permanent solution to the wear problems experienced by concentrics but as yet have not managed to wear mine out sufficiently to need one. Riding in Hawaii means our engines breathe in large amounts of sulfurous volcanic ash. Maybe that case-hardens them?

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

It seems to me from past experience that Japanese, German, Italian and American Mazac is more durable that British Mazac...It must be all the rain we have.... ..and our 20 mile touring holidays.. ... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Close Ian,
Mazac was a UK only alloy and that name was used to distinguish it from Zamak

Basically it was Zamak made from secondary foundry ingot and as such contained a lot impurities which could and did lead to catastrophic intergranualar degregation as extremely brittle impurities could precipitate at the grain boundries so after a short period of time the items literally crumbled in your hands lots of well documented cases of this.

Because of this critical components like carburettors were never made from Mazac because until the wide use of spectural analysis the composition of the alloy could not be reliabily determined in real time so the best you could get was the 2 tons you had just cast was all certified scrap.

Zamak was orignally a German class of alloys which were derived from recreating the metallurgy found in anchient relecs.
Apparently the pre WWI Germans were quite happy to destroy relecs that their archiologists brought back from the middle east and even more so if they were recovered ( stolen ) from sites in France or Spain

For some strange reason Zamac used to be trade marked to the USA

Monks got its name because the oldest examples were found in monasteries and were assumed to have been made by the monks.

Because of the way it is melted , in a steel or iron crucible all zinc based alloys are generally termed "pot metals" and because it is light in colour also "white metal" although zinc based castings are all blue.

Proper foundry practice with zinc based alloys was not to remelt your process scrap but sell it on for use in brass production.

Dinki was a prime breaker of this rule and their cast toys were notorious for arriving as a crumble of metal bits in a pretty box.

As for being the BEST available carburettor, never said it was although from an engineering point of view it was a masterpiece of design.
In fact in a previous post I did say the monoblocks were better.

However a concentric will work reasonably well when totally clapped out mal adjusted and effectively scrap which a monoblock will not.
Being that the riders of British motorcycles would have to be some of the most tight fisted cheap buggers on earth and BSA riders seem to be the lousiest of them all, I can see riders running their concentrics till the slides were totally worn through or even seeking out cheaper slides ( defective parts salvaged from scrap heaps ) so perhaps some did fall apart in service but in 50 years of motorcycling I have never seen nor heard of a slide breaking up in service.

And yes the concentric was a cheaper carb, it was designed to be both more compact because fashion dictated multi carbs on twin cylinder engines and cheaper because the motorcycling public were too cheap to pay for a quality carb.

AS for air slides causing excessive wear, I will take you observances on that although from an engineering point of view I can not see how a loose fitting slide running within another slide would cause problems for the main slide but then again in Gods gift to motorcycling air slides were usually removed as they are not needed anywhere except Tasmania and most of us "rich: Aussies could afford the 5¢ worth of fuel consummed by warming the engine before we rode off.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

hi Scot Larke,

9Triton gave you the best answer. a 626 in less-than-totally-flogged condition will run just fine. Take his advice about the spacer.

My sincerest apologies for your sudden and explosive introduction to our little family. It seems those of us who post either count rivets or believe the WM20 is some kind of superbike that needs improved performance. The other 99% of form members know not to get caught in the crossfire which can be vicious at certain angles.

I think that a nice way to rebuild a bike is to get it running, then all the flaws and issues will make themselves known to you. A clean concentric, even a worn one will run ok. If it does not, think about replacing it sooner rather than later. We all have a budget (I just sign over my pay check to Draganfly each month. Probably critical at the very beginning is a good spark, correct timing and checking all nuts and bolts. Those frigging mags are not cheap to rebuild but once done should last a while. (There are cheaper options, email me directly and I can fill you in).

This forum is actually very friendly and supportive but populated by grumpy old bastards all set in their own ways, so expect different takes on the same question. Without them I would be walking to work...

And to be clear here, we are discussing the use of a vintage carb from the 1960's versus a vintage carb from the 1940's.

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

Now if you can not have some strong dissagreements between friends the world would be a very dull place and if a Pom & an Aussie can not have a go at each other it would be even duller.

There are some things however that need addressing when put on the web and the suggestion that the choice of materials for a concentric was bad is one of them.
Period literature blamed the zinc alloy for idiots who can not understand the theory of levers, removing the 1/2 nuts & 7 ft lb spring washers fitted on concentrics to make it hard to warp them by overtightening with full size nuts, generally nylocks done up to 20 ft lbs.
Because it shifted the blame from ME to THEM the motorcycling public happily took up the misinformation ( none of us , me included, like to admit it was our fault ).
Thus the misinformation become Urban Myth then by virtue of the number of times it gets repeated an undisputable fact.
Concentric carbs won awards world wide

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

['Now if you cannot have some strong disagreements between friends the world would be a very dull place and if a Pom & an Aussie can not have a go at each other it would be even duller']...

Agreed...These discussions generally lead to a logical answer and the varying information can be 'weighed up' by any forum reader to help them draw their own conclusions...

I tend to speak up if I think some information provided is not correct as I think misinformation isn't of benefit to anyone...However, I'm always open to a logical argument that proves me wrong as well..

If everyone did chant the same mantra it would indeed be a very dull forum and nothing new would be learnt....I'm on here most days if I'm at home and I've benefitted from the wide range of knowledge expressed in the various posts, even though they occasionally get 'heated'...You bastards.. ..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I LOVE this forum...

I have to take issue with Trevor's outrageous suggestion that the british public would not pay for a better constructed carb. It was the british bike industry that wouldn't pay. They were too busy cost cutting and paying shareholders high dividends to bother with actually improving their product [A10 to A65]. This blyth and misplaced feeling of inate superiority is a reccuring theme of the English.

email (option): j@clogmaker.co.uk

From 1945 to 1972 BSA paid dividends on 9 occasions.
Triumph was insolvent when BSA took them over as was Ariel and I don't think Sunbeam was rolling in money at the time of the take over nor was New Hudson.

HRD Vincient was making excellent motorcycles but they went down because no one would buy them.
Nothing wrong with a Scott either apart from the fact other lesser bikes were cheaper.
Rolls Royce made the best car in the world bar none and gave a life time warranty on them which carried on down the family line but they have been bankrupt 3 times.
And it is not just in the UK.
In the 30 odd years I have been the principal contact for the BSA Club not one single person has ever rung looking for better quality parts, only ever cheaper ones.
Over the years I have come to the understanding that there is no part so badly made and unfit for the job that a BSA rider will not fit it if it is cheap enough.
Where as Harley riders are the exact opposite.
There is no part too expensive to go on their Harleys and if it is too cheap they won't fit it.

There is only 1 reason why the market is flooded with inferiour, substandard, ill fitting BSA parts,,,,,, because the owners keep on ignoring the good ones and fitting the cheap ones.
Go back a few posts to the stainless WM20 exhaust thread.
I posted that they were available off the shelf from Overlander Equipment and hae been for 40 years.
Then have a good look at the responses.
Then search "Indian petrol tanks " and ask yourself why so many people are fitting badly made incorrect tanks from India when top shelf petrol tanks have always been available in the UK & USA from specialist tank makers whose product can not be faulted.
Sorry but I think you have pulled your Union Jack undies up a tad tight and they are cutting off your circulation.
while standing too close to a socialist union rep.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

Trevor, I think you are doing a grand job, but I guess most of the phone calls you receive from guys looking for cheap parts are from Ozzies? You have got us wrong over hear regarding vintage bike collectors as being cheap skates. There is a whole breed searching for quality parts rather than the likes of Asian parts. (Sometimes of course, funds and availability will prevail).

You mentioned my Silencer thread, where I have had a copy of a genuine original WD silencer accurately hand made in top quality material and no one seems to have baulked at the reasonable price.

I did have a look at the firm you recommended in USA, and their silencer listed is just a generic item to fit BSA B and M models. It's listed at the equivalent of £180 plus the always very expensive US mail which I'll have a guess at, say £35, we then get hit with 20% tax and an £8 tax collection fee from the post office Total for a no doubt well made silencer of about £266 . And still not correct for a WD bike. Your recommendation was well meaning I know, but in this case, a bit irrelevant I think. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I would say the truth is somewhere in between regarding who will pay for what...
Having worked in a British Motorcycle shop and run a business that included manufacturing and selling spares and retailing other manufacturers spares I would estimate that Trevor is far nearer to the truth this time...

IMO approx. 10-15% of people have the quality of the spare they are buying uppermost in their mind with the price as a secondary consideration..
The remainder will nearly always opt for the cheaper alternative, even when presented with a direct comparison and a choice between quality and price as the main factor.

It is something that has always puzzled me when the bike they own is supposed to be 'the light of their life' in terms of their interests and their hobby...Surely you would want the best you can have if that was the case..?

I think the 'cheapo' view has gradually come to prevail these days because the 'natural selection' that weeds out the rubbish no longer applies now most bikes are hardly used and not relied on for transport...

As I have always used by bikes as my main form of transport it was both desirable and necessary that I used the best quality spares I could get to ensure long term daily reliability...

I frequently hear, for example, people bemoaning the lack of quality pistons and some search in vain for NOS Hepolite to address that lack of supply.....
However, the reason there are no Hepolite pistons is that the majority of potential customers over the years routinely took the cheaper option and the Hepolite company (in its latter stages under the management of Peter Hepworth) became unviable...

The reason I use that example is because I spoke to Peter Hepworth in the latter days of the company and he explained the difficult situation..
He actually said he would rather close the company down than compromise on quality to achieve the lower price that would enable him to compete with what he (rightly)regarded as inferior products ...

As of today it is still the case that people will only buy parts if they regard them as cheap...Perhaps also the legacy of getting used to things like £30 microwaves from China?...

The fact is the choices of consumers over the years to buy cheap but poorer quality parts has led us to where we are now with few 'quality' options available even if we want them....Trevor is right I'm sorry to say, the market has followed what the majority of customers want, for good or bad, and the reality is that is low price, not high quality.....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." John Ruskin

In the craft world it's the same. It's really difficult to sell high priced good quality as people basically buy..... crap. I do think that a majority of modern buyers buy to restore and not to ride so they are less willing to pay for hidden good quality. I still think that manufacturers, not the public, in the latter stages of the british bike industry were all about short term profit, not long term investment. I'm thinking of the early '60s.

email (option): j@clogmaker.co.uk

This seems to be a thread where everyone has an opinion. My opinion is as follows:
1) To answer your question, yes, it will work if it is not worn.
2) My carb was worn so I bought a new 276 and have no regrets.
3) If I was to fit a non-standard carb to any bike, Mikuni would be my first choice as you get good quality for a reasonable price and jets are easy to source.

email (option): pvlietstra@gmail.com

Evening all,
Well I go away on business for a few days and HOLY CRAP you guys don't hold back!!!
Soo, just to poke the bear and enter into the forum spirit of eternal banter, tempered with an aspiration to also be a grumpy old bastard. I will take some decent pictures of the carb as its already dismantled and post them on here this weekend.
Then we can have round two, this could he either educational or just plain highly entertaining.
Whose up for a bit of online condition assessment then?

I yield the floor.........

Scott
PS might also add some progress pics also, if you all play nice!

email (option): larkesr@gmail.com

hi Scott,

Thank you for being so understanding!

Give us any chance to get onto our soapboxes and there is no stopping us. But, in the end, we all mean well, and once stumps are pulled, we all sit down and have a nice cup of tea together...

If you are at the start of your rebuild, I'm sure there will be some unanticipated expenses coming up for you. I take the view that something that works but is not ideal, can stay until other critical things are taken care of. no point polishing her up if she won't go. But everyone has a different view on that.

To be honest, I like the 626 carbs and I'll probably buy a premier to replace my existing one when it eventually wears. But then again, I ride every day. I'd never thought about the Harley Brit-biker comparison I saw in a previous posting but it's dead-on! Living in the US has shown me some very distinct differences in how riders approach things.

I'm used to riding to work each day and spending the weekends fettling away to keep my old girl running. You know, ride, wrench, repeat. Harley riders are quite the opposite. They spend the week carefully polishing their pride and joy so they can go for a ride on sundays (as long as it's not raining). And, as a rule, they demand the best quality parts and accessories - both genuine and aftermarket. We seem to accept some parts are a bit crappy but still buy them and try to keep them working or modify them to work better. I'm not sure if either approach is better but it'a an interesting comparison.

But here, you will find the very best family of BSA lovers you could hope for. Very generous with their collective knowledge, experience and help. Enjoy!

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

Nope,
100% wrong
The motorcycle industry was in a major price war between the brands which ultimtely made them all unprofitable.
British industry never seemed to get past the stage 1 industrial revolution phase.
Way too many small plants that could not take advantage of economies of scale.
Unbelievably complex manufacture with no regards to materials flow.
management , most of which was class based simply tweaked production volumes by employing more workers or sacking them.
Not until the BSA/ Triumph joint manufacture plan was there proper regard paid to the logistics of manufacture and even then the plan to make all the parts at Small Heath and do all the assembly at Coventry go torpedoed and then basterdised to the point of being a waste of money and a burden to production.

Even when the entire British motor industry faced closure and PM Thatcher did every thing she could to force industry to modernise the moronic brand snobbery scuttled the plan and the net result is an auto industry which is a ghost of its former self principally owned by foreign companies taking the tax payer subsidised profits off shore because morons at Rover would not allow a Rover to have a Jaguar engine fitted & visa versa so in place of picking the best engines and making them cheaply in mass they continued to make 20 different but similar engines at high cost and no profit til every one went to the wall.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

I would say chasing short term profits was one of the reasons that manufacturers never addressed the points you make. They didn't seem to invest in new manufacturing machinery and processes that would enable them to build modern designs.
Union demarcation was a huge problem. The class system meant that middle class twits with little or no interest in the nitty gritty of manufacturing were able to additionally screw things up.
My brother tried to buy a tank rubber for his Slumberglade 'Bolt. "Sorry sir we are a Triumph shop" " But it's exactly the same part" "Sorry sir we are a Triumph shop".
I would point out that this is a discussion forum; Not a forum for scoring points, but perhaps that's a cultural difference?

email (option): j@clogmaker.co.uk

The UK had class snobbery destroying its industry, down here we had political idologies doing the exact same thing only more so and we have never had a Thatcher who actually tried to make things work.

As a committed BSA freak it appears to me that BSA management was firmly of the opinion that WW III was just around the corner all through the 50's & 60's.
BSA did not reinvest into new motorcycle production but it did invest in a vast array of businesses that would be stragically important should they be called to rearm the nation again.

By the time the penny dropped it was way too late.
What a lot of people fail to understand is the UK passed emergency tax laws post WW II which taxed with held profits at 50% to 75% but did not tax dividends. The idea was to get money flowing , people spending & the economy moving and was a good plan, except it remained in play till , you guessed it the Thatcher government repealed it.
Thus the all too smart financial wizards set up big business to work on 100% borrowed money and thus pay no tax on profits.
Now this did have some benefits as the UK already was a major finance hub and while Europe was in the post WWII duldrums, local borrowing kept the finance houses solvent.
The down side is UK companies did not retain profits for reinvestments and UK banks were happy to lend money for steel & wages which they knew would be repaid promptly they were not so keen on lending on new plant with a longer pay off period.

This single tax minimization plan was the biggest single factor in the demise of BSA because a single bad season put the company in the red and 2 bad seasons was more than the company could ever repay without massive production volume increases which could not happen without bigger borrowings which was never going to happen as that exposed the UK banks to too much risk to a company that was already in the red.

The demise of BSA is a facinating topic lots and lots and lots of small cracks in the wall till the combined effect of all of them brought it down.
People like simple answers, like it was all the unions fault or all bad management or all government or outdated products or greedy shareholdes or too much over paid management or or or or or but in reality it was the combined effect of all of them .
We have the strange problem of all the 1969/70 bikes with 1966 engine numbers written inside the end covers of the despatch books that were despatched in 1969 and the only reasonable theory that would explain this is BSA was found to have fiddled the books with the ministry of supply, remember them the department that had to authorise the purchase of raw materials ( tax variations ? )which put an effective brake on production increases by lliniting factories access to raw materials, another department that Mrs Thatcher tossed.

Now don't get me wrong, am not a Tory but from a distance what she was doing and the benefits of what she was doing is more apparent than from close up when it was your job she axed.

Now what was this thread all about ?

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

The question was: will a 626 concentric carb. work , answer is YES

John

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl

email (option): larkesr@gmail.com

OK, as promised, the carb in question, stripped down, opinions invited.
I'm thinking the slide has seen better days, the bowl had a crappy seal which was due to porous casting, think I have recovered it with some wet n dry.
If we can not blame Maggie Thatcher and open that door again, its all good!!! ;)
Click on this one image to see the rest in Flickr

Scott

email (option): larkesr@gmail.com

It doesn't look to have been badly got at - screw heads look good etc. Slide doesn't look bad to me. I've handled far worse.

Make sure it can rise and fall easily and be aware that if it's too rattly, air will pass down round it and make it difficult to set up a consistent tickover.

You could replace the plastic float with a StayUp float. They are adjustable.

John

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl