It's been a while as I have had to play the waiting game for the BSA Owners club and the DVLA to provide me with the V5c form, on receipt of having the new V5C form I went to the post office yesterday to get it taxed to find that the application was declined and I had to contact the DVLA.
When I phoned the DVLA they advised that the form had been setup in error with NO TAXATION CLASS and I had to go to the local DVLA office in Bristol to get it changed to HISTORIC.
I went their this morning and I have to give high praise to the fantastic service they provided in getting the form changed and they were able to photocopy my original buff logbook to get all the history recorded, without me having to loss the original buff logbook. I now see what others have been saying about the great shame that it will be when the DVLA local offices close as they were so helpful and really efficient. I walked out with my new Tax Disc and a smile from one side of my face, all the way to the other.
So I'm about to go out now for it's first ride on the public highway.
Here's some photos:






Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

A fine looking job, well done. I can't tell from the shine on the top of the tank if it has the BSA transfers, but there's a guy in Australia reproducing them if you need some. I think there may be other sources in Europe too?

Thanks Vincent,
I have the BSA transfers but just a little unsure how to apply them with some precision, will hopefully have them fitted tomorrow.
Had a bit of a scare whilst out riding as the cylinder seemed to go a bit tight when the engine was very hot, but managed to leave it to cool down and it rode me home with pride.

It brought the local petrol station to a hault when everyone came up and wanted to hear it start.

Very proud and really pleased to be an owner of such a great machine.

Will have to ride a few short rides to break it in slowly, the 15 mile ride today may of been a bit much?

Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

it looks absolutely beautiful and spot on. you really should be proud, well done Julian. can i wish you many miles and years of happy biking on her/him. things like this add to the sum of human happiness. not a bad thing in these difficult times. peter

email (option): peter.beresford3@btopenworld.com

Hi,Julian smart looking machine nice to see another shiny WM20, My personal choice of colour bronze green using leaded two pack paint much more durable than most matt finishes.You,ll have to get used to the (crowd) when you go to fire up your bike. One thing I would suggest is to fix the angle of rear stand as it will break the frame mounts if left as is.You need to build up the frame mounts with weld so stand is more upright and not adding stress to the mounts. Dave....

Thanks for the comments and thanks Dave for your suggestion to look at the stand mounts, never really noticed until you pointed it out and just assumed it was all as standard, will see what I can do to build up with weld.
It really is a head turner but just trying to make sure I run it in properly and trying my very hardest not to use more than 50% throttle and also to try and stop it labouring up any hills.
As it was the first time out on the roads today, I noticed that it seemed like quite a jump in gearing from 2nd to 3rd. It's the first single cylinder 500cc bike I have owned, as I'm use to high revving GSXR's. When I was initially riding it up a hill today, it sounded like it was labouring in 3rd but the kick down to 2nd made me think it was revving to high at around 20mph?
What is best for running it in, rev it or let it plod?

Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

Hi Julian,

Great job! This is a brand new WM20!
When you're running in, plodding can cause the wear you don't want, even when you're low revving.

See you in Normandy next year....

Regards,
Sven

email (option): snvosselman@gmail.com

Thank you Peter for your beautiful words:

I've been through a very bad time lately with my company going into liquidation without notice and leaving us all high and dry. You are absolutely right in saying what you did, as it really does give a real high and allot of pride when I ride my M20, knowing that I have managed to do it all with the very great and brilliant help from this website.

Many thanks to you all once again.

Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

Hi Julian...Two things that must be avoided, particularly when running in...retarded ignition and a weak fuel/ air mixture..Both will increase the engines operating temperature...So, make sure the timing is correctly set and that the adv/rtd lever is set to fully advanced when running above idle speeds.
Also set the carburation on the rich side initially and then 'lean it off' to reach the desired settings. Set the pilot air screw about 1 turn out from fully screwed in and the needle clip one notch richer than the standard setting. (I assume you have the correct jets and throttle slide cutaway fitted..)

The secret of running in, particularly in the first few hundred miles is not to overwork the engine...So, don't let it slog up hills in a high gear yet conversely, don't let it rev too much in the next gear down...Just let it take its time at moderate revs.
Don't 'accelerate' hard away from a standstill either and when running along a level road do so on a 'rolled off' throttle, minimising the load on the engine....Driving this way and always being mindful of exerting light loads on the engine under any conditions means that effectively you should ignore the actual speed you are travelling at....
After the first few hundred (critical) miles you can progressively increase loads for SHORT bursts, gradually working up to full loads for longer periods towards the end of the running in period..(1000 miles)

I have found this to be a successful method over scores of engines and a number of decades...
You may get people telling you to 'ride it like you stole it'...In my experience that is complete nonsense and such actions are likely to result in an exciting but short ride....Ian

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

Thanks as always Ian.
Today I richened the mixture like you have described, as the spark plug was grey not black.
It smells a bit richer but runs allot smoother and isn't smoky at all. The weather stopped me from riding today but I fully understand what you are saying.
I must confess that I did retard the engine yesterday, which probably didn't help, but will keep it fully advanced in the future for the short term, as I have allot to learn with the retard positions.
I use the choke/air slide on start up but then close it once warmed up, is this correct?
Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

Lovely looking machine,can i ask if the colour is deep bronze green and did you use satin or gloss ?

Hi Julian...The best thing to do with the adv/rtd setting is to retard it a little to start the bike if needed (to prevent it kicking back) and to then fully advance it and leave it like that when you are out on the road...
If you are unsure of when, or how much to retard it then the best thing is not to...When the bike is fully run in you can experiment with the settings with less risk of damage...I rarely use the adv/rtd lever myself, only in very specific circumstances and only at slow engine speeds...Take a look on the technical section at the piece on ignition timing...You will find a detailed explanation of what adv/rtd is all about there....

When the choke lever is used to 'pull' the cable (tight cable) the choke is open, or not richening the mixture by blocking the air inlet side of the carb. When the cable is 'slack' the choke is closed and will richen the mixture....Unless the weather is very cold you don't really need to use the choke when starting...Just turn on the petrol, depress the 'tickler' for a few seconds (not until petrol pours out everywhere) and then fire the bike up, just allowing a few seconds for it to warm up before pulling away....Ian

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

thanks for this Julian. This website is great isnt it, for all sorts of reasons, as well as the practical help and seeing things like your bike getting there. Sorry to hear re your company. My son in law had the same happen to him last year. One of the things I like about riding my M20 is that i can't think of anything else when I'm riding it!!! I find that v helpful! all very best peter

email (option): peter.beresford3@btopenworld.com

Hi Chris,

The deep bronze green is satin and was the closest colour to what I originally found when I stripped the bike down to find some reference green bits, I know that Olive Drab is apparently the correct colour but the deep bronze green colour, for what ever reason was on my bike at some point in it's life whilst in the military, after the military it saw the flower power era and got sprayed purple? I wasn't sure on the colour at first but now it's built I absolutely love it.

Peter, I'm also sorry to hear about your son in law as it really is a mess when these companies do the dirty on their employees and put it into liquidation with absolutely no notice. I agree 100% that when I have ridden the M20, there is no other place I would rather be and feel honoured to be allowed to ride it.
This website is amazing and I cannot thank all members on here enough for their great assistance.

Ian, at present I'm not getting kickback, now that I've learnt the compression spot to kick it from and thankfully it seems to start 95% first kick. I'll have a read on the Adv/Ret but will do as you say and back off to begin then keep it advanced if that is the safest way forward for the rider and the engine.

Kind regards,

Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

hi julian,
many thanks for the info. i had a suspicion it was deep bronze green, i have a ex-afs matchless that is the same colour,and , i have a 1941 g3l that needs repainting and i would say the original was the above, so i am off to the garage.
cheers

email (option): fj1200@talktalk.net

Ian,

Thank You, Thank you, Thank you.
I have just ridden a nice fairly flattish 7 miles past chepstow racecourse and the difference after getting the mixture sorted was unimaginable. I have lifted the carb needle by 1 notch, tried 2 notches but saw a bit of soot on the plug so thought it best to just go with the 1 slot at this stage (now on the third slot from the top of the needle) and also wound the pilot screw fully in then out by 1 full turn and then tweaked it with just an 1/8th more, to get it running a bit smoother. The business end of the spark plug now looks a uniform black (without soot) as opposed to the grey I saw on Tuesday.



I have got to change my riding style dramatically and made sure that second gear wasn't revving out, I think the gearbox does need a little tweak as I think it was jumping from 2nd to 4th, I have now manged to feel with my foot for 3rd and the ratios seem allot nicer and the engine is no longer labouring.
As I live in a hilly area, I allow the bike to naturally slow to about 15mph, then in 2nd gear just let it ride with very little throttle whilst going up the hills and the engine seems to cope beautifully, it certainly is allot quieter and comfortablly pulling without any real effort.
On the flat it was nice to roll the throttle off and just be a pillion whilst it chugged along at about 25mph.
Life really does need to slow down sometimes and thankfully all the other motorist were very curtious and overtook sensibly.
A little happier now knowing that if you treat it with respect you'll get allot more respect back.

Thanks again Ian.

Julian

email (option): 79aust@sky.com