Mark,
I am sure you are familiar with the tight fisted nature of British bike owners.
Double that for the back yarders who "restore" for profit/.
Thus there is no part so badly made or poorly fitting nor unfit for the end use that s BSA owner will not use it provided that it is cheap enough.
Add that to the conspiracy mongers who "Know" there is a massive stash of NOS parts hidden from them so the retailers can make massive profits by keeping the market in short supply.
The exception to this is of course seriously competative race riders when money is less of an object when winning is what is important.
The backbone of BSA's reputation for quality & longevity was the forge and in particular the use of forged lugs on the frames up to & including the stand lugs.
While malleable iron is a suitable material for lugs, it will vary greatly as the chemical composition of the actual melt changes while pouring let alone different melts.
While modern steels are much more uniform and advances in metallurgy means modern castings are much more consistant , none of them will match the strength & durability of a forging, and that makes manufacturing pattern parts a nightmare as forgings are prohibatively expensive and castings need to be dimensionally heavier.
Rivet counters want parts that look identical, this badly welded rubbish , full of filler that are not fit for purpose .
As they have failed or became too hard to find or even expensive I have replaced forgings/stampings with investment castings very successfully. The trick being in the choice or steel and the heat treatment. The hardest part is forming a working relationship with a foundry and getting them to embrace new or unorthodox ideas. I wish I had your experience of metallurgy and the associated science. I admit using trial and error with many of my new ideas.
I really don't want to get into fabricating manufacture, though we have a comprehensive factory. If I could find suitable staff that might change. If I make one of something there are often others made at the same time. They get put up for sale, if they sell I might make more.
I've just finished a Job costing me over £3000.00ukp in labour. The part produced I'm asking £150.00 I could never break even on it. I just needed one to finish another job. There were alternatives but the result would have been substandard.
The question of forgings or malleable iron castings has been a long running one...A trawl of the internet turns up comments that definitively state that either one or the other was the type used...Well they can't all be right unless changes took place at some time or other...
My question is does anyone have any BSA literature that specifically states the materials used?...I'd like to be certain about this point...Ian
