Alex's '67 Royal Star
This is the pic from the ad when I bought her
August 2003
Bought in Jacksonville, Fl, the 1967 Royal Star was my first british bike. While it was in very good shape, my ignorance, combined with the DPO's (Damned Previous Owner) zeal for more performance, conspired to make her a bit of a handful to own.
The DPO, in an effort to improve on the 500's adequate, yet unspectacular pperformance, had had a '71 650 Thunderbolt motor installed in the bike. The mechanic was reputed to be an old hand at building performance BSA motors. One questionable modification was the increase of the carburettor bore size from the original 28 mm to 30 mm. It turned out that, not only had the head not been ported for the larger carb, but it hadn't even been jetted. I found this out the hard way by having the motor overheat and seize on a scorching Florida two-lane in the middle of nowhere. The seized piston fortunately came loose after two hours of my floundering in the searing heat. This incident led me to decide it was time to jet the carb from top to bottom. I did it the old fashioned way: plug chops. It was actually fun to run flat out, kill the motor and then pull the plugs. Word of warning, though: Those fekkers are HOT! I even ported the head and lowered the compression by installing a thicker head gasket. She ran like a dream. A really raucous dream, though.
After jetting, I experienced a period of relatively trouble-free riding. While she was constantly shaking shit loose, especially on extended high-speed runs, it was never anything that couldn't be fixed on the side of the road. She even got me home safe when my truck broke down 300 miles from home on the way back from Daytona. She always leaked oil in copious amounts, but, hey, I could always pour more in. A major rework was, however, inevitable. Cranshaft endplay, specced at .001"-.003", hovered between .015" and .018". Most BSA specialists would have said the motor would be sure to blow up in no more than 100 miles, but I managed to put about 3000 hard miles on her, though the glunck-ga-glunck of the bottom end constantly reminded me at idle of the dangerous game I was playing.
April 2005
After acquiring the Golden Flash and, thus, having another bike to ride, I decided to dig into the bottom end and switch the drive side bearing to a ball instead of a roller, elimiating the need for endplay adjustment. All looked good in the cylinder bores and on the pistons. I even bought myself a 3-angle valve cutter kit from Neway and did a complete cylinder head overhaul. Ports, combustion chambers and piston crowns were all smoothed and polished. Also, in an effort to extend the life of the new bottom end, I decided to add an oil filter.
The installation of the filter... |
...on the rear motor mount plates... |
...using a filter availavle at my local auto parts store. |
The installation is quite snug against the motor... |
...but is still easily accessible while being nearly invisible from above |
 The block is machined from 6061 Aluminum... |
...and polished for good measure. |
Before installation |
After successfully completing the rebuild, the joy of riding this beast again was overwhelming. Performance was really pretty impressive for an old single-carb 650. I spent three joyful months spanking her up and down the roads at highly illegal speeds. 4th of July weekend saw me putting 500 miles on her, much of that in excess of 80 mph thanks to Chad on his triple. We even topped the ton a few times. My elation at the bike's performance helped me cope with the many aches and pains I gained from riding this VERY vibraty animal with such gusto. I would, hoever, have to pay in another way soon...in fact it was just one week after that 4th of July weekend.
I was pretty pumped about having met a girl who was liked old fossils like my beloved Beeza, and I was really looking forward to taking her on our first date on two wheels. I decided to take it easy on the bike - 'cause of the passenger. The weather was warm and sunny. it was just a pleasant evening rolling down Glenwood avenue after fetching a cup of coffee when rakkkatakkakkkaktaktaktTHAK! She completely locked up on me (The bike, that is). Fortunately for good friends, the date was salvaged by my buddy Chad, who not only came and got my poor Beezer, but brought me another bike to continue the date on (A honda VFR, no less!).
The bike didn't fare as well:
The piston crown had completely separated... |
...from the skirt... |
...and bent the rod. |
October 2005
It was at this point that I decided I needed to do everything I could to make my main rider more reliable. I had heard many good things about the original 500 motors in the Royal Star. I had the numbers-matching motor, so the reversion should be cheap and easy. Little did I know that, due to limited popularity and, thus, availability, oversized 500 pistons are horrendously expensive. The original bores in the cylinder barrel were too corroded from sitting to reuse, so it would have needed a rebore. Fortunately, eBay came to the rescue with an NOS barrel for less than $100. The pistons were fine, so they were reused with new rings. I reused the original monobloc carb, so aside from upgraded lighting and the oil filter, the bike was just as it had left the factory.
The 500 motor is a joy. Smooth as a triple with mileage close to 50 mpg, she'll still nudge the ton and is something I could sit on a 70 mph all day. As an added bonus, she has barely leaked a drop of oil and not ONE part or electrical connection has vibrated loose.
November 2006
Well, after 11,000 relatively trouble-free miles and one year, disaster struck. A bit addled by the flu, in darkness and heavy traffic, I was avoiding a minivan that had slammed on its brakes when a left turn signal turned yellow when a tow-truck hauling a contractor truck couldn't slow down quickly enough and nailed me from behind. I was thrown clear of the bike and we both went sliding through the intersection. Other than a few bruised ribs and some roadrash where my jacket got pulled up, I suffered no injuries thanks to my leather jacket, jeans, and gloves. The bike didn't fare so well:
The forks resembled bananas, the exhaust was destroyed, the left side sidecover was mangled and the headlamp and ears were smashed. The bent footpegs bent back o.k., but then I discovered that the left one had punched a hole in the primary cover. All is fixable, and it'll be a good excuse to get her all painted up pretty.
A couple more recent pics