Following Triumph’s lead, BSA turned to unitary construction for its range of parallel twins as the 1960s dawned, launching the all-new 500cc A50 and 650cc A65 Star tourers in January 1962. The first high-performance variant – the A65R Rocket – arrived in October 1963, only to be superseded the following year by the Lightning, the first of the unitary construction twins (along with its A50 equivalent, the Cyclone) to be equipped with the new splayed-port cylinder head fitted with twin-carburetors. Cycle parts remained unaltered except for the adoption of a 19″ front wheel.
The 1969 BSA 650cc A65L Lightning on offer here was built in September of that year and comes from a Southern California collection. In good overall condition, with non-original parts including rims and tank, which is a brand new, never had gas, still smells of fiberglass, and was inspected as per the sticker in June of 1997. The bike was just inspected in our shop and found that the engine has the incorrect top end and the result is a bent valve. One cylinder has a compression of 160, while the other is only 75 lbs. It will require a top end rebuild before returning to reliable road use.
Engine no. KC12973 A65L
Location: Ventura, California
SOLD
