Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 2, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted November 2, 2021 The BSA Dandy. Possibly the worst bike ever built, a massive failure and rightfully despised as a prime example of shoddy engineering, poor build quality, penny-pinching design, and failing to address known issues. Few in number, gross, and only admired by weirdos. I've got 3 of em... 1 complete blue and red one, suitable for restoration/unreliable 2-smoke pesting. 1 green thing with most bits, incl engine, suitable for a frankenbuild. 1 grey frame, mostly there, suitable for parts. So tentative plan is to restore the good'un (painted similar to above), bang a jappa-knees engine in one, and make an electric one. All 3 to be used on one plate, if things ever get that far. (Cant be bothered getting my good one out for pics so here is some background and pics of what they should look like): What is the Dandy? The 70cc Dandy ‘scooterette’ was originally a unit construction, 45x44mm two-stroke single, riding on 15in wheels. It included the scooter virtues of weather protection, some concealed mechanicals – the carburettor was out of sight behind a slotted cover in the crankcase – and a step-through frame. It was female-friendly, and BSA’s publicity invariably featured lady riders in skirts. Its many ingenious features for novices included (to spare footwear) a hand starting lever down on the left, but after a journalist broke a prototype, production models featured a left-side kickstarter. For compactness, the rear swinging-fork was attached to the backward-facing, horizontal engine unit. Brackets joined the crankcase to the right fork’s pivot position on the pressed steel frame, with the single cylinder forming part of that fork. On the nearside, a further steel pressing mounted on the gearbox formed the left fork arm. The front forks were leading link, and the brakes four-inch front and rear. The gearchange was equally innovative, featuring a two-speed pre-selector. Turning the left twistgrip towards you for first, as shown on a metal indicator next to the grip, and nothing happened until you pulled in the clutch, and released it to move away. For second you twisted the grip all the way forward and repeated the procedure, with neutral in the middle. Electrics were via a flywheel mag located in the middle of the crankcase, along with the points. The Dandy weighed in at 115lbs, claimed 130-plus mpg, and had a top speed on test of 33mph. What went wrong? The original design specified a heat-dissipating alloy cylinder with a chrome bore, but the production barrel became cast iron, and hot running meant that piston seizures were far from unknown. However, the real problem was the buried points. To get at them (a common maintenance task in the 50s) you had to remove the rear shocks, the electrical connections and the clutch. Then the bike wouldn't stand up, so you had to 'hang it from the rafters'. On the clutch there’s a set of fingers that engage with the flywheel. You had to separate them and move the flywheel to get at the points. 'It’s a half-day job. The desire to meet advertised costs also meant shortcuts were made (the stand is a bit of bent wire) and none of the known issues were addressed. The concept was sound, but it took the Japanese to do things properly a decade or so later where they revolutionised personal transport and sold millions of small, reliable, cheap runabouts... [TLDR] a good idea, ahead of its time, fucked up by British engineering and cost cutting, so essentially a bloody terrible thing, possibly the worst bike ever built by Britain, hence the attraction... 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 2, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 2, 2021 Here's some pics of my misery... Bluey... Greeny... and the Grey ghost... (sitting atop a spare CT110 engine) I paid a couple of hundy for the green & grey ones, planning on building a complete bike out of the 2, then the blue/red one came up locally, that is fully complete... 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOHC Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Have you found the ignition points? I am they they are buried deeply in the engine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 8, 2021 Author Share Posted November 8, 2021 Pretty easy to get at with the engine out. Which is the issue, you have to take the bloody engine out... So plans... Looked at wheel options, I like to start with these so I have a rolling frame I can play with, plus I have to work out swingarm mods/fabrication etc. I have a few Dandy hubs and rims in my stash, but everything on these is an oddball size. The 15 inch rims really limit my options, and the 4" x 3/4" brake pads (101 x 22mm) are impossible to find, plus the hubs have bicycle style cup and cone bearings. I could live with that, but I'm missing one cone, and some of the others are pitted... Hubs: The front and rears are the same, but the rear has a dished sprocket riveted on and a longer axle. Knocked out the loose ball bearing cups which are in good nick, and they measure 1.5 inch diameter (38.1mm). Thought easy, just look for a 1.50" OD roller bearing, around 3/8" thick, but (naturally) they are pretty much unavailable, unless you want to pay US$50 each (nope). Looked at machining out the bearing housing to accept a 40mm bearing but no meat there. Then looked at axle options as a starting point, Ali offer a 10mm axle and 10x30x9 bearings are cheap (6200 ZZ) so bought 4 of these and will machine a spacer with 30mmID and 38.1mm OD. Should be able to fit a sprocket and spacer somehow too, using the mighty Myford... Rims: I looked at rim/tyre options with a tyre size calculator, and can do a 14" rim with taller rubber that is near as dammit same size as the originals, which I need as I want to keep the 50's styled valenced rear guard. Some 32 hole 14" rims were availble cheap on Ali so bought them, and they arrived in a week or so, and look good. Not exactly the right width (only 1.40") but will work, just, with the 90/90-14 scooter tyres I bought... Spokes: did some calcs once the rims arrived, ERD looks to be around 338mm, so with 130mm dia hub flanges 65mm apart and a 2 cross pattern, comes to ~133.4mm. Ali offers 10G (3.2mm) stainless spokes at 134mm for a reasonable price, so ordered... Power: looked at my spare CT110 engine but way too big, so I've already bought a scooter motor, a suzuki FR50 with carb, that was on tardme at a suitable price and seemed smaller than many others. Not sure how I'll actually fit this but nice to have something to measure up. Electric option, seriously looked at hub motors, as I've already done an old BSA pushbike with a front tugger hub, but concerned about gearing/top speed with scooter sized tyres. Went with a 48V 2000W chain drive motor kit, that I should be able to line up ok, and gives me sprocket options... Arrived in 10 days so parts stash is growing, just a few problems to solve... Does anyone offer custom brake shoe relining for oddball moped sized things? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 8, 2021 Author Share Posted November 8, 2021 Actual work: Threw a couple of hubs in my blast cabinet yesterday, I hadn't used this for ages as my old hobby compressor was too teeny to work, but I had high hopes for my new bigger, belt drive job... But nope, still not enough air to work properly, even tried converting gun to a funnel filled, gravity feed system, with no real joy. Also tried fitting my pressure tank blast system nozzle into the cabinet, which sort of worked, but only in bursts if you kept turning the air off to build pressure. In the end I connected both compressors via a tee fitting and struggled away ineffectively knocking old paint and rust off... And drilled out the rivets of the rear hub as I wouldn't be using this sprocket... Then thought buggrit, and made a jig up to clean up the hubs in the lathe with emery paper, which went much faster... And when both were done I hit them with some durepox. Sadly my white stuff had turned to rubber in the can, which sucks as it's expensive, but I had a new can of light grey... So good to get something done. Now to look at the fun stuff, lacing wheels and inexpertly machining something... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregT Posted November 8, 2021 Share Posted November 8, 2021 The 1 1/2 inch bearing problem is common on AMC hubs too - as is the cup and cones.... I machined a piece of thickwall tube to press in with the ends bored for 35mmOD sealed ballraces. From there it's stepped spacers to suit your axles and wheel location etc. Points....Some years back I had a good long look at what was available for retro fitting to garden machinery. There are magnetic switches in very small sizes available for the likes of Briggs and Stratton flywheel mags. Start with the aftermarket catalogues, I'm sure there's something there which will improve the OE setup immensely. But jeeze, you're a glutton for punishment.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
63Ragtop Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 seems appropriate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 19, 2021 Author Share Posted November 19, 2021 So I did a near perfect couple of coats of wheel paint over the epoxy, apart from a teeny blemish on each wheel, that I thought a quick sand and recoat would fix. Unfortunately I ignored the 'wait 7 days before recoating' instructions and ended up with a terrific wrinkle finish (prob a reaction to the wax and grease remover I rubbed them down with after a light sand). Stupid impatience got me again... So after a week sanded them smooth and sprayed again. Came out pretty sweet, added a couple of coats of clear after 30 minutes, as per instructions. Not obvious here but is actually a nice metallic Aluminium finish... And the spokes arrived from Ali, look really good, and dimensions are spot on 134mm... So got everything to lace up some sweet new wheels now, while I sort the bearing issue... Unfortunately the spokes are larger than original, so I need to drill out the hubs, wish I'd known that before I painted them (twice)... 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippidy Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Sir Lord Grunty, How is the progress on the Dainty Dandynesses? Relegated to the closet in the bedroom or still under resto. Used to have one and dream of owning one again. Cheers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted February 18, 2023 Author Share Posted February 18, 2023 I looked at them today funnily enough. Only while I was shifting shit in the shed. I laced up the wheels but the spokes are slightly too long so I've got to shorten them a few mm. Think that's where I parked things. Busy with the ironhead atm, and under orders from kids to get their minibikes going, but still planning to work on these... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted February 18, 2023 Author Share Posted February 18, 2023 I see this pile of parts sold recently, so someone else is interested in these things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippidy Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 Yes the price of nostalga can be quite expensive, especially when in this case the other person wouldn't stop bidding against me. But I won in the end. And the reason why I was silly, well I used to own the red one 50 years ago. Evidently lessons of ownership forgotten so long ago are soon to be relived. Stay tuned for a full on restoration report with no expense spared, and a detailed hard line road test report. Surely there must be some good in my stupidity. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Rowland Posted November 12 Share Posted November 12 I had a BSA dandy ..nothing but trouble...If I inherited one today ..I would just take it to the dump.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted November 12 Share Posted November 12 The true English motor experience 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 13 Author Share Posted November 13 Perfect OS vehicle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregT Posted November 13 Share Posted November 13 6 hours ago, Lord Gruntfuttock said: Perfect OS vehicle... Fatally flawed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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