1970 Lightening Conundrum: Build or Break

My goal in putting a motorcycle collecting together boiled down to 4 bikes: Norton, Triumph, BMW and a BSA; I have all the bikes. The Triumph is done the Norton is close, the BMW is painted, but the engine is in line for a rebuild. The 1970 BSA A65 Lightening is at the bottom of the queue.

I rode the BSA for a season before I started throwing money and effort at it; it needs the TS either re-bushed or converted to rollers and may well need an overbore, head work and balancing. I has a new charging system, wiring harness and all the primary drive components.

All the tins are done (Vintage Vendor) and he found a service in Canada that got the dents out of the tank and re-chromed it, Brent painted all parts.

So here is my conundrum: With purchase and parts/services (so far) I have about $11K into it and it may need another 3-5 to finish. I doubt that I could get 14K for it, don't know.

So, should I strip it and sell the parts or soldier on and finish?

Best.

A $14k bike in hand might be better than a $8k in hand sold on bike.
Look on the bright side, you will need to live longer to come up with the time and money to finish it.

scroll down, think US $$ unless shows CDN

74ok said:

scroll down, think US $$ unless shows CDN

Click to expand...

I appreciate the sanity check, looks like I failed the check. I am painfully aware of fact that I have already spent too much money on this project. I guess I'll leave it in the queue...I have to strip it anyway.

Best.

RoadScholar said:

I appreciate the sanity check, looks like I failed the check. I am painfully aware of fact that I have already spent too much money on this project. I guess I'll leave it in the queue...I have to strip it anyway.

Best.

Click to expand...

I never keep record of how much money I put into my bikes. Two reasons: (1) they are entertainment, not business; and (2) I don't want there to be any evidence for my wife.

If you like the bike and have some sort of attachment to it. Keep it and pick away at it over time.
I've built a few BSA's over the years. They don't hold the same kinda value as Triumph or Norton.
If you can do the work yourself consider your time a write off and call it a labor of love