A Golden Vision – Bike Find of the Day
Son of a Gun. And what a progeny it is.
This amazing machine took second place in the freestyle class at the 2011 AMD World Championships, and it was loosely based on a BSA Gold Star by builder Larry Houghton of Lamb Engineering.
Other than the exquisite mill, nearly every other part of this slim and spectacular machine is a piece of one-off engineering fabricated by Houghton. A new frame, swingarm and gas tank combine to make this re-visitation of a British classic sublime in nearly every way .
The wheels, engine, and gearbox were uncovered on eBay, lots of the other bits were scrap yard finds from a buddy’s yard, but it was the 1200 hours of work which make this bike a marvel of economy, style and pure function.
Houghton took his inspiration from 60′s racing Hondas, Yamahas and threw in a dash of British motorcycle heritage to arrive at his vision. The engine began life as an old 1951 500cc BSA Gold Star ZB bottom end and Gold Star DB34 top end in racing trim. A single Amal TT carburetor, a one off straight through exhaust pipe with flared end fabricated in stainless tubes by Maf from Expressive Motorcycles and a BSA M21 4-speed kick start gearbox were married to an open single-row primary chain drive to complete the drive train.
The slim beautiful frame features a 26-degree rake and upside-down front forks machined from alloy keep it pointed in the correct direction. The front end was completed with a 17-inch Excel wheel rim laced to Talon single-disc hub. The rear end? How about a chain-driven, dual-shock swingarm suspension system was fabricated entirely by Lamb Engineering. As for controls, this bike uses a quad-tube handlebar setup, inverted controls and a brass (analog) speedometer keep things classic.
But what really makes the look of this uber-cool machine is a custom fabricated dual use gasoline and oil tank in steel married to the custom solo seat by Tony Taysom.
Top the whole thing off with seat covers by Scott-Lloyd Motorcycle seats and a golden and magnificent paint job from Del Whitaker and you have the final product.
Check out Lamb Engineering and the World Championship of Bike Building here www.amdchampionship.com
