The Brit: Part 2
This what what I had when I brought this machine home. A box of parts, screws, nuts, studs, chains and a mess. Aside from having the timing cover open, the head cover open and wrapped up in a blanket there was a lot wrong with this machine, and as you’ll learn, a lot more needs to get done.
This bike is a 1954 AJS 18S. It’s a 500cc single cylinder British street bike made by the company AMC. This bike is a some what rare example of a British single, especially here in the U.S.A. It has a 4 speed Burman B52 transmission, and a chain driven, external magneto timing system.
The bike also came with a Smiths Chronometric speedometer
This speedometer is special, in that it uses a mechanical escapement, much like a clock to tick up and down with speed, unlike electronic or electromagnetic speedometers the movement of the needle is done as a tick, not a smooth sweep. This is a result of the complex movement inside of it.
The bike also shipped with a full Lucas electrical system, which sadly had leaked all of it’s precious smoke out.
It definitely didn’t help having a cigarette lighter installed into the side of the headlight bucket, connected to the sense side of the amp meter!