A7 A10 Books and Literature list

[a10gf]

Not exactly a link, but a collection of some "A" books, manuals and literature any owner should consider,  usually available from dealers or ebay.

edit, added the 'Super Profile'

[flatdeck]

What's the diff between the Roy Bacon books? I have the restoration book

[aaa10]

The "monographs no.4" is a small 55 page booklet. No repair or maintenance content, but a concise story about the development of the A's, and many interesting and unusual pictures (like the swedish police's a10 58' fitted with skis! ).
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[flatdeck]

Thanks for that. I have the Haycraft also and I have found that useful.

[a10gf]

Yes, the Haycraft book is well worth having, it's like an advanced version of the original BSA Instruction Manual.

[Beezageezauk]

I also like the "Haycraft" book.  It's pocket size and goes with me every time I'm on the bike.  Condensed information at it's best!!  Beezageezauk.

[Rocket Racer]

Another book I'm pleased with is the Mick Walker, BSA Pre Unit Twins, The Complete Story.192 pages and even some colour pictures. I did find the chapters on the v twins and the BSA group an unwanted diversion, but overall not bad.
I do find Roy Bacon tends to ignore the US export models and sticks to the domestic UK variants. The net seems to have the best information on east coast/west coast variations and also bikes like the daytona A7 specials which are often ignored. Likewise the twin carb heads which were not common outside the states on the A10's other than on the super flash.
Mick walkers book is not a technical book like the service sheets but more akin the Roy Bacon books, plotting model development.

[MG]

The A7/A10 Twins book from Roy BAcon mainly deals with the development and history of the Twins, while the Restoration book offers far more tehcnical details and photos. So the latter is the better choice as an information source for restoration work (I have both books)

[BSA_54A10]

The A7/A10 monograph is simply the A7/A10 chapters from the "Twins & Triples" book reprinted without any of the use full data but including all of the errors ( did not bother to edit & correct, shame,shame, shame ).
Money grubbing is the the term that comes to mind.
The Restorations book is basically the same as the Twins & Triples Book, without the A 75 content.
Still contains all of the errors of the original publication & most of the same photos. Added a lot of useless generalised waffle to make up the page numbers and would be a total waste of time & money if not for the appendicies which supprisingly enough do not contain as many errors as the text.
Not as bad as the crap peddled by Veloce publishing mostly under the supposed authorship of Peter Henshaw.
These 200,000 titles appear to be all the same text written as a mail merge file then having different model names & marques dropped into the merge fields. These publications even make Bacon's "BSA Buyers Guide" look good.   

[olev]

Nice work Trev,
Have you thought of going for a job with OBA doing book reviews.
You'll be a hit with everyone except the publishers.
btw. I like Chiltons BSA Motorcycle - Repair and Tune-Up Guide by Ocee Ritch.
The first chapter 'Engine Troubleshooting' is worth the price of the book.
cheers

[mikethebrush]

I was going to order roy bacons restoration book for twins

is there a better  reference book I could buy

[iansoady]

I've just bought both the Bacon BSA twins and triples and the Mick Walker pre-unit twins books. The Walker one is far and away better than the Bacon book (although the latter does have comprehensive year by year spec and engine number data).

I have found Roy Bacon's restoration books to be far too general to be of much use for any specific model - I have the Norton Twins one - but do include some useful general data.

[a101960]

Long since out of print now of course, but if you can find a copy (they do turn up in all kinds of places) BSA TWIN MOTOR CYCLES by D W MUNRO is a very useful book. Published by C Arthur Pearson under their Motor Cycle Maintenance and Repair Series. The edition that I have is from from 1960. The book even shows you how to assess chain wear. Virtually all British bikes from the "classic" era are catered for in this series. D W Munro actually worked for BSA by the way.

John

[BSA_54A10]

Roy was a journo and a bower bird.
he kept every piece of paper that came across his desk.
So in retirement he coalated the factory press releases into a sort of book.
I think the first 2 BSA & Triumph books he actually did himself.
After that they came out at the rate of 4 to 5 a year so they obviously were being subed out to some one with absolutely no knowledge of the subject.
The reason why there is no mention of US models is because BSA did not send him the US press releases, simple.
Much of what appears to be text is BSA press material or catalogues cut & pasted and all of the photos are BSA press publicity shots. there appears to have been no error checking. He even failed to correlate data with the factory despatch records which were publiclly available at the time he "wrote the books".
Just about all of what is in the appendicies were gleaned from the BSA data sheets which were put out every year by the factory.
Of the 2 the restorers guide is the better value the other publications make amusing reading if you buy them from op shops for $ 2.00.
And why do I seem so down on poor old Roy ?
Well the books have gone into their 4th or 5th reprints and there is no attempt to correct any of the errata.
We all make mistakes just some of us are too arrogant to admit it or too cheap to correct the mistakes and that is unforgivable
People who do not know any better read his work and accept it as FACT

[a10gf]

Off topic, I wondered about "Roy was a ... bower bird" ... lol

[BSA_54A10]

Sorry, I slipped into some Ocka there.
A bower bird is an Aust native that builds a huge nest out of stuff that it nicks.
Know to steal cloths of your line, pegs ( particularly blue ones ) stuff from the garage.
Hence a person who accumulates a lot of rubbish = bower bird.

[shabashow]

Magpie, in ye olde worlde English

[trevinoz]

Nothing like a magpie.
We have our own magpies but they don't steal much, mainly material to build their nests.
They get aggressive during nesting season and are known to attack unwary pedestrians and motorcyclists, particularly posties.
Bower birds will steal anything, even your lunch if you leave it unattended.

  Trev.

[pato08]

too bad I didn't know about these books while I was living in UK. EBAY   130146373679

Pato