BSA Design repair PT.2

O.K., so the Ducati side covers are decidedly sexy. On to the tanks. No, we're not making a new tank. Ain't nobody got time for dat. The first pic in my last post is of our BSA before Unk bought it. I think. Generally speaking, our bike still looks just like that but the tank has a couple leaks so he bought another tank. I don't know what they are called in BSA speak but it's bigger and ostensibly does not leak. I like em both. Now since we are still comparing British to Italian, let's leave Bologna and take a trip a couple hours North and West to the shores of Lake Como. No, not to see George Clooney but to the Moto Guzzi factory and peek in on what Leno Tonti and his boys have cooked up for early seventies motorcycle styles.

Oh. Mye. Gawd.
Pic from Here

Pic from BikeEXIF

These two make me drool. It's no secret I like green but we need to focus. Tank shape. It's got a little dip down and in right behind the cylinder head. Very nice lines. Plenty of fuel. The triangular bump on the V7 cover flows nicely with the tank as does the newer panel on the 1000 in the second Guzzi photo.

Here it is in it's current state in front of a slightly newer 650 twin. Not the greatest photo of the overall bike but it shows the shape of the tank nicely. Bump out, comes back in and up behind the cylinder head. Same deal but less aggressive than the Guzzi. More British. Why am I bringing up the tank? Two reasons. A) the side panels we are trying to fix do not match either of these tanks, stylistically. B) The seat. Wait, what about the seat? Not unlike The Dude's rug, it really ties the room bike together. Have I lost you yet? Well, I have failed to mention that if we fix the side covers that ridiculous tail lamp housing is going to be the new weak link aesthetically speaking. This is all strictly my opinion, by the way. So since we're going to have the shot bag and teardrop hammer out anyway, might as well do something about that tail end. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

So the Ducati GT sidecovers have a good look and you can see how they'd fit right on the Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. All of these bikes have a similar enough profile and our big BSA tank is the nerdy cousin of the Guzzi tank.  All that tells me I'm on the right track. I think the paint color and design (if any) will have a bit to do with this also. The frame on our bike is grey. My understanding is the bikes came this way and the Americans did not like the color. Many dealers were repainting the frames black so they could sell the bikes. I think it's ugly but with the factory two tone paint they made it work. Ironically, the two tone paint also hid the nice line just along the bottom of the tank and made it look a little more like a slab than it really was. Grey stays. That weird ass magenta color on our tank? Yeah, not my cuppa tea. Unk didn't like the kind of green I did so I'll put that one in my pocket. Dad mentioned in one of his posts that the GT panels bump out and he would prefer more of an innie, as it were. I think I agree but I'm not sure that we could do something like the 750 Sport/900 SS covers without making them look like an exact knock-off. 

From Here

The outside shape is right on. The BSA covers have to contend with the giant oil bearing backbone however and oh, did I mention it's also an airbox? We can deal with all that. The point is they have to look better and function as well. I have no doubts about function, airbox or no. Looking better is the challenge. Many have tried...few have succeeded.

Here

Nice bike, side covers courtesy of Campbell's Soup. 

From Shop Teacher Bob's blog

Pretty good attempt here. The side covers are better than stock and I'll leave it at that. 

No idea where this one came from. 

Number plates are always an easy out, but we're not going flat track with this one. That's funny, this one...like we build bikes all the time. 

BikeEXIF again

If you are into skinny jeans, have a handlebar mustache, and an axe that you don't know what to do with, you can go this route. (Actually I like this bike, just don't tell anyone.) Look how nice the line along the bottom of the tank appears in this picture. Why did they hide that? I'll go back to my sketches and keep thinking on it. More to come.