The story goes that after graduating high school he got an itching for a bike, a fast bike, to help let out his teenage angst before he got himself into trouble with doing things we all did but shouldn’t have. Something to focus on. He’d worked all through high school and had a bit of cash stashed – enough to pick one of the two bikes he had narrowed his choice to. Plus there weren’t many dealers near where he lived in Upstate New York so it was a choice between a 1969 Triumph Bonneville 650 and a 1969 BSA Lightning 650. Actually there was only one dealer and that’s what he carried. Choosing one or the other was the equivalent of the Chevy versus Ford thing and which camp you wanted to join. The Triumph was a great bike and still is to this day, but it seemed like everyone and their brother had one. Not so with a flashy BSA even though it was once the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer. Jack, always being his own guy and not prone to being like everybody else, was drawn to the beautiful candy apple red paint and flashes of chrome the BSA offered. The shiny bits and paint would have won me over too.

  Jack fell in love with that bike as only an 18-year-old can and rode that thing fast and hard over the back roads and city streets in Upstate New York. Didn’t matter if it vibrated like a paint shaker, he rode it regardless and claims to never have lost a race. I believe him as he weighed just about nothing when he was a kid and that surely didn’t hurt his power to weight ratio. Plus he’s a damn good rider with a pleasantly big ego to match so losing is not on his agenda.

  At the end of his second riding season on what sounded like the most reliable British bike ever, he joined the military and faced going overseas immediately. Selling that bike still bothers him to this day and that’s why he always checks out every BSA just to see if he can find his old bike. Not a BSA, but his bike. In the meantime he’s happy as a clam with his current stable of Harley-Davidsons sure like to find lost youth again on his own BSA. Wouldn’t we all?

   So now you know one of the reasons behind the images of this lovely BSA hardtail bobber built by none other than Lucas Joyner, owner of The Factory Metal Works in Salisbury, North Carolina. The other reason is that Lucas builds really fine custom motorcycles usually of the British persuasion and is no stranger to Barnett’s Magazine Online.  We’ve showcased his wicked cool ’52 Triumph named Pimp Slap, another BSA called Greengo and his gorgeous Nine-O-Clock Gun Triumph to mention just a few. All are impeccably built inside and out and are roadworthy bikes with a style of their own.

  This black beauty is a post-1962 unit construction BSA that was probably a bitsa bike like so many that survived the past 40-years as just motorcycles before they became collectibles. Nothing that would cause a purist’s heart to start fluttering, but a bike that was kept going with a bit of this BSA and a bit of that one. Kinda like making a resto- mod out of a ’57 Corvette when all you have is a body. No numbers matching bike was hurt in the making of this custom.

   Lucas added one of his hardtail conversions with a six-inch stretch and a 2.5-inch drop to give it a bit of flow on the low. The stock rake angles a set of reworked external spring forks that gives it an aggressive mechanical look while staying this side of stock. A drum brake up front is laced to chrome rim wearing a chunky flat tread Firestone replica tire by Coker. Out back the original sprocket drum brake continues the vintage vibe and also sports a slightly beefier rear Firestone. True vintage stuff still providing the feel of a true vintage ride which means you gotta plan ahead a little no matter what any drum brake freak says.

  The 650 BSA vertical twin with a four-speed tranny is surgically spotless and probably looks better than new. In this version, it’s got the single carb head off a BSA Thunderbolt instead of the twin carb setup of the hotter Lightning. Instead of running the expected Mikuni conversion, Lucas stuck with an Amal 930 to keep things on the British up-and-up. Hey, 40-year-old carbs are allowed to wear out, but you can get a brand new Amal from The Factory Metal Works keeping it all Blighty instead of turning Japanese. That super short velocity stack with a wire mesh bubble cap is also another neat TFMW part that fits right on the Amal like it was made for it because it was. TFMW fabbed up a set of fabulously passive-aggressive twin headers that extend back just far enough to run well and become an integral part of the overall design while broadcasting the endearing sound of a Brit twin blatting its way to redline as only a Brit twin can.

   All the tinwork may appear stock to the untrained eye, but it’s not. The tank appears to be from a super rare BSA Goldstar with high-quality replica BSA tank badges in black to match the bike instead of the standard red. It’s clean and simple and to the point just like the rest of the bike. Ribbed fenders are in the best English tradition although these have been modified quite a bit to make them even more visually entertaining while still fending off stuff. I like TFMW didn’t take the expected way out making a “cool” bobber and just tossed the front fender. It’s nicely incorporated into the design and both have a deliciously delicate set of TFMW-fabbed stays. They’re there, but they’re not at the same time. Oil is fed to the engine via another TFMW product, that sharp-looking ribbed steel vertical tank sitting right out in the open and bathed in chrome to make sure you can’t help but notice it.

   And, in a tradition that dates back to the beginning of customizing, anything that isn’t chromed is painted a luxurious gloss black. It’s hard to fault just about anything in black and chrome and it looks right in a classical way on this old world BSA. It’s not about flash on this moderate custom, but class with a touch of quiet elegance. Three’s nothing over-the-top radical about this build, but there’s nothing that Lucas hasn’t touched. Even the riding position from the sprung solo saddle to the stock foot controls to the mildly wild bars says easy to ride and that’s what this bike is about ─ riding. Oh it’s a looker all right and will garner more than its fair share of admiring looks, but like the real Old School bikes it’s still a rider first. Lucas Joyner and the crew at The Factory Metal Works wouldn’t have it any other way.

For more info on The Factory Metal Works, visit  http://www.thefactorymetalworks.com/ or follow them on social media.