BSA Lightning custom

I get to see a lot of bikes while researching posts for Bike EXIF. But it’s only occasionally that one will stop me in my tracks, and send me straight to eBay looking for an identical model. Kevin Giffin’s ‘Buster’, a 1966 BSA A65 Lightning, is one of those rare bikes. (It’s also a familiar model for me; in the 80s, there was a TV detective show in the UK called Boon, and a BSA Lightning featured in every episode.) Giffin's BSA was an eBay find, but also a salutary lesson in buying unseen. “It was supposed to be a...