BCA Bike?
 

I saw a touring bike on Craigslist (no pic though) made by a now defunct American company out of PA called a BCA, Bicycle Company of America. I did some internet searching but couldn't find much other then it may have been made by Ross. It's a steel frame bike with AL components and wheels, and most if not all Ross bikes used steel wheels. The owner bought it from another person for his son some years back to take to college but it didn't fit him and the son decided he wanted a car instead. The owner thinks it was built in the early 80's but he's not sure.

I'm going to go look at it and see what it's all about, but I thought if anyone by some slim chance had some heads up info on those bikes it would be great.

Thanks

If you have a few hours to kill try this thread. It will make you an expert.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=ross+bikes

The 80's was basically Ross's best years with a few good road bike builders making their Signature series and one of the first Mountain bike sponsored teams.

I read that, it does have a lot of info on Ross bikes, but next to nothing about BCA, there were two short post on BCA one poster said they were all junk and another wanted info about them to which no one responded.

I'll go look at it later today, I can tell by the level of components and frame tubing if it's any good, I was just hoping to gleam some info before I went. He's not a bike fanatic at all, didn't know the model name or the components on it and he was at work so he couldn't look at to tell me, just trying to clear his garage of junk and the bike was there. He said it seems to be in overall good shape...but that could mean anything! He wants a $100 for it, but I probably won't buy it if it's a low level bike, if the bike is in bad shape but the components are good like Suntour Cyclone (in my dreams) I'll buy it just for the parts. But I have a feeling it's a low end bike.

I have had a few BCA's and have seen many more and I have never come across a high end model, don't know if they had one? I liked the few bikes I have had but they were all cruiser style bikes with the exception of one ladies road bike that has a Tange #5 frame and low level parts.


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I picked up a BCA road bike, lugged steel frame, forged dropouts, Shimano 600 Arabesque components. Seemed like a decent enough bike. I've currently got it stripped down to the frameset since the fit was off for me.

Not low end, not high end, not a bad bike, call it a daily rider (if it fits).

Not much to speak of generally, hoards of low end bikes with a diamond in the haystack or a needle in the rough once in a while... or something like that.

If it's got those type of components on it I'll buy it, I'm a sucker for lugs and I don't have any components with the Arabesque design cuts which would be cool to have, so the combination of those two things would be a buy for me.

I'm keeping the components for a future build, frame is currently posted locally since it's not overly worth the shipping costs to my thinking and I don't have time currently to properly pack it up for shipping.

As to the bike you were talking about, if it fits, and if it checks out, and if you like how it rides, and if you're okay with the price, then I don't see a problem with it.

I checked out the bike, it was piece of junk, it was a piece of junk when it was new!! Probably made in the late 70's it used the department store Suntour 7 derailleurs that were never sold in LBS's. It had the original steel rim in the back but at some point they replaced the front with a cheap aluminum wheel. It had those top bar shifters, and the bike was very heavy. It wasn't even worth the scrap value! All along the guy is telling me it's a high end bike!! I had to politely tell him the bike was a low end bike. But now I know what a BCA bike is. Although the lugs were very unusual, kind of gothic? not sure how to explain them, but they were chunky with several points around the lugs instead of just one, like a W shape instead of a V like most lugs. The dropouts were cheap pressed or stamped dropouts, but the fork was half chromed while the stays were painted.

Like Schwinns, not all BCA bikes are the same, some are better, some are worse.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=220753

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=220754

What part of the universe are you located in?

In some part of the universe that has never ever seen a BCA bike in the 58 years I've been traveling this universe. And when I checked for hours on the internet very little was mentioned of the brand. I found 2 people, one said they were cheaply made bikes, and another mentioned they became partners with Ross at some point and made in Allentown PA. I couldn't even find an image of one.

I would therefore conclude that if you have a nice one would be to keep it because it's very rare, more rarer then their cheap ones!! I would also post your images on the web so if others want to see one they can see yours.

By the way the bike I saw was creamish off white color, I can't tell from the photo but yours looks to be almost the same color. Also the one I saw had no decals on the bike except for the head badge, and no water bottle mounts on the frame. Your dropouts are way nicer then the ones I saw. The frame was built by Sakai of Japan with no mention of being double butted so I would assume they weren't.

Well, rare is relative, and in my current region a rare BCA has little value. I may rebuild this one eventually, or more likely it will go to the local frame-chopper guy who makes them into something else once his existing frame inventory goes down. And if I have to relocate for work then it will probably end up elsewhere.

In any case you learned a bit about the BCA brand.

I did learn a little about the brand that's for sure, and you helped too because I thought all they made was cheap rides.

I do hope you post some pics of your BCA on the web for the world to see, because there isn't any now and someone may find it interesting some day, I know I would have if I had seen it.

This started its life as a bottom end BCA mountain bike, turned it into the White Lightning commuter. had a lot of fun on it actually, gone now...

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You did a good job transforming it, hopefully you didn't spend a lot to it, but if you enjoyed it then the money doesn't really matter.

That's probably along the lines of what I'll end up doing to the frame I have, fun to noodle around on, easy to maintain, easier to sell when the time comes to post it again.

And, no, I won't Drew it, all the bits and pieces will remain on the bike in case someone down the road wants to gear it again.

If you want to single speed it, then you'll have to dish the wheel and respace the hub to get the right chainline, there isnt really any good way to make it easy to go back and forth, or even simply back to gears.

I recently converted a Schwinn Sprint 12-speed to single speed just by removing the freewheel and spinning on a BMX freewheel and running the chain on the small front chainring and the chainline was near perfect, that one would be a cake walk to convert back to gears. I figured I'd take the same tact with the BCA and see how it all lined up since selling the frameset locally is not happening (not even at $20). I found a singlespeed crankset in the garage when I was purging and re-arranging things which is what I'll be starting with.

Re-dishing the wheel is nice if you want to play with the axle spacers and such to center the hub better, but I figured that if the spoke alignment worked with a 6-speed freewheel then it should work the same (strengthwise) with a single cog freewheel from a BMX bike, so basically I don't plan to re-dish thereby making the conversion reversal simpler down the road.

But the reality is, due to work searching and other stuff happening, the frameset will probably hang in limbo on the garage wall until next spring or summer or whenever. The plan is there for the frameset, and parts are being accumulated, but the project isn't in any particular queue yet to get any more work done on it. I might have the BB threads chased, but beyond that no plans for it beyond thoughts and daydreams.

Well, you may get lucky and not have to redish and respace, As a bike mechanic doing it "right" is the only way I like to do it, but the reality is if it works and you are happy with it then great, runn'er

The problem Ive oftenrun into doing conversions is that even on the inside of the spider the chainring cannot get properly aligned with the cog, with the added tension of a singlespeed drivetrain the chain is sent at such an angle that it is noisy and clunky, the angle of the chain is not an issue when you have a derailleur to relieve the chain tension and hold it in proper alignment before the freewheel wrap.

But like I said, if it works and you are happy with it , wonderful, especially if you want to have the gear option still there, but know that you can likely get it better if you need to.

Yeah, I just got lucky with the Schwinn, no chain noise and near perfect alignment.
But I don't expect the BCA to line up as neatly, if I still go that direction with it.

few pic of a bca
 

This Bca seems to be a pretty decent one. Beside the rusted chain. but seem to have descent parts and alloy not to offal heavy. big bike that's what caught my eye at 1st. What do u all think, are these original part. I gave 10$ for it and the 3 speed black scwhin behind the bca in pics

Like I said in earlier posts I don't know a whole lot about that brand, but unlike the BCA that started the post the one you are referring to appears, note I said appears, to be the usual lower end stuff they sold due to the use of steel seat posts, stem, bars, and rims, however someone replaced the rims, stem and bars with what appears to be aluminum which is good. For $10 (plus the other bike) I think you have a good commuter bike, it will be a bit heavy but as a commuter being left outside at work that bike will be fine. I do think you should caliper the seatpost to get a measurement and replace it with an aluminium one for good measure, and then put some light grease on both the seat post and the inside of the seat tube before putting the new seat post in then simply wipe off the excess grease.

I had a BCA Town & Country that I got for free around 4 years ago. It was a 26" wheel version of a hybrid bike - fat tires with tread, flat bars, gel seat, and 10 speeds with thumb shifters. It was low end, but a decent build with a high tensile lugged frame and stamped drop-outs. The components were decent quality, and the crankset was cotterless steel. It had a nice two-tone metallic gray paint job. I held onto it for a year or so, and finally sold it to a college student. Sometimes I wish that I had kept it as a curiousity.