Classic motorcycles will often suffer from seized engines if poorly stored

You are looking at one of my two favorite classic motorcycles.

The Vincent Black Shadow was so technically advanced for its time that 30-year-old Vincents (by then already considered to be almost antique motorcycles) could hold their own against shiny new Honda 750s, which were supposed to be powered with the most advanced motorcycle engines available.

Here is my second favorite classic motorcycle, a BSA Gold Star with a 500cc single-cylinder motorcycle engine. 

The bike could do 100mph and was simple, reliable and easy to fix.

As a boy I bought a very used collection of BSA B-33 parts. The B-33 was the slower, uglier, poor-performing brother of the Gold Star, my favoriteclassic motorcycle.

No alloy parts here, no high compression piston, roller, rockers etc., just a reliable cast iron Motorcycle engine. I'm sure my father said I could have it because he was positive I could never get the three boxes of parts to fit together and eventually end up with a rideable bike... wrong!

Within a couple of days I had it running, the persisting problem with the bike was that it was running but not ever for any particular length of time!