Vintage BSA Motorcycles

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The Birmingham Small Arms Company, better known as BSA, was started in 1861 by gunsmiths in Birmingham, England. The founders had been supplying guns to the British government during the Crimean War, but when the market began to decline, they began to broaden their horizon. BSA began producing Otto Dicycles in the 1870s, bicycles in the 1880s, and automobiles and motorcycles in the early 1900s.

The first experimental motorcycle was produced in 1903, however the engines came from other manufacturers for years. The first release of a motorcycle with a BSA engine was in 1910. After success, "BSA Motorcycles Ltd." became a subsidiary of BSA Company in 1919.

World War II brought about an increase in demand for motorcycles. Over 125,000 BSA M20s were produced for the British military over a span of thirteen years, from 1937 to 1950. The M20 was a 500cc bike, and its larger counterpart, the M21 was a 600cc bike also used by the British during the war. At WWII’s end, motocross was gaining immense popularity across the globe, and BSA of course, quickly jumped on that bandwagon... Read more

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A vintage racer takes on the “Isle of Man Challenge”

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By Legacy Motorsport

Ron Halem has been riding BSAs for a while. “I don’t know why I chose the BSA, I just did. Over the years I acquired more Gold Stars, some as basket cases and some as complete bikes. At the time, I had no idea this bike would turn in to an obsession!” says Ron. “I moved from Los Angeles to northern California in 1990 and it was then that I found the BSA Owners Club.

I began to put a lot of miles on two of my Goldies riding the back roads of the bay area and I found myself going quite fast, indeed, for such an old bike.” Then, in 2000, Ron and a few buddies flew their bikes to England and made the pilgrimage to the Isle of Man. Ron remembers “the Isle of Man was like no other place in the modern world. We saw thousands of old bikes being ridden.

And then there was the Manx Grand Prix where many of these old bikes were being ridden very fast! I was hooked.” And so began the “IOM Challenge.” According to Ron, no one has ever completed a lap on the IOM TT course at over a 100 mph average on a BSA Gold Star. The late Paul Dobbs had come close several times at a bit over 99 mph, but never passed 100... Read more

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A BSA Built for the Island | Catalina Special

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From the April, 2011 issue of Motorcyclist
By Thad Wolff
Photography by Andrea Wilson, Joe Neric

This whole Catalina Grand Prix thing started when I was a kid, riding dirtbikes north of Los Angeles. I heard they used to race motorcycles over on that island that I could see from my favorite riding spots. Those racers must have had the time of their lives back in the ’50s, loading their bikes on a barge, hopping on the old Catalina Steamer and rolling into the little town of Avalon to race through the streets and off into the hills. The whole idea always seemed so cool to me.

Now fast forward to 2010. BSA built a Gold Star 500 single in ’59 and named it after the race in honor of Chuck Feets Minert’s win in ’56. The logo is really neat, with BSA Catalina Scrambler printed across an outline of the island. Having never been into old English bikes, I decided to turn a ’58 BSA A10 Super Rocket 650 into something similar. My twin would wear the Catalina Scrambler logo on top of its fuel tank, along with the words Twin Special... Read more

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The story of the 500cc Titanium BSA

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by Eric Johnson

In 1966 the most ambitious factory-backed development effort in the history of modern motocross materialized on the esteemed Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme 500cc World Championship circuit.


In the beginning… The year was 1965, and BSA – commonly known as Birmingham Small Arms – was bent on ruling the motocross world. Keen on winning its third consecutive 500cc World Motocross Championship, the factory executives of the Birmingham, England-based motorcycle company held a big meeting in a smoky, dimly lit room – a meeting to which the company accountants were not invited. And it was in this room that that their master scheme of producing the fastest and lightest motocross bike mankind had ever seen was sketched out on a clean sheet of paper.


Their corporate mission statement now etched in stone, the BSA overlords – perhaps intoxicated by the success of the two previous world titles they had pulled down – declared that all of the factory’s resources were to be immediately tooled up and put into motion in a finely concerted quest to snag a third FIM Gold Medal. In doing so, the BSA accounting ledgers were slammed into a dark cabinet and the engineers, fabricators and machinists filled up their coffee cups and set about the task at hand. For them, the entire project was something of a dream come true: Free reign – and no budget restraints!


Enter Jeff Smith, the talented English rider who had delivered BSA its two previous titles. Smith, who was tapped to ride the exotic new “shadow works” project bike, was brought on board during the development process, and soon joined the army of machinists and engineers in transforming the bike from violet colored lines on a powder blue blueprint into a real lie, gas burning piece of machinery. It was at this point that the intriguing true story of BSA’s at “totalitarian rule” on the motocross world began. And like many great, timeless stories, when all was said and done, both BSA and Smith would end up riding an emotional roller coaster that would serve up hope, joy disappointment and an unforgettable conclusion.


BSA, having captured the previous two 50cc World Championships through it s creative and resourceful competition department, now wanted a third title at all costs. However, as with most motor corporations that race to win, there was more behind the project than just the desire to put a third gold medal in the company trophy case... Read more

Images: MotorcycleUSA.com






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A perfect BSA

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via : http://blog.seniorennet.be/oudecrossmotoren2/











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With a BSA you're faster far from home

Walt Axthelm an Off-road Rider

. Via the AMA Motorcycle hall of fame museum


Walt Axthelm was an influential off-road rider of the 1950s and ‘60s. He was one of the first Americans to compete in the prestigious International Six Day Trials (now called the International Six Day Enduro). Axthelm won numerous off-road events in Southern California during his racing career, including a class in the popular Catalina Grand Prix. He rode with backing from several factories during his career and was one of the first riders in the America to race factory-backed Suzukis in off-road races.



Axthelm was born in Upland, Pennsylvania, in 1933. His family moved to Southern California when he was 14 years old and shortly afterwards Walt got a junior motor license and his first motorbike, a Schwinn-bicycle-framed Whizzer. He later got a more advanced Whizzer with springer suspension, a two-speed gearbox with chain drive. He raced against his buddies who had Cushman, Powell and other brands of scooters. He lived in Compton and in the afternoons he would go down to the Los Angeles riverbed and practice riding until dark. By the time Walt was 17 he began racing his first true motorcycle, a rigid-framed Royal Enfield, which had no rear suspension and all of two inches of front fork travel.



He began racing in Scrambles events on an AJS in Palos Verdes. Gradually, he worked his way up to become one of the leading off-road racers in Southern California. His first sponsored ride came in 1954 when he was backed by Louie Thomas’ BSA shop in East Los Angeles.



Axthelm was sponsored indirectly by BSA, through Thomas’ shop. "Hap Alzina (BSA’s western states distributor) was supplying the bikes to Louie and they built them there," Walt explained. "Off-road riding didn’t pay anything back then so I never got any money from BSA. No one was making money from that type of racing back then."



By 1980, Axthelm was in his late 40s and he decided to retire after getting hit by a big rock thrown up by a racing pick-up truck in one of the long-distance desert races.

"I decided that it wasn’t fun anymore," he said. "I had a small sailboat at Dana Point and just packed it up and went sailing and that was it."

B.S.A & Triumph Renewal

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Towards the end of the 60’s, the British motorcycle industry was in decline under the assault on the market of Japanese bikes in particular by the Honda 450cc DOHC. In an attempt to stem this tide BSA & Triumph management planned the development and sale of a motorcycle which could compete in the marketplace against the Japanese bikes. Thus the BSA Fury & Triumph Bandit were born. Essentially the same bike which were badged under their respective brands..





The Triumph TR6 Trophy was introduced in 1956 and lasted until 1973 when it was replaced by the 750cc TR7. During this time it was a successful model, particularly in the US. The competition variant, the TR6(S)C, popularly known as the "desert sled", won numerous competitions throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. The bike's appearance in The Great Escape and Steve McQueen's fondness for the model are well known. Although not quite as quick as the Bonneville the Trophy is considered by many to be Triumph's best all-round 650cc model.



By the 1960s, small, reliable, oil-tight Japanese machines were gaining momentum. To strengthen its position, BSA merged with Triumph, and had mild success with its Rocket 3, a three-cylinder bike that shared its engine and drivetrain with the Triumph Trident. Nevertheless, by the 1970s, performance Japanese motorcycles had displaced BSAs in the minds of many motorcyclists.



The BSA Lightning was designed as the 'all-round' sportbike of the 1960s, planned largely for export to the US market to complement the touring BSA Thunderbolt and the supersports BSA Spitfire. Development of the engine aimed to make it more reliable, quieter and less prone to oil leaks, with top speed sacrificed to improve mid-range and rideability. With twin carburettors the A65L could still reach 108 mph (174 km/h), however. Improvements included an oil pressure warning light which had a tendency to malfunction, so riders learned to ignore it.