Anyone ever own a BSA?

Like you Mailman I lusted after a Beezer for several years. I'd buy all the latest classic bike magazines as soon as they came out and read them from cover to cover and dream of owning one.
For many years I carried out Surveys of Schools and often covered 200-250 miles a day over 4x Counties .In between Schools I'd find a nice shade tree somewhere in the countryside and settle down for half an hour with a flask of coffee and my sarnies and those mini breaks kept me sane and got me through some tough years.

Finally I found a cheap BSA Spitfire for sale .It had apparently been renovated and had a replacement 500cc engine and single carb but it looked great in the picture so I hired a van and drove for hours to buy it . it was a dog ....it wouldn't start it had bits missing but i fell for it and gave him a huge wedge of cash and brought it home.

A few weeks later I proudly rode it to a local garage to get it MOT tested. The vibration was truly epic, my hands feet and bum were completely numb after riding it just 8 miles to the garage. On riding out of the garage after the test, the front wheel jammed and I went flying over the handlebars under the front of an oncoming car narrowly avoiding getting run over. it transpired later that the front drum lining had separated from the shoe and jammed the brake on .....it was like hitting a wall .

Long story short I never rode it again . A short while later I broke my back and had to sell it . It was nearly 5 years before I could walk properly again and in that time, prices of British classic bikes had gone through the roof .
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Like you Mailman I lusted after a Beezer for several years. I'd buy all the latest classic bike magazines as soon as they came out and read them from cover to cover and dream of owning one.
For many years I carried out Surveys of Schools and often covered 200-250 miles a day over 4x Counties .In between Schools I'd find a nice shade tree somewhere in the Country and settle down for half an hour with a flask of coffee and my sarnies and those mini breaks kept me sane and got me through some tough years.

Finally I found a cheap BSA Spitfire for sale .It had apparently been renovated and had a replacement 500cc engine and single carb but it looked great in the picture so I hired a van and drove for hours to buy it . it was a dog ....it wouldn't start it had bits missing but i fell for it and gave him a huge wedge of cash and brought it home.

A few weeks later I proudly rode it to a local garage to get it MOT tested. The vibration was truly epic, my hands feet and bum were completely numb after riding it just 8 miles to the garage. On riding out of the garage after the test, the front wheel jammed and I went flying over the handlebars under the front of an oncoming car narrowly avoiding getting run over. it transpired later that the front drum lining had separated from the shoe and jammed the brake on .....it was like hitting a wall .

Long story short I never rode it again . A short while later I broke my back and had to sell it . It was nearly 5 years before I could walk properly again and in that time, prices of British classic bikes had gone through the roof . View attachment 120089
View attachment 120090

Oh my God! What a harrowing story! Maybe I should just be happy I had a Bonneville!
 
MM, you referring to the RT360? The DT250's Big Brother?

RT360.jpg


That was my first big bore 2-smoke. I found out about DT's when station in the Philippines in '70 and '71. Got transferred to Japan in January of '72 and the very first thing I did was find a Yamaha dealer and buy me an RT360. It was TORTURE waiting for the snow to go away so I could ride that thing.

Most bikes I've traded off over the years I've only had mild regrets or even none at all. Selling the RT was a HUGE mistake. I keep an eye out but all I see are either too far away, completely ragged out or pristine with a price tag that reflects it.
 
MM, you referring to the RT360? The DT250's Big Brother?

RT360.jpg


That was my first big bore 2-smoke. I found out about DT's when station in the Philippines in '70 and '71. Got transferred to Japan in January of '72 and the very first thing I did was find a Yamaha dealer and buy me an RT360. It was TORTURE waiting for the snow to go away so I could ride that thing.

Most bikes I've traded off over the years I've only had mild regrets or even none at all. Selling the RT was a HUGE mistake. I keep an eye out but all I see are either too far away, completely ragged out or pristine with a price tag that reflects it.

I loved those DT360’s also. But no I was referring to the YZ360 motocross bike.
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Back in the '90's I got a BSA A-75. The 750 triple. It was choppered. Extended forks, struts for rear shocks. Rebuilt the forks with stock length tubes. Got a set of Koni's 7610 shocks. Boyer iggy. Got her running pretty good and the paperwork straight. Was taking it to get the tailpipes sniffed for tags and a rod let loose, took out the cylinder skirt and I pulled in the clutch and coasted over to a parking lot. Don't recall how I got it home but did. sold it for less than I had in it. Kept the shocks and using them on the SG now. Use the extended fork tube for cheater bar now and again.
 
Back in the '90's I got a BSA A-75. The 750 triple. It was choppered. Extended forks, struts for rear shocks. Rebuilt the forks with stock length tubes. Got a set of Koni's 7610 shocks. Boyer iggy. Got her running pretty good and the paperwork straight. Was taking it to get the tailpipes sniffed for tags and a rod let loose, took out the cylinder skirt and I pulled in the clutch and coasted over to a parking lot. Don't recall how I got it home but did. sold it for less than I had in it. Kept the shocks and using them on the SG now. Use the extended fork tube for cheater bar now and again.

Man that’s a real shame about that A-75, they were a hot bike and not as common as Triumphs T-150 and T-160’s.
 
I was waiting to hear from Fred, I figured him for a bunch of them. :thumbsup:

Hi Mailman,
hey, I forgot the car.
1930's BSA 3-wheeler. 2 wheels in front with an air cooled V-twin like a Morgan except the
engine was modestly hidden under a hood and with front wheel drive. Look 'em up.
Got it because back in the 1950s UK you could drive a 3-wheeler on a bike licence.
Lack of parking space forced it's re-sale a week later.
 
Hi Mailman,
hey, I forgot the car.
1930's BSA 3-wheeler. 2 wheels in front with an air cooled V-twin like a Morgan except the
engine was modestly hidden under a hood and with front wheel drive. Look 'em up.
Got it because back in the 1950s UK you could drive a 3-wheeler on a bike licence.
Lack of parking space forced it's re-sale a week later.

Ha! I’m going to have to look that up Fred! I had never heard of that.
 
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Mailman,

I like you have lusted after a high pipe scrambler for a while. My buddy has a 1965 A65 and his dad a 1969 Lightning and I got bit by the BSA bug pretty hard.

Still haven’t found one yet, as most of what comes up for sale is either incomplete or has been ridden hard and put away wet.

Had a line on the above bike last year, but didn’t pull the trigger. The numbers looked legit, but it was missing a title and had no pistons (was told once that there are no high mileage BSAs:laugh: ).
 
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