BSA info

DogT

DogT

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Are there any forums like the Access Norton one for the BSA bikes? I know the Britbikes one, but that doesn't seem to go anywhere for me. All of a sudden I have a desire for the 441 Victor and I can't find any sites with parts, information, or anything like the Commando forum???? I'm just looking for basic information for now until I can understand a bit of what I'm getting into. I can't believe the Commando forum is the only one like it. But then the Miata forum is pretty sketchy too, but there are a lot of Miatae out there.

By the way, what happened to the for sale forum, all I get when I go the the 'motorcycle forum index' page is some strange CP home page. Is something going on with the Jerry Doe site?

Dave
69S
 
74 B50 MX is the go , used to go for 2.500 max. :shock: :lol:

Mead & Tompkinson used to race one in the I.O.M. 120 m.p.h.
Triumph Adventureer gets you a chassis , theres two engine tunes inem I think , one being single carb Daytona , pretty quick .
A turkey I knew used to scrape the pegs on one. The Yokohama Knobblies were used by peg scrapeing street rideing moto cross
Lunatics.
Given a lift to the store on the back , holding the Commando Crank in my lap , I kept my knees , elbows and ears IN , and tried
to look only straight ahead over the inboard shoulder.

All the tripe on the 74 MX is the ' race stuff ' . One one Aussie Ebay at the moment , classic MX , but 73. Gold Star SS is close .

Mead and Tompkinson were notorious Endurance Racers with there Diafuso centre hub steered kwakersiki 1000 ' Nessie ' , had
fuel tank under engine , and 4-1 Ex trough ' Tank ' to along / under seat .Should find BSA stuff on ' search ' on them .
or Classic MX sites .

B40 or 441 were reagarded as a bit weak in gearbox and big end , as 250 based. Was a 359 too . . . ?
Told the B-50 is virtually a ' Unit ' gold star , by the B-50 owner .Bike last seen rotting in his brothers care ? sitting on a porch outdoors with the new spares scattered about . :cry:

CCM on ebay recently too , " Clews Competition Machineary " ( look em up ) got the ' works MX Dept. and continued manufacture .
608 3 speed with staggered fins , ran in top 10 in 78 & 81 world mx champs. From the back of a van team .


Brother raced a CR 250 , about 74 , was a straight on a C.C.M. touring round about tenth in the races then .One day at Silverdale , he opened it up on the top straight and hung on.

Fair crack of the Whip , as they say , passed anything in its path . Distinctive low rummbling note, as was the CR with D.G. head & Pipe from California. Same day a guy fell off at
the top of a top jump / bump, landed just past , sideways, and got a wheel tread imprint across the chest of the yellow T-shirt as the next guy touched down .He sprung up unhurt,
hed just caught it at the limit of its travle. Unlike saddle back park , were every second race was stopped fo the meat wagon as some hero stacked it in te second bunch, Front group
normally manadged to stay on , with Marty smith out front and very smooth .

The Vintage M-X sites should have stuff too , on B-50 & C.C.M.
 
The BritBike.Com has a dedicated BSA section that is fairly active with several very knowledgeable folks hanging around.

You can find running thumper projects from $2,000 up...
 
Used to ride a 441 around the parking lot and surrounding hills at my friend's fraternity in college. The owner always had a hard time starting it and keeping it running. Lots of mechanical problems. I remember it as a piece of crap to be honest. Maybe things are better with electronic ignition, etc these days. Would try before you buy. How about a nice Matchless?
 
Try http://piled-arms.com/

I had a Victor throughout college and rode it everywhere. It wasn't fast but it was reliable and it was a 1st kick starter. The hardest part about owning a Victor is getting used to the compression release and the starting drill. Here it is 37 years later and I actually bought another one!

Dave
 
I was probably a bit harsh in my evaluation. Back then I don't think we even knew about starting drills because I had to learn it much later in order to start my Matchless scrambler yard sale find. It was a heavy dirt bike compared to what I was used to at the time. There was a railroad tie I always tried to loft the front wheel over but just kind of plowed into it. I do like the skinny mean look though but I don't get along with BSAs.
 
Hey, drp, thanks for that link. I had a B33 single 500 hard tail back in '63 in Monterey, CA, 1 up and 3 down, just like the Norty. Plus lots of low end torque, a real thumper, but lots of vibration which I could take when I was 19. I was just blown away by the look of the Victor, having never seen one and it looked so small. The B33 also had the compression release, but I think all I used it for was to get the piston over compression, but then living at the top of the hill at the Army Language School, it was not a problem just to drift it down the hill to start it, as long as it got up there.

I remember a few times it would quit and just not start. I would leave it somewhere, like Carmel or Pacific Grove and go back the next day or week, whatever, and it would still be there and would start right up. Never figured that. I sold it to another student when I was sent to Berlin and I understand he used it as a dirt bike and burned it up (fire) in a few weeks. I bought it from Rabers when he was in Salinas for about $300 which was probably way too much, but it was cheap to run and insurance was nil. Used SAE80 in the oil tank to keep the pressure up. I actually drove it to Merced (Yosemite) and to Vanguard AFB (Santa Barbara) on the PCH and back once. That was a nice drive despite the asleep hands. Can't believe it didn't strand me. But then that's youth, time and chance doesn't matter.

Actually the roof on the house is in need of repair and I think that is going to be my next project (and $$$) before winter sets in. That'll give me time to mull.

Dave
69S
 
I purchased 2 last summer, a runner and a parts bike for $1700. I had one in '73 that got me to college and to work at a local bike shop for 3 years, I had to put in a set of rings and clutch pates during my stewardship and I sold it for what I paid for it after graduating. I very poor substitue for the Goldstars esthetically, but considerably more relaible than same in the final anaysis. Good chance the 441s are scaled up 250s (round jug ones anyway), but then 750/850 Nortons are just scaled up from lessser displacement versions of the same design also...

There are a number of vendors that carry parts for the 441s And I sugget that your second purchase is a parts book,it greatly reduces the ambiguity between doodads and thingamagigs. British Cycle Supply, British Only, Baxters, Coventry Spares to name a few, there are more. Do keep in mind that they ain't making any more parts, not like for Norton and the 441s were not paragons of marketing success when compared to the matching year CB 160/250/305/350/360...

There are few experiences as satisfying as chugging along on a British single that absooutely needs all its parts to function; mine is about 10 months away from local adventuring.

RS
 
Nice little 68/9 250 starfire on ebay for $1800 in Texas at the moment .

o.k. I think pottered about on a 441 might be tennable , but for competition,
or Hobot ! :lol: would be expensive maintanance , or a disaster .

Is C.C.M. still up & about ? The ' ALFA ' big ends kept that up to date,
rods shoulnt be impossible. Think clutch & box were 250 derived ??
which lead to some maintanance ' issues ' so they say .

Young Jeff Smiths works MX bike wouldve been the ' Works Developement Bike ' and not quite std. perhaps .
More like the B-50 protortype even .

Triumph TWIN versions are TR5T ( Tropy Trail - soft tune ) and ' Adventurer ' the hot cowboy version .
73 and 74 are the best of the B-50s , durability and powerwise.74 B-50 MX having race spec. as used
by Mead & Tompkinson for there endurance raceing & i.o.m. bike . I think this did ' rather well ' at
Barcelona one year .
 
Quote for thee , Motorcycle Sport . March 1982 P. 141 .

" One of the BSA B50s that Mead and Tompkinson campaigned so well . This one turned out approximately 38Bhp
which was enough for a top race speed of 115 mph. It was fast enough to lap Spa at a consistant 100 mph lap after lap ."

Std. Triumph disc front brake fitted , drilled . 1/4 head fairing , full road equipment , lights etc . Indicators Not Fitted .
and . . . it looks like a Concentric . Alloy rims . sorry I cannaye put the picture on .
 
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