Old Brit Scrambler

[XF650]

A customer scored this out of the States, ironically now displayed with oil promotion.
Obviously more of a styling exercise than true scrambler but with its high pipes and more appropriate tyres fitted, I'm looking forward to seeing it restored.

[AllanB]

Very cool find.

1971 - I guess it is also a visual statement on the death of the British motorcycle industry not long after 71 - when new that bike was up against the CB750/4 and Kawasaki was releasing the Z900 in 72.

[pete-blen]

BSA tryed a few diffrent models towards the end to try and keep the wolfes
away from the door.... Even a rebranded Yamaha AG100 renamed the BSA Bushman
only sold in 3rd countrys...
There was also a 2t trials bike in the pipe line but they went belly up before it seen the light of day...



...

[husaberg]

A customer scored this out of the States, ironically now displayed with oil promotion.
Obviously more of a styling exercise than true scrambler but with its high pipes and more appropriate tyres fitted, I'm looking forward to seeing it restored.

Yes only style, the real A50/A65 offroad competition bikes were the earlier Hornet and Cyclone and Wasp.
They had some success in TT racing but BSA only made the required 200 long stroke cranks for the 750 conversion (lightning A70) and I think most were used up by the sidecar racers.
The mk1 A10 Spitfire was also a off road racer. There is one about 10kms from me. (last pic)
My Dad still has a unrestored A50 Cyclone.
They were only basically striped road bikes with only subtle detail changes to tanks (bigger goldstar size badges), bars, guards etc and basically Spitrire/Lightning tune engines.
About the only special part I think they likely had was ET ignition.

[J.A.W.]

Very cool find.

1971 - I guess it is also a visual statement on the death of the British motorcycle industry not long after 71 - when new that bike was up against the CB750/4 and Kawasaki was releasing the Z900 in 72.

To be fair, BSA was still strong in motorsport at the time, they were the last 4T maker to win a MX World Championship for decades,
& BSA rider Dick Mann did win the AMA No 1 plate in `71, inc' the Daytona 200..

John Cooper in Blighty on a BSA - even defeated Ago on his multi-championship winning MV Agusta 500 GP bike - in a 'race of champions'..

[Motu]

''Cashing in on the desert racer''?...? The desert sled was a British bike. Triumph and BSA shared the oil in frame, previously BSA had their own (superior) frame. The OIF was a copy of the Trackmaster flattrack frame, I didn't like them at the time, but do now. Up against the bike Jap bikes coming out?, but the British motor industry was going down the tubes long before that happened. For me in those days the Jap bikes handled horrible, had shit suspension and dangerous tyres, British bikes had all that sorted - I've never been into speed, going around corners has been always more important....so I stuck to bikes that could handle when pushed.

[XF650]

Thanks for the interesting history Motu. My limited off road experience with the marque was in my youth owning a B31, that could penetrate gorse hedges quite well.

[pritch]

Motu every time I raced a Brit bike on my CB500 bits would fall off them or they'd blow up. (I'm assuming the statute of limitations is covering my arse.:whistle:)

Shortly after that I had two BSAs of the period: a B50SS and a Cheney B50MX, so I'm cured. I can look at all those A65 pics without the slightest twinge of nostalgia.

[J.A.W.]

Motu every time I raced a Brit bike on my CB500 bits would fall off them or they'd blow up. (I'm assuming the statute of limitations is covering my arse.:whistle:)

Shortly after that I had two BSAs of the period: a B50SS and a Cheney B50MX, so I'm cured. I can look at all those A65 pics without the slightest twinge of nostalgia.


Mead & Tompkinson built their B50s well enough.. to win at 24hr endurance races..

Guess those old Brits just needed proper fettling, eh..

[AllanB]

For me in those days the Jap bikes handled horrible, had shit suspension and dangerous tyres, British bikes had all that sorted -

Very true - I remember mine when I started riding (used Jap bikes then early 80's new ones) - handled well up to a point and when you exceeded that point of speed mid corner the bendy frame wobbles would arrive ....... Koni did well out of me for rear shocks and I remember making up a couple of fork braces for the fronts and adding air caps to the forks.... steering dampers . All gave noticable improvements - each moving that' point' further but it still existed just kicked in much later at higher speeds .....

[Daffyd]

I could just imagine that 'dessert' racer racing round in a pudding plate.

[BMWST?]

by the time i bought my cb500 4 in about 1974 i hardly ever saw any brit bikes

[AllanB]

by the time i bought my cb500 4 in about 1974 i hardly ever saw any brit bikes

Die hards had them.


I remember a mates dad buying a jubilee Bonneville brand new as a 'investment' - must have been around 1980 if I do the math correctly. May have be a year or so earlier. I remember I was riding (16) and he came out for a spin with us but may have owned it for a year or so by then.

I vividly remember sitting at the traffic lights on my used CB200 Honda (with cocktail shaker mufflers thank you) with the bonnie next to me and pointing to it's front end that was shaking up and down to the engine like a friggen jack hammer while it idled.

[J.A.W.]

Die hards had them.


I remember a mates dad buying a jubilee Bonneville brand new as a 'investment' - must have been around 1980 if I do the math correctly. May have be a year or so earlier. I remember I was riding (16) and he came out for a spin with us but may have owned it for a year or so by then.

I vividly remember sitting at the traffic lights on my used CB200 Honda (with cocktail shaker mufflers thank you) with the bonnie next to me and pointing to it's front end that was shaking up and down to the engine like a friggen jack hammer while it idled.



Yeah, reckon your memory is likely playing tricks on you there, AB..

Those late 750 Bonnies were soft as.. see here.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du8A1ueLKn8


A Commando could do that though, with its isolastics allowing the give..

Not that any Brit-biker of the period would deign to acknowledge anything so pathetically anodyne as a 500/4,
let alone bother to even look down his nose at a lousy CB200..

[Motu]

Die hards had them.

We were still riding bikes from the '50's in '74, never bought new bikes no matter where they were made.

[pete376403]

We were still riding bikes from the '50's in '74, never bought new bikes no matter where they were made.

With Brit bikes there wasn't really any point, nothing changed :-)

[Motu]

Well, that was the point - we'd fit all late model stuff onto our bikes. So we had early '50's Triumphs running 9 stud heads, 9:1 pistons and late model Bonnie cams, '69 front ends and twin leading shoe front brakes. Fun times.

[J.A.W.]

Well, that was the point - we'd fit all late model stuff onto our bikes. So we had early '50's Triumphs running 9 stud heads, 9:1 pistons and late model Bonnie cams, '69 front ends and twin leading shoe front brakes. Fun times.


Yeah, that's the way I recall it too, & things like Triton, Tribsa, & Vincati too..
Even the Brit factories did it, putting a soft tuned 500 Triumph twin mill into the BSA B50 trail bike chassis..

[Motu]

The British invented Lego....they just called them motorcycles.

[J.A.W.]

The British invented Lego....they just called them motorcycles.


Well, they did rename that `70s 500 Triumph twin in the BSA chassis - 'Adventurer' - from 'Trophy Trail'..
..thus - naming the whole genre, as such..

[Voltaire]

Well, that was the point - we'd fit all late model stuff onto our bikes. So we had early '50's Triumphs running 9 stud heads, 9:1 pistons and late model Bonnie cams, '69 front ends and twin leading shoe front brakes. Fun times.

Guys like you made it hard for us serious restorers of British bikes...:innocent:

Just paid good money for a SU carb 53' Thunderbird frame, just need a MC2 SU carb now.....suppose you tossed lots of them too :blink:

I started riding in the early 80's, had to admire guys who rode Brit bikes when we had Z1000's , dedication to a lost cause.

My experience with A65 engines is limited to a 71 Lightening that I took to Ireland in 2002..... timing side bush...what were they thinking.

[Motu]

Apart from the ugly egg look, the A65 was a brilliant redesign of the A10....but they left in the timing side bush! Ed Turner changed to a timing side bearing, and then later beefed it up. Even though he was the mangaging director ( now he'd be the CEO) of the company, he had nothing at all to do with BSA, he completely ignored them....although he did design a couple of V8's for their Daimler division. I tossed away a lot of now very rare British stuff (mudguards, narcels, sprung seats, toolboxes, all that ugly stuff) which is why I am not happy with the bobber craze, seeing my youth paraded in front of me. But I wanted and SU carb, collected lots of parts, even found some in Melbourne, but never enough to make one. There were plenty of SU manifolds, so adapted HS2's (Mini etc) onto them.