bsa

[u4ea]

after speaking with a few b.e.a.r enthusiasts i can"t determine what BSA origins are.British Small Arms........were these bikes made from melted down arms or used as small arm carriers????????or nothing to do with warfare? can someone enlighten me........

[Ixion]

Birmingham Small Arms.

Original company made guns.Rifles grenades etc . BSA air rifles were still around when I was kid. Branched out into motor cars (there was a BSA car in the 30's) and bikes.

Quite a lot of gun makers ended up making motorvehicles. Royal Enfield, Skoda (some of the best cannon in the world - some damn good cars, too , pre WW2) , Daimler, Armstrong (Siddley, whitworth etc) . Probably lots of others I can't recall off hand.

[eliot-ness]

after speaking with a few b.e.a.r enthusiasts i can"t determine what BSA origins are.British Small Arms........were these bikes made from melted down arms or used as small arm carriers????????or nothing to do with warfare? can someone enlighten me........

Birmingham Small Arms. Manufactured guns long before bikes. Amalgamated with Triumph in the 60s and closed down soon after. Made some good bikes,
Beat me to it Ixion

[Maha]

And Mr Yamaha was a piano tuner, he never got to see his tuning forks end up on the side of a motorcycle, he died long before.........

[u4ea]

thanx,very enlightning. sure is an interesting history .cool

[Bonez]

To quote one web site-

"Quick Guide to BSA Motorcycle History

The Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) company produced a lot more than just motorcycles. Planes, taxi’s, guns and much more. Of course motorcycles was a huge part of the companies activities and by 1950’s they were producing more than 75.000 bikes.

BSA started all the way back in 1863 and the bikes division started in 1880. The engine powered bicycle was launched in 1905 with a small Minerva engine attached to it.

BSA had a good reputation for reliable bikes and the success grew with the introduction of the S27 (also known as the sloper model). It was produced for 10 years and was available in a 350cc, 500cc and later a 595cc engine. Through out its production little was change to it’s original popular design.

During the second world war BSA was hit badly by German forces and bomb attacks made production difficult however BSA kept producing huge amounts of bikes and guns. After the Second World War BSA was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles world wide.

In 1937 Walter Handley raced a BSA empire star over 100mph (160 k/h) around a curved race track. This achievement earned him a gold star which was later adapted by BSA and the next model was name gold star. The Gold Star became a very popular roadster and racing bike. It remained in production up until 1963.

The end of the 1950’s saw the introduction of the A7 (500cc) and later the A10 (650cc). Many different types of A models were produced with great names like Super Flash or Road Rocket. The A models were very simple in look and nothing very extravagant but their reliability, oil tightness and price was a major reason for them staying popular. The A models became a trademark design of BSA. In 1962 they were replaced by the A50 (500cc) and the A65 (650cc).

BSA produced a 750cc Rocket Three Triple which was developed and produced during difficult financial times. Due to great losses in the company BSA was bought by the Norton Villiers Triumph company. The last bikes left the factory in 1973."

[Paul in NZ]

BSA was founded in 1861 in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham by fourteen gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, England, who had together supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War. The company branched out as the gun trade declined; in the 1880s the company began to manufacture bicycles and in 1903 the company's first experimental motorcycle was constructed. Their first prototype automobile was produced in 1907 and the next year the company sold 150 automobiles. By 1909 they were offering a number of motorcycles for sale and in 1910 BSA purchased the British Daimler Company for its automobile engines.

During World War I, the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced rifles and Lewis guns, but also shells, motorcycles and other vehicles for the struggle. In 1920, it bought the assets of a short-lived plane builder Airco.

In the 1930's the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use - it had been stored at company expense since the end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty.

By World War II, BSA had 67 factories and was well positioned to meet the demand for guns and ammunition. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles and half a million Browning machine guns. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. BSA supplied 126,000 M20 motorcycles to the armed forces, from 1937 (and later until 1950) plus military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle. At the same time, the Daimler concern was producing armoured cars.

Post-war, BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world.

The company made automobiles in 1907 to 1915, 1921 to 1926, 1932 to 1939, and 1960. The Daimler nameplate produced cars for BSA from 1910 to 1915 and 1915 to 1960. Lanchester Motor Company cars also became part of the BSA. There were cars bearing the BSA name itself from 1930 to 1939 [1]. In 1960 Daimler was sold off to Jaguar.

The Group continued to expand and acquire throughout the 1950s but by 1965 competition from Japan (in the shape of companies like Honda) and Germany was eroding BSA's market share. Some poor marketing decisions and expensive projects contributed to substantial losses. By 1972 BSA was so moribund that it was absorbed into Manganese Bronze in a rescue plan initiated by the Department of Industry and many of the acquisitions were separated or sold. The motorcycle business was hard hit - plans to rescue and combine Norton, BSA and Triumph failed in the face of worker resistance and Norton's and BSA's factories were shut down, while Triumph staggered on to fail four years later. Only the limited NVT Motorcycles survived. Enjoying the rights to the BSA marque, it was bought-out by the management and renamed the BSA Company.

The BSA cycle arm was sold off to Raleigh in 1957. Bicycles under the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles of India.

The production of guns bearing the BSA name continued. In 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and are still based in Small Heath in Birmingham.

In 1991, the BSA (motorcycle) Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd., to form a new BSA Group, largely producing spare parts for existing motorcycles. In December 1994, Colquhoun and Jackson's BSA Group was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group.

The new company, based in Southampton, has a large spares business and has produced a number of limited-edition, retro-styled motorcycles.

[Motu]

Yes,as per above....BSA push bikes were a common site too.BSA put their metal working skills to many uses over many years.BSA owned Triumph,not the other way around,they also owned Sumbeam and Daimler cars - those big Limo's the Queen rides around in,and also the SP250,one of the most sort after classic sports cars.Edward Turner,the designer of the Triumph Twins was a BSA employee,although he didn't see it that way and he ran the BSA Group the same way Hitler ran Germany - the Daimler V8 was another of his creations.I had a ''BSA'' room in my house,you couldn't open the door fully because it was jam packed with BSA parts...all I have left is a BSA lapel badge....

[edit]ooops,looks like while I was thinking the google cut and paste crew were at work - but hey,in no way would I call the BSA bikes simple to look at,they were the most flamboyant of all....chrome tanks,vivid red paint,chrome guards...wow,BSA to me were the most evocative of all.The '60's BSA adds were just pure dark sex,the bike at night under lights and a scantaly clad girl...as a young lad pouring over magazines I was sure a BSA would have girls crawling at my feet.....sigh.....oh well.