Customer Reviews

The story of BSA motor cycles

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the story of the BSA motor cycles and the company that made them. It is profusely illustrated with photos of the various models and mechanical diagrams. I enjoyed this book very much and I highly recommend it.

From the front flap:

"If William III hadn't complained in 1692 that he was compelled to buy foreign weapons to arm his troops, the letters BSA might never have graced the tanksides of a motor cycle. The royal lament reached the ears of Birmingham's gunsmiths who, banding together, sought and executed an Ordnance Office contract for 200 muskets - a pioneered piece of private enterprise that ultimately led to the foundation of one of the world's largest producers of firearms and, for mare than 60 years, of motor cycles ... the Birmingham Small Arms Company.

"Gunmaking flourished handsomely in times of war, but during peace BSA had to find civilian outlets for their workshops, and it was the late-19th-century bicycle boom that drew them into two-wheeled transport, building their own machines and supplying parts and fittings to the trade. Many of the early motorcycle makers used such BSA products as hubs, gears, frames and chains, but it was not until 1910 that riders were offered a complete machine, almost wholly constructed by the company and carrying the renowned `Piled Arms' trademark.

"Although relative latecomers to the market, BSA motor cycles were so good that by the 1920s output was running at 2000 units a week and `one in four is a BSA' had become the firm's emphatic boast.

"The range covered the entire field, from small two-strokes to 10 hp multi-cylinder models - always combining steadfast reliability with competitive prices. This history not only describes such celebrated types as the little `Round-tank', the `Sloper' and three-wheeler, the Sunbeam, the Bantam and the Rocket Three, but also introduces the men who engineered them and the heroes who rode them to famous victories in countless tests of endurance, dependability and speed - at Brooklands, in the Isle of Man, on Daytona Beach, in Six Days Trials, long-distance marathons, speedway and moto-cross. The all-conquering performances in the Clubman's TT of the legendary Gold Star racers are recorded, for the first time in precise detail, in a special section, and more than 80 illustrations, some never hitherto published, provide a picture gallery of men and mounts that in itself recalls a stirring story of progress and achievement.

"One does not necessarily have to be a present or past owner of a `Beesa' to fall under the spell of this fascinating book for, behind all the technicalities and personalities of one individual marque, there lies the whole fantastic saga of the rise and decline of Britain's for-so-long-proud motor cycle industry."