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Readerss’ Letters YOUR VOICE & YOUR OPINIONS

STAR LETTER

The wrong barrel I am Cyril James, now semi-retired, but still employed by Cross Manufacturing Company (1938) Ltd at the head office and works in Bath.

I joined the company on August 26, 1957, as a trainee production engineer and retired from full-time employment, as head of production, in 2006.

In 1959, as a teenager and a keen motorcyclist, I was invited to fill a vacant position as the company motorcycle road tester on a part-time basis.

The vacancy occurred due to my colleague Des Cormack leaving Roland Cross to take up an offer of employment with enhanced financial return. Des had joined the company in 1940 and was the company motorcycle and motor car technician and apart from Roland Cross himself, he knew more about the special Cross engine developments (Cross Rotary Valves, Aluminium Liner-less cylinders, special pistons and rings etc) than anyone else.

Roland Cross understood entirely the reasons for Des leaving and they remained close friends until Roland passed away in 1970.

The close friendship continued with the

directors, me and my colleagues until Des died a couple of years ago, aged 93. Des was outstandingly generous and instrumental in providing me with a wealth of historical information regarding the various and many Cross engines. I miss him enormously and so too does Mr Rodney Cross, the present chairman.

Our considerable historical archives benefited hugely from the input from Des Cormack.

From my early days as the company motorcycle road tester (a position I occupied for 30 months) when we were using Royal Enfield machines fitted with Cross cylinders, pistons and rings to improve performance until returning to full-time production activities, I developed a profound interest in the special engines designed and developed

by Roland Cross and over the past six decades I have investigated and researched the engine projects of Roland Cross, many of which took place before I was born.

You might like to refer to the articles by Andy Westlake in The Classic Motor Cycle magazine of September (HRD/Cross

Eric Fernihough and the record-breaking Cotton-JAP, with Cross produced barrel.

Though it’s practically impossible to see this cylinder barrel clearly!

500cc Rotary Valve) and (Cotton/Cross Cougar) November of 2008.

I never cease to be amazed by the level of interest that exists even today in the Roland Cross engines and to this end I was contacted last week by my good friend Bob Smith, chairman of the Cotton Owners’ and Enthusiast Club.

Bob had read the article by Martin Squires in the March 2020 edition of The Classic MotorCycle and immediately realised that the drawings of the Cotton Record Breaker shows it with the ‘wrong’ cylinder barrel. I will explain...

Following the successful event at Brooklands on October 11, 1935, the engine was stripped down by Eric Fernihough and Dick Chapman, with the

aluminium liner-less cylinder barrel, piston and piston rings being returned to Roland Cross at his Bath works for evaluation.

Due to the considerable costs of casting another cylinder (we have a flawed and unusable second barrel here) it was decided to produce a replacement barrel by machining from solid aluminium. This barrel was fitted to the Cotton/ JAP before Fernihough sold the recordbreaking machine to David Whitworth.

It is immediately recognisable because being turned from a solid ingot it has parallel fins, whereas the record-breaking barrel was ‘waisted’ or ‘tapered’, similar to the original JAP model.

The record-breaking

THIS MONTH’S STAR LETTER WINS The writer of this month’s Star Letter wins a pair of Duchinni Canyon boots, worth £139.99. Tough hi-top boots with retro style that looks good and are comfy away from your bike – yet incorporate a waterproof outer and full impact protection. Find out more at thekeycollection.co.uk

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Cross cylinder barrel, piston and piston rings remained with Roland Cross and are valued exhibits displayed in the company museum at the office and works at Midford Road in Bath.

The parallel finned barrel is generally referred to as the ‘Mark two barrel.’

There are several historical photographs of Whitworth with the Cotton record-breaker fitted with the mark two parallel finned barrel, but less of the bike in record-breaking form, and I have been challenged on many occasions regarding the authenticity of the items in our museum.

I trust this detailed information will be useful to you and if you require any further assistance, you only have to ask.

Cyril James, Bath.

Weird and wonderful

This amazing photograph of a Wallis-JAP at Brooklands is noteworthy for its unusual subject, and its clarity. The rider-designer, George Wallis, was later the man who initiated the concept which spawned the Ariel 3.

Image: MORTONS ARCHIVE

T

he clarity tyy of this picture is what initially led to its inclusion. But then, on even half-hearted study, the subject machine becomes more remarkable. Further, on closer looking still, the flat rear tyy appears too. And all captured, wonderfully, with tyre period, slow shutter speed equipment.

Briefl flyy, the event, the machine, the man: Th Thee event is the summer 1926 Brookl klands l 200 mile races, held on Saturday, July 24, at the famous banked track in Surrey.

There were classes for 250cc and 350cc machines run in the morning, with 500cc and 1000cc in the afternoon.

The pictured machine is a 344cc JAP-powered Wallis, with its rider its creator, George Wallis, the eponymous maker of the unusual motorcycles at his Queens Mead Road, Bromley, Kent premises.

“A Wh hole Day’s Racing at Brookl klands” l began the preamble Motor Cycling’s report, continuing, “No Spills, but Many Thrills.” The Motor Cycle – also demonstrating enthusiastic use of capitals – went with “JAP-engined Machines Successful in All four Classes.” Both then went on to furnish details of happenings, with Motor Cycling deciding to focus on Wal Handley’s late start in the 350cc class and subsequent near win, while The Motor Cycle chose to name each winner: 250cc class, J S

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‘Woolly’ Worters (Excelsior); 350cc, Bill Lacey (GrindlayPeerless); 500cc, Jack Emerson (HRD) and C T ‘Count’ Ashby (Zenith) in their opening salvo.

Though there were no details given early on in the article, some further reading revealed the reason for Wal’s late start – on preparing for the commencement, he discovered a ‘sslit’ (Th Thee Motor Cycle) or ‘ttyr yre trouble’ (Motor Cycling – though the same publication, later and more ominously, described ‘… a cut of considerable dimensions’) in/with his front tyre, tyy which meant he lost seven-and-a-half laps to the leaders while the situation was remedied.

From then on though, Handley rode like a man possessed, chasing them down and making the field look like callow newcomers, which they certainly weren’t – men in the 350cc class included stellar performers such as winner Lacey, Frank Longman (AJS), Dougal Marchant (Chater-Lea), Freddie Hicks (Velocette), Jock Porter (New Gerrard), Billy Colgan (Cotton), to name a few. Wal chased and chased, getting the better of everyone except Lacey, to finish runner-up.

In fact, Wal’s net time without his delay would’ve not only won him the 350cc class, but the 500cc… and the 1000cc one too!

Classic archive

and stopped. Third was P M Walters’ Sunbeam-JAP. The 250cc race – like the 350cc category, run in the The 1000cc class saw 12 come to the line; George morning – was first off, with Paddy Johnston (Cotton) Patchett raced into the lead, on the McEvoy, but the early leader, Geoff Davison (New Imperial) an was forced out, leaving Ashby to win, with Frank early retirement, while first time visitor to Brookl klands, l Longman second on a Harley-Davidson, which, rather Hungarian rider Ladislaus Balazs, on a Zenith, was remarkably for the year, was a single speeder (though putting in consistent 65mph laps. with clutch and counter shaft) ahead of R E Humphries’ Like-m mounted F C Millar took over at the front, then Brough Superior.

Worters took the advantage, then Millar got ahead Back to the 350cc race, and our Mr Wallis. Keen to again. Then stopped. Worters took over to win, Balazs practice what he preached, George Wallis campaigned (who became a car racing driver of note) coming home his hub centre-steered machine himself, and it was a second, with the P&P of Mike Couper (another later to regular appearer in the press. Betw tween w 1925 and 1929, earn fame on four wheels, as a driver of fast Talbots at Wallis tried to make the unusual looking (okay, ugly) Brookl klands) l completing the top three. machines a sales success, but, alas, it proved not so, The 350cc class saw the top two tw w as earlier mentioned, despite Syd Crabtree’s 16th in the 1926 Junior TT on one with third A P Hamilton, Velocette, and then the Zenith pair of H M Walters and Driscoll. Our man Wallis finished – indeed, perhaps the same one in our picture?

In 1929, George Wallis became involved with in ninth, at 67.51mph, compared to the 81.20 of winner Lacey. There were 10 finishers in the class, from 30 starters. speedway, his Wallis-JAP becoming the Comerfords-JAP In the afternoon, it was the 500cc class – Emerson won, – named after the huge Surrey dealers – and the leading with second Worters, on his 344cc Excelsior JAP. Many of machine of its era. Wallis, possessed of an inventive mind, moved onto other ideas, including the banking the big machines – Bert Le Vack, on a plated top-to-toe three-wheeler that – after being bastardised and wrongly New Hudson, Vic Horsman (Triumph), Freddie Dixon revised – became the Ariel 3, though he retained and Rex Judd (both Douglas), Bert Denly and Chris End the patents, which later were sold to Honda.

Staniland (both Nortons) to name a few – struck trouble

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A

sstar tturn A year into the all-new A7, BSA introduced the Star Twin, the sports version, and the path to glory was started.

Words: TIM BRITTON Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN

BSA | A7 Star Twin

A

re you old enough to remember the long, hot summer of 1976? There were days of unbroken sunshine with temperatures normally unheard of in the UK. The conditions meant water rationing, and brought Denis Howell to the public consciousness as he was appointed minister for drought in what was reckoned to be the UK’s driest period for a couple of centuries. Even us trials riders in the north risked competing without waxed cotton jackets…

The weather isn’t the only reason for making a particular year memorable, or at least rememberable.

Take Gordon Johnston for instance; he has cause to remember 1976 for a different reason. Having been away on a tour of duty with the forces in Cyprus, Gordon was looking forward to enjoying some downtime – only when he was met at the airport by his wife Juliet she hustled him into the car with a “Come on, we’re going to pick a bike up!”

Now, such a statement could conjure up all sorts of images of bikes in various conditions, but Gordon was still surprised when he saw the BSA for the first time.

“It was deplorable,” he grins. “It was for sale at £45 which doesn’t sound a lot now, but in 1976…”

Still, it is the nature of us enthusiasts to look beyond what ‘is’ and see what ‘will be’.

It seems the BSA had been purchased by a retired chap and used less and less as time went by, until it was parked up and the spark plugs removed. Sound a familiar story?

In the time I’ve been involved in writing about old motorcycles, the tale of ‘…and the spark plugs were removed…’ or variations of it, is not uncommon. Why plugs are removed is a mystery to me, and if anyone can offer an explanation then I’m all ears. I can’t think of any circumstance other than, maybe, ‘…took the plugs out to do some work on it, then got sidetracked…’, where laying a bike up plug-less would be a good idea.

However, for whatever reason it was done, and the 1951 A7 500cc Star Twin BSA was sitting forlornly awaiting its future, its engine seized. The saving grace of this machine was being complete – and completely original. So, despite the condition, the asking price was handed over and the BSA entered the next stage of its life, perhaps even allowing a sigh of relief it had survived the fate of many such machines, especially ones living near a steelworks…

It is just as well this BSA survived as 1951 is an interesting year for the A7 line as after five years of producing a Val Page-designed vertical twin, BSA did a redesign on the half-litre twin which could almost be better described as ‘produced a new model.’ It

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1

wasn’t because the earlier version was bad – it wasn’t and in fact it had many innovative features, of which the early attempts at unit construction for an engine and gearbox was just one. No, the reason for the redesign was more to do with standardisation, ease of construction and husbanding valuable resources.

Don’t forget the Government still tightly controlled the supply of raw materials and a manufacturer, even one as large as BSA, might not receive all of the requested materials, so anything which allowed a variety of models to be made from the same basic parts had to be good from the manufacturer’s point of view.

It was in this light BSA announced a new 500cc twin, with a totally redesigned engine and gearbox based on their 650cc A10 Golden Flash. Because of the need to work within such restrictions of supply and a Government imposed requirement for manufacturers to hold stocks of spares for a number of years after a vehicle was discontinued, often a ‘redesign’ would be minimal. Not in this case, though, as there had been a substantial amount of work to the engine and gearbox.

Gone was the earlier 62mm x 82mm long stroke configuration and the dimensions now were a much squarer 66mm x 72.6mm. A bigger bore gave the benefit of a shallower combustion chamber in the heads which are identical castings to the 650 and even have the same valve angles. This similarity with the A10 continued in many areas with The Motor Cycle’s man suggesting 95% of components being interchangeable with the A7, which has to be good for manufacturing if, say, a part can be cast which will fit several motorcycles, with appropriate machining naturally.

By using a one-piece crankshaft, forged from

2 Above: Not pristine but certainly in good usable order.

1: Braking received praise in contemporary tests; these days a rider needs to think more and earlier about stopping but the BSA sls is as good if not better than most of the era.

2: Gordon Johnston poses with the machine he first set eyes on in 1976.

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BSA | A7 Star Twin

high-grade steel and having two crank webs, big-end journals and a bolted on flywheel, BSA got a rigid, tough bottom end to their engine. They did continue the practice of a plain bearing on the timing side and ball bearing on the drive side. This method has been accused of providing poor oil supply to the drive side of an engine and such concerns were noted at BSA, as the lubrication system on the new 500 had received a lot of attention and oil delivery to various parts of the engine was much improved. Clearly BSA had its eye on further developments with this machine.

Though still not a true unitary construction – where the crankcase and gearbox are cast as one – the A7 had its gearbox bolted to the back of the crankcase and the primary chain tension was by a slipper device.

As noted in the press, the new 500 had a gearbox the same as the 650 and it was intended this box would fit all twins in the range. Its change mechanism was altered – redesigned, in fact – and was claimed to be much improved over the earlier type. Also altered was the cog engagement method, with the older tooth style replaced with a dog type.

All of this work added up to quite a high specification machine, but the launch report suggested there would be a specially tuned version called the Star Twin, which would bring BSA’s name to the top of the sporting world in the next couple of seasons.

Work started as soon as Gordon got the BSA back to his place – first job was to see what had survived the neglect and what hadn’t. The list of things unusable

was surprisingly small considering the engine was full of water, though as expected the piston rings were the first to go… once they’d been freed from the bores.

Next discarded was the camshaft, too pitted to rescue, then the main bearings were too far gone to save and that was all, with everything else able to be reused. All other parts were cleaned, checked and reassembled, with the valves having a light grind to seat them again.

In 1976, there were still genuine parts available – there still are in some cases, just not quite as many as in those days – so a camshaft, piston rings and main bearings were acquired and fitted. The gearbox, too, was found to be okay after stripping and checking, as was the original primary chain. This duplex chain is insulated by a huge shock absorber on the crankshaft and, along with the slipper tensioner, this is attributed to its survival.

Rather than blast the original finish off and have the frame and other painted parts refinished with maybe cellulose spray paint – a popular finish in 1976 – or the early powder coating or even stove enamel which was still being done in that time, Gordon set to with a wire brush and removed all the rust manually, then carefully painted the result with brush paint. There’s no reason why paint applied by brush can’t be an excellent finish as the technique has a long heritage, and the method of blowing paint on by compressed air is relatively new.

The bike went back together quite quickly – even

Hold on, I’ve seen this bike before…

Yes, it is possible you’ve seen this BSA in The Classic MotorCycle before, at least if you’re a longtime reader.

Gordon’s son Paul was at one time a staff writer on the magazine and like all good classic journalists, he needed something appropriate to ride.

Enter the BSA. There is something reassuring about a journalist hoping to ride your classic, turns up on their own. So, it is entirely possible you’ve seen the bike in the magazine before.

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the magneto was fine after the points and pick-ups were clean, and carried on providing a reliable spark for quite a long time afterwards. Once together, this BSA provided reliable transport for both Gordon and Juliet, with both using the twin as and when needed. It looked as though the bike would carry on doing just this sort of service right up until ‘The Volvo Incident of 1982’.

On the way to work one morning, with Juliet behind the handlebars, progress was halted by a Volvo. Now, often such an incident can mean the end for at least the motorcycle, but this BSA is a born survivor and when the insurance assessor came to see the damage and introduced himself as Mr Norton, and was a motorcyclist, he understood Gordon’s wish to rebuild the bike, and Mr Norton’s assessment of the situation reflected this.

The front end was extensively damaged, so required the bulk of the work, but, once again, the bike was returned to active service after the forks were sorted. Throughout their ownership of this machine, Gordon and Juliet have always been of the opinion a motorcycle is for riding and while, yes, the sparkling, pristine machines are very nice to look at, the whole

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Above: The front end is in better condition now than in the immediate aftermath of the Volvo incident.

point of a motorcycle is to ride it. This attitude has directed their work on it and the BSA has had regular servicing, but as long as the external appearance is clean, then that’s okay, up to a point.

Though in regular use, this Beezer was showing its age and not least the effects of the neglect before it came in to the Johnston’s care, plus the front end bash had all taken their toll on this machine. Fate would take a hand again when there was a slight ‘off’ and the BSA ended up sliding along the tarmac, after which there had to be some tidying up. The rear mudguard didn’t survive the slide so had to be replaced.

I have to admit the Johnston philosophy of using a motorcycle rather than polishing it is one which appeals to me, and I don’t have any problem at all with machines which show their signs of an active life.

Yes, like Gordon and Juliet, my feeling is if a motorcycle starts easily, goes nicely and stops – within the framework of sls drums, I mean – then if it has a scrape or two or the plating isn’t pristine, then, well, so what.

Once the static shots had been taken I got a chance to try this sporting twin for myself and was again

BSA | A7 Star Twin

reminded of the theory which goes ‘500cc is the optimum size for a vertical twin.’

First off, like most regularly used British motorcycles, this BSA fired up easily and settled down to a quiet tickover and unlike The Motor Cycle’s test rider in 1951, I didn’t find the clutch particularly heavy in action when I snicked the gear lever up into first. Gear changing in general was quite a simple affair although I didn’t attempt any clutchless cog swapping, after all this motorcycle is nearly 70 years old – and somebody else’s.

The road used for our photoshoot was well away from a built up area and featured the sort of conditions the BSA was designed for. On these roads, it was pleasant to ride; the fact it is used regularly enhances the experience.

Burbling along quite nicely with the twin engine more than happy with the speeds I asked of it – we were on an ‘A’ road, so 40-60mph – there was little need to change down too often as the momentum was kept up. Acceleration was as expected of such a machine and with Gordon being of similar height to myself, the riding position was comfortable.

As the shoot drew to a close I rode it back, End reflecting again on what a nice bike the 500 is.

Above: Treat the motorcycle as it should be treated.

Right: The sporting job got a revcounter, the regular rider aspect has heated grips too.

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The

Wright stuff

Ed Wright began work for BSA as a young apprentice in the drawing office, ending more than a dozen years later when he resigned from Umberslade Hall.

Words: STEVE WILSON Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN/ED WRIGHT/MORTONS ARCHIVE

Ed Wright Wrigh | Profile

Left: Ed Wright today after a lifetime’s involvement with BSA. Above: What Ed rides now, a B44 Victor Special, re-imported from California where it had been desert-raced. Ed worked on the redesign of its engine and gearbox the handsome 441cc square-barrel unit single.

Right: Ed Wright’s sketch of suggested improvements to the prototype. Few would be adopted.

E

dwin Wright, at 78 and retired and living on the south coast, is a Brummie with an accent to suit. All his life he had a credo straight from ‘the city of a thousand trades’ – “I wanted to design things.”

Working at BSA’s Small Heath Drawing and then Design Offices, and then from 1967 at the Group’s R&D centre, Umberslade Hall, allowed him to do so – up to a point. Today, he’s a suitably taciturn Midlander, but when he speaks of those days, the passion – both enthusiasm and anger – keeps bursting through.

Brummagem born and bred

From the age of 12, Ed attended Handsworth Technical School, studying basic mechanical engineering. “They “What hit you was how everyone was so proud of what had gas engines there, on which you could vary the they were doing,” he recalled. “That sort of went, over stroke. We learned about engines, pattern making, the years…” He got to know a lot of fellow apprentices, casings, and drawing, plus a little chemistry.” who had different ideas of where they wanted to end Leaving at 15-and-a-half, in April 1957, Ed chose up. But Ed was always sure, with a clear idea of what he between three apprenticeships on offer – at General wanted to do: “Design things.”

Electric Company (GEC), Wilmot Breeden and BSA. He When he began work in the drawing office itself went for an interview at Small Heath, where he saw their with its 20-odd personnel, his first jobs were to take top designer, Ernie Webster. “Ernie was a lovely guy, components, measure them, and make drawings of with a broad Black Country accent – his mother was a them. Some of his early work was on the 99cc New chain-maker. I clicked with him right away. Bert Perrigo Hudson autocycle, a marque BSA took over during the looked in as well.” Perrigo, BSA’s top competition rider prewar, was then their chief development engineer, after Second World War, with the Villiers-engined machine having been recently completely restyled. “The paint Bert Hopwood had gone to Norton in 1956 and he was Webster’s boss. Young Ed was accepted as an apprentice finish was superb,” Ed remembered, and he was allowed to make some simple modifications to these last models. in the drawing office, and his first task was making “Something which nobody else wanted to do,” he said. daily deliveries of technical drawings within BSA’s vast and rambling factory complex, with its 1500-plus male and female employees, where the ‘new buildings’ had Old men, old machines gone up in 1914. His brief while visiting the different Ed got needle in the office from someone who resented departments was to ‘watch and learn’. the fact that he had been interviewed, but generally it

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Above: Ed keeping his hand in on one of the final unit singles, the BSA B50.

48

was an enjoyable place to work. “The office was above the finishing department, and there was the smell of the marvellous polish the ladies there applied before the machines were packed.”

The real problem lay elsewhere. BSA was largely unadventurous, and traditional. “When I started,” Ed laughed, “the senior guys in accounts still wore bowler hats.” Most of the drawing office personnel were middle-aged or older, and only three of them rode motorcycles (in the nearby experimental department there was the racer Charlie Salt, but that year he was killed competing in the TT). For most it was ‘only a job’ and as Ed wrote in an article for the BSAOC magazine The Star: “The easiest solution to any problem was to use existing components, ‘how we did it before’, not ‘how can we make it better?’” An early insight on this for Ed came with design changes to the Bantam conrod’s small end tolerances before the first 175cc model, the D5, was introduced for 1958. “They were altered so many times,” Ed wrote, ”then they finally changed back to the original size!”

Another parameter for design at Small Heath was that components had to be produced on existing, antiquated machinery. Ed got a taste of this when, as apprentices were, he was temporarily relocated to A-section, a machine shop.

“They used belt-driven First World War-vintage machinery, clapped out rubbish,” Ed recalled. “The guy I was working under on deep-hole drilling pushed me hard, but then it was him that was collecting a bonus for what we did! I had to machine the rear of back-plates, a really difficult job, so soon enough, when he wasn’t looking, I’d chuck an oily rag into the belt, whoosh, off it came, and I’d get a break.”

Back in the drawing office, another colleague was Ferdinand Toussaint. “He was long past retirement

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | MAY 2020

age, but he stayed on until everybody moved to Umberslade.” It was all part of BSA’s family atmosphere, which included subsidised canteens, a doctor and dental services on site, plus sports and recreational clubs and facilities. Fostered by the strong but caring works manager Al Cave, the inclusive atmosphere helped offset wage levels roughly 25% lower than other Birmingham engineering enterprises, like Austin at Longbridge. Ed also says that 100 or so houses down the road were company-owned, and that you might get one if you worked for BSA and were getting married.

Often members of the same family were employed at Small Heath, and Ed was no exception, as his brother John worked there, grinding valves. One lunchtime, unofficially, John took his BSA, a B31 as Ed recalls, on to the factory test track that ran around the sports fields. It didn’t go well. “Splat! He hit a car,” laughed Ed. “The BSA ambulance, a Daimler, arrived. They were keen, as they didn’t get much custom. So they roared out of the gates and, splat, they knocked off a cyclist. They picked him up, put him in with John, and motored on…”

New models, old problems

At 18 Ed too became one of the riders in the office. “I got a B31, probably the best bike I ever had. We were next to the Gold Star assembly shop, so my 350 was considerably tweaked. Even with a standard gearbox, the power was something.” But while still a teenager, Ed was realistic about the product. “At the time they were trying to make the Gold Star go faster, but I thought what it needed was a better brake, then it would go round quicker! The drum brake was a rough old prewar cast iron thing. All BSA bikes then were agricultural, too

Ed Wright Wrigh | Profile

heavy. The exception later was the competition-bred unit B44.”

Ed was in at the start of the BSA unit singles, with the (shaky) introduction for 1959 of the C15. He was soon aware of the Tiger Cub-based project’s in-built faults, the poor drive to the distributor, the flimsy unit construction transmission, and the weak main bearings.

This 250cc version, with its upright cylinder, had been the concept of Triumph’s Edward Turner, the newly appointed chief of the BSA Group’s automotive division.

Ed noted that there was “an apparent reluctance to change anything designed by Turner. What was also strange to me was the lack of feedback from Triumph on the problems they must have already experienced with the Cub.” Leaving aside any BSA-Triumph rivalry, here was an example of a fundamental problem that would cripple the BSA Group – lack of communication between its constituent parts. “Better liaison would have eliminated a lot of the problems.” Turner himself left the project with Perrigo and Webster and went off for his annual sojourn in the US. As it was, a lot of the necessary engineering was not carried out, partly because of the rushed time-scale, the pressure from Turner to put the 250 into production for the 1959 season i.e. design drawings had been issued to production planning before prototypes had been built and tested. In the event, the first thousand C15s off the line had to be recalled, and Ed thought: “It was remarkable that Ernie Webster managed to produce what he did.”

Also, despite all this, teenage Ed felt the C15 “was a breath of fresh air. Turner was a catalyst for change, able to produce light attractive designs, usually accepted

Top: The New Hudson autocycle, on which Ed Wright first worked.

Above: Photograph of the prototype BSA Rocket 3, as styled by Ogle.

in the marketplace.” He was the exception to the BSA norm of “old people, not young, dictating the design/ product, rather than young people’s wants and needs being considered and then older designers making them happen.” Turner’s luck or judgement meant that the C15 was there to take advantage of the 1960 UK 250cc learner limit, and by the end in 1972, 97,000 of these 250s had been produced in various guises, making it BSA’s one commercial success in the declining 1960s home market.

Turner’s next stroke was less fortunate. The BSA Scooter Division had been announced in 1957, with Turner designing a 175 and primarily, a 250cc twin

‘super-scooter,’ the heavyweight BSA Sunbeam and Triumph Tigress models. But by 1960, when these appeared, the scooter boom had flattened, and demand for heavyweight ones had passed. This indicated an absence of market research to back up Turner’s instincts.

And his design had the fundamental flaw of side-panels that were too close to the engine and exhaust, which had overheated and burned passengers’ legs.

“Most of the components,” Ed confirmed, “were designed to be produced on in-house machinery, and this led to serious limitations, like the two-piece front mudguard, and the inconvenient multi-bolt fixing of the rear panels.” The Scooter Division quietly closed in 1965, with the cost of the failed project “horrendous”, Ed confirmed. “I believe that was the start of the company’s decline.”

Ed, as an apprentice, progressed through engine development, to the planning office, and then after leaving for six months, he was welcomed back again by Ernie Webster to the design office, where some exciting things were happening. There was the adaptation of the C15 to the B25 and the larger B44, both strengthened by incorporating competition developments from the world champion BSA scrambles team.

Ed has retained a massive checking drawing he and Webster worked on while strengthening the works B44 scramblers’ gearbox for 1969, and squeezing into the engine an extra, third main bearing, an additional roller race on the drive side. This went on the production B50 for 1971, contributing to its very strong bottom end. “It was so the engine could stand a max of 75bhp in competition,” said Ed, “which gave plenty in hand, as the production bike usually put out less than 40bhp.”

Before that, in 1967 a prototype Rocket 3 triple had appeared, having already passed through the hands of stylists Ogle Design, with the inclined engine in a cobbled-together BSA-type twin downtube frame. Ed sketched out a version incorporating many changes, but few were adopted.

He did, however, get the footrests moved further back, and while Webster was away on holiday, he steepened

Above: Ed with his massive checking drawing of the redesigned works scrambles B44 engine he worked on with Ernie Webster.

Below: Ed’s notebook detailing his first projects in the Small Heath drawing office when he started there in April 1957.

the steering head angle. “I didn’t like to do things that way,” said Ed, “but you had to.”

Once again there was a frantic scramble to get the triple into production before the Honda CB750 four.

“There were no drawings as such,” said Ed, and this meant that efforts on BSA’s version of the triple were again uncoordinated.

“When it got to pre-production prototypes, they were ordering stuff too soon. I was told that the rear wheel was rubbing on the frame. I believed them, but I checked anyway and found that it should have been okay. I checked again – and discovered that they’d ordered shock absorbers that were too short. Thousands of pounds worth of shockers had to be scrapped.”

Ed still burned to design things effectively and by then he wanted to leave Small Heath, but Webster persuaded him to come with the BSA design staff to the group’s new R&D centre at Umberslade Hall, late in 1967. “I thought we were just relocating,” said Ed. “All the Small Heath design guys went, except Les Mason (later of Devimead fame) who went to the comp shop.

But then at the hall we seemed to get lost somehow.

“Peter Mason, who had already detailed a front disc set-up for the triple, which I wanted to incorporate on the OIF twins, was doing GA (General Arrangement) drawings down in the former ballroom, but I was upstairs,” he said.

Interestingly, Ed does not recall any of the reported friction with the Triumph personnel. “The Triumph men were working on modular engine designs; us BSA design guys tried to come up with ideas for a frame for those, like flash-butt welding to make lugs. But we ended up using the OIF for the twins,” with what

Ed Wright Wrigh | Profile

Ed considered “a Triumph-type lack of good relation between the steering-head and swinging-arm pivot.”

He also worked on the 1971 range’s new brakes and front fork. Ed had been keen to use the disc brakes for the triples, but the decision from above was to go with the conical hub TLS drum front brakes, with internals from the BMC Mini, a set-up that subsequently gained a mixed reputation. But Ed had worked on these, and reveals the missing ingredient – the hydraulic operation he had designed in.

“It could have easily been done,” he says, “with available Lockheed components,” and he cites the Tomkinson race bike “which featured a pair of slave cylinders inside the conical front hub, with a pipe on the outside and a master cylinder on the handlebars.” But management quashed that one.

The fork design was based on Cerianis, which couldn’t be used directly, so Ed worked on adapting them. “Using practical experience, I enlarged the fork tubes, with some parts built up, and some lighter. I also designed a more robust fork brace bar.

“But at Umberslade there was a management nervousness about moving forward, and I was told I couldn’t do that. It was the same thing when I designed in more movement in the fork.”

The lack of communication resurfaced with a vengeance: “No one told me that the forks would be used on the Rocket 3 Mk.2 and the later T150s.” In Ed’s view there were weaknesses to the production version. “The ‘pig’s trotter’ split bottom end of the new fork was cast, which was not right – they cracked too easily, especially if they weren’t lined up perfectly on assembly. And for the little shuttle-valve at the fork base

Top: Sales brochure.

Above: BSA’s scooter was not a success and the money that was lost contributed to BSA’s downfall.

they retained the Ceriani design, while L.F. Harris did a kit with a lot less friction.”

Meanwhile, Webster was no longer in charge, and the staff at Umberslade expanded to more than 300 people.

“There were all these hangers-on, a lot of people who weren’t needed. You wanted people with attitude, who would get on with designing things for production.”

So in 1969 Ed had had enough, and he quit, going to work for Smiths Industries.

Today he still rides a BSA, a US re-import square barrel Victor 441cc single that had been desert-raced.

“It had a crack in the crankcase. I got that welded up in Cannock, Birmingham. Then I rode it up to Scotland.”

It seems that Ed has had a good life. But as well as the good times, the sorrow and anger at the waste of End BSA are still with him.

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | MAY 2020

51

BSA I M20

eter Hall, who now works as a mechanic for Scania, was once a weekend warrior. As a Territorial Army man in the late 1970s, Peter served part-time with the Royal Corps of Transport, as part of the TA'sappeal was that as well as military training, you could carry on your trade with the Forces.

There was also some foreign travel. Peter spent time in Germany on NATOexercises for short periods. There he drove three ton ML and MK trucks, Series Land Rovers and being a motorcyclist, occasionally was used as a DR, on BSAWD B40 350s.

One afternoon he was given a message to take to a senior officer at another BAORunit relatively nearby.

The weather was mild, so he jumped aboard in just his light uniform. But on arrival, the officer there ordered him on considerably further with another message. He climbed into the mountains, dusk fell, the temperature dropped, and Peter learned a life lesson: never go motorcycling without the proper kit.

And the B40? "I didn't have an opinion on it. It was there , I got on it, and rode it from A to B. It didn't inspir e any feelings one way or the other:'

Warrior It's a very different story with the 1940 military BSA M20 which Peter bought in 2007. Though he owns and has restored a number of other classics - including a Triumph twin, a Tl60 Trident and the o.i.f. T25/ B25T you may have read abou t April 2020's TCM - this wartime 500cc side-valve has a special place in his affections. He has found it an ideal, relaxing mount for

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riding the surprisingly rustic Berkshire lanes , despite the proximity of the M4, where he's lucky enough to live.

The M20 had turned up in a nearby village, having belonged to the seller's late father for some while. It ran and had evidently been looked after; the only significant outstanding fault was the way the engine howled on the move!

This turned out to have been caused by the magneto being slightly out ofline . Peter had the instrument rebuilt at APL Magnetos, Shaftesbury(Ol747 852136); it also hadn't started well when the engine was hot, and this was improved too, though as Peter ob serves: "The hotter they get, the more of a trick it is to start them:' Side-valves run hot , and the M20's absence of the long spacer between the carburettor and the inlet port means that fuel in the carb can evaporate too easily, despite the Amal 276's remote float chamber.

Otherwise the M20 was mechanically sound, and apart from a respray, in gloss NATOgreen rather than the original duller "Number Three Gas Proof" paint, Peter said it had been a matter of "just servicing it:' Well ther e's servicing, and there's servicing by a skilled, qualified mechanic. Peter is a cheerful guy, but serious about his motorcycles. "I like to keep them top line;' he said, "and keep them clean and tidy for preservation reasons:' He's good-humoured and energetic despite an imminent hip operation and some back trouble, so we're grateful both to him and to George Simmonds, who came along to assist ; George organises the monthly summer old vehicle meets behind the wonderful Bell Inn at Aldworth. Thanks 0

I: Remote-float, bottom-fed Amal one inch 276 carb had no air cleaner in 1940 . No M21-type long spacer between carb and inlet port contributed to difficult hot starting.

2: Short prop stand and long tubular pillion footrests, which, llke crosshatched rider's pegs, featured no rubber, though rubber knee-pads were still in place.

3: Lucas 525 rear light wouldn't have been original equipment, and Is much larger than that originally fitted.

Right: Val Page-designed 13bhp, all-iron engine, with valve adjustment easily accessible behind rectangular plate.

BSAI M20

BSAI M20

"I like thefact that it's slightly quirky and not correct." l: Three - not four position light-switch, dip-switch/horn button, ball-end levers, and fat grips not canvas ones, all fitted on or after the BSA's 'de-mob' in 1953.

2: Slightly upswept silencer was adopted for military M20s. This Goldiestyle replacement is less tubular than original.

3: Owner Peter Hall is at one with his M20, a great motorcycle for country lanes.

Left: This M20's forks still featured Bakelite knob for fork friction damper, removed on WM20 until fork gave trouble in desert war.

also to Peter's wife Judith for the tea and the very tasty home-made rock cakes!

Peter not only likes this BSAbecause it's so sweet to ride - "someone advised me that the secret to riding them is to stay loose;' he said, "and it's true;' - but also "I like the fact that it's slightly quirky and not correct:' To find out what he means, let's look at the history of these early versions of the most widely used Allied twowheeler in the Second World War.

1940 We can do no better than to go direct to Orchard and Maddens' book "British Forces' Motorcycles 1925-1945''.They write that ''...the very earliest (M20) examples supplied , the KM20 models from the 1939 production year, were generally a type constructed from a combination of standard and de-luxe model components, with the addition of certain militaryspecified features ... (although) the factory's ledgers detail the type as 'De -Luxe~' However, few of the KM20's features - the eight-inch headlamp, the D-shaped oil tank, the heavilyvalanced rear mudguard, the bulbous 3% gallon petrol tank feature on this machine. It seems more likely that it was one of the factory M20 machines, featuring military specifications like the 'butterfly' caps for petrol and oil tanks, and made from October 1939 and on into 1940, to meet orders from the Governments of Sweden, Ireland, Holland, India, South Africa etc - even though Britain was already at war with Germany. Then the UK

War Office had stepped in and compulsorily purchased remaining stocks of them from the factory.

To complicate matters, the KM20s, last made in November 1939, overlapped with the September 1939-on WM20s by three months. The WM20s were simplified in several ways, one being the replacement of the Bakelite fork spring damper knob on the side of the girders, which could be adjusted from the saddle by the rider, by a simple lock-nut, which could not. One reason for this and other steps, like the adoption of the former Empire Star's single-spring clutch with its lack of adjustment, as well as simplicity, had been cost.

BSA'sside-valve topped the Allied motorcycle charts, with some 126,000 produced, and an important factor was that they were cheaper than the rest - ÂŁ49-10s-6d in March 1940 when this machine appears to have been produced, against ÂŁ54-9s-10d for the equivalent Norton 16H. Peter has tried to find out about his M20's service record, what unit it was attached to, what theatres it served in, but the Royal Logistical Corps while they did check the records, drew a blank, saying somewhat cryptically: "It's more difficult not to find something:' Perhaps they were referring to the fact, confirmed five years ago by the BSAOChistorian Steve Foden, that 60,000 of the wartime WM20s had not been entered in Small Heath's despatch book records, so unless a seeker finds a recorded machine, it is more difficult .

One feature on Peter 's M20 is that it does have the 0 side-mounted Bakelite spring damper adjuster.

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLEI OCTOBER2020

49

Perhaps they had been original equipment on the export military M20s. Another explanation might be that after a write-off, the original forks had been replaced by an interim type which, from 1941 until late 1943, and then again postwar, had reverted to the rider-friendly adjuster. But to understand that, a little more history is necessary.

Above: M20's five-inch ground clearance was okay on tracks, not so good genulnely off-road.

The Front (End) The late 'Radco; a.k.a. Frank Farrington, the writer, engineer and restorer of veteran and vintage machines, rated the BSAgirder front fork highly. "BSAwere almost alone;' he wrote, "in adopting an unusual design of fork link in which the spindle was not subject to the usual shear-stresses ... The advantage of the BSA design lay in its tremendous strength:' Instead of other designs' spindles running in bushes or plain-bored holes, "the BSAlink had integral 'spigots' of relatively large diameter running in bushed holes. The side-plates, links and spigots are thus one-piece units made from high-grade stampings:' But another view came from Norman Vanhouse, one of the famous BSAtrio who in 1952 had won the Maudes Trophy. In 1941, stationed in Cyprus with an Army Motor Transport unit, he was issued with a new WM20.

Initially the single spring clutch plates with their lack of adjustment, would not free properly; he cured that by fitting a second -hand central clutch spring which had been discarded as scrap. As an experienced motorcyclist, he considered the front forks "much too flimsy ... nowhere near as sturdy as those of the Norton 16H. The central barrel spring compressed with fatigue,

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THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLEI OCTOBER2020

allowing the side-links to assume an inverse angle, which in turn increased the fork trail and affected the steering. Invariably, spring fatigue was followed by eventual fracture. Norton-type additional check-springs would have prevented all that:' Vanhouse also had little time for the hexagon nut setup which replaced the original Bakelite spring damper adjuster. He found that even if the nut had been well tightened before the start of any substantial journey, by the end "all damping would disappear, and the forks would start dancing up and down like a dervish:' And if you overtightened the hexagon, the fixed plate where it was cranked would crack.

Since any spares had to come to Cyprus via Cairo HQ, few were to be had, and after running the M20 with little damping for months, Vanhouse eventually lost it on a Cyprus track, left the road and crashed, twisting the forks irreparably. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as replacement forks when they came were the type with the reinstated Bakelite adjuster , and would also have featured the stronger, re-engineered central barrel spring, which Small Heath had sorted following a rash of fractures in North Africa.

Being away from the front line, Vanhouse kept his original M20 from 1941 until July 1944, and covered an impressive 64,000 miles on it. The only major engine work had involved replacing the exhaust valve, a known wear spot for hot-running side-valves. This happened just three times, despite the temperature in Cyprus running to 100 degrees in the shade. Heat like that also caused the carb mounting flange to distort concavely so that it whistled, until it was refaced.

f;'J"(!'f11TJ1

lJJJIJI1!lJl For more great content, and to check out the website and app from the UK's leading classic motorcycle magazines, visit: www.classicbikehub.uk

BSAI M20

I: There were 126,000 M20s supplied during the Second World War. 2: M20 side-valve has been resprayed in NATO Green, not original 'Number three Gas-Proof Camouflage'.

'Butterfly' fuel and oll caps were to mllltary spec.

Below: Its 1953 'demob' saw blackout mask removed.

Front numberplate now carries military contract number, previously painted on the tank.

Yet at the end of over three years, Norman's M20 was still on its original clutch and brake linings, as well as original wheel and steering head bearings . Since canny Vanhouse had fitted a civilian air filter long before the tank-top Vokes filters were introduced, the piston, rings and barrels were also untouched . Both rear and primary chains had lasted 55,000 miles. And Vanhouse had "developed a strange affinity, even affection, for the old M20;' a relationship he had never "even thought possible with a woffly old side-valve 500:' Mudlark Peter Hall's M20 was the nicest I had ever ridden, and part of that was due to the front forks, whether they were originals or later replacements in service. As mentioned, Peter is no re-enactor and not too bothered about deviations from 1940 spec.

Several of these had probably come about when after 13 Army years, the WM20 was de-mobbed via Chilwell Maintenance Depot, near Ruddington, Notts, before being auctioned off to a dealer. The six inch headlamp lost its blackout mask, and the tail-light changed from the original tiny circular one to a stock Lucas 525 with a brake-light, while the light-switch went from the four-

position Army original to a three-position civilian item.

A combined dipswitch / horn button was also fitted. All this made the machine road-legal and more practical.

On the forks, Peter believes that someone subsequently had done work on the links . "I know they're prone to wear, but I've found no wear on these, all I've done is keep them well-greased: ' They certainly performed outstandingly for girders, soaking up road shocks while steering very accurately.

The proof of Pete's high standards was in the riding.

The clutch was exceptionally smooth, with only downchanges difficult to achieve smoothly; the engine 's pickup unusually clean; and the handling and roadholding on damp muddy lanes, very good and reassuring. The seven inch rear brake was better than the front, but together they worked well. Another factor on the slippery country lanes was the M20's soft power delivery, the same thing that makes the M-Series good in snow.

At a regular pace the engine was also notably smooth, partly due to its low power (13bhp at 4200rpm) and partly to the design's simple face-cam shock absorber with its single large spring. It all helped to provide a ride that was not quick but relaxed and confidenceinspiring - in a word, lovely. Yet unlike some of the ones I've sampled, when the roads cleared it was no strain to reach and hold an easy 50mph, where other examples would be on the limit of their comfort zone. This was no worn-out warrior, and as demonstrated by the unstoppably regular tickover at rest, valve-timing and carburation were spot on. Nice one, Peter.

Battle of thebugs

Words: PHIL TURNER Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN

After the Second World War, motorcycling wasn’t all about heavyweights slugging it out for supremacy – a cheap and easy way to get around was priority number one for most people. The Garelli Mosquito and Vincent Firefly were two such offerings.

Garelli aand Vincent | Mosquito and Firefly

H

aving fought hard for their freedom, it’s fair to say the citizens of post Second World War Europe wanted to make the most of it.

Personal mobility tyy was high on their list of priorities, but even more pressing – for themselves and the shattered industries, infrastructure and economies the conflict had left behind – was the need for cost-effective transportation to and from their places of work.

For the moment, motorcycle manufacturers would have to forget the race for road and track supremacy and instead focus on the cheapest possible way to get workers to the factories.

Mosquito

Few countries had been hit quite so hard during the conflict as Italy, or had quite as much work to do to rebuild and renew, so it’s no surprise that it’s there the first of our duo was conceived.

The idea for the Garelli Mosquito – or rather the engine that powers it – came to Milanese engineer Carlo Albero Gilardi in the mid-1930s. Carlo had to travel long distances by bicycle – weighed down by a toolbox – in his work maintaining and repairing industrial machinery. He quickl kly l realised the journeys would be whole lot easier and quicker with more than just pedal power, so he set about designing and patenting a small, two-stroke tw w engine, compact enough to fit betw tween w the pedals of a bicycle.

1

2

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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | APRIL 2020

In 1945, he was hired by Garelli and a few months later, showed his drawings to founder and owner Adalberto Garelli. Signor Garelli had – having abandoned production of motorcycles in favour of air compressors and generators for the military – already been kicking round a moped design of his own, but was won over by Albero’s design; its compactness made it easy to install at the crank of most cycles, without interfering with the position of the pedals.

A year later, Gilardi’s engine was put on sale under the name Mosquito, the English translation of the nickname ‘zanzarino,’ given to it by Garelli workers.

Supplied in kit form, the Mosquito was designed to be fixed quickly and easily to the majority of bicycles – it attached using a clamp and two wing nuts only. The only concession, apart from the added weight (4kg, roughly), was the loss of luggage capacity as the fuel tank was designed to be fixed to a rear rack.

1: Electrical Drive was transferred direct to the rear tyre via a component suppliers Millers were roller, which could be disengaged to allow the bike to be actually responsible pedalled normally. A small lever added to the handlebars for the 45cc engine. was pushed forward to accelerate and aft to decelerate; 2: Width was crucial a valve lifter for starting and a mechanical horn were with the Firefly, as also supplied. it needed to fit in a cycle frame.

The 38-A of 1946 was the first in the series. It was of course a two-stroke, with a displacement of Below: When two bugs go to war…

38.5cc, a Dell’Orto carburettor and delivering around Phil Turner on the 0.8 horsepower.

Mosquito, Gordon To demonstrate the reliability of the Mosquito, Garelli Hallett on the Firefly.

Garelli aand Vincent | Mosquito and Firefly

organised a continuous use test. Eight riders took turns driving a 38-A for 55 days straight – from August 31 to October 24, 1952 – round the Circuit de Pau-Ville in France. With two town bailiffs watching on to ensure no foul play, they covered 24,900miles (the equivalent to riding around the equator) in 1325 hours, at an average speed of 19mph.

Version two – the 38-B – of 1953 was much the same, with an increase in capacity to 48cc.

The ‘Centrimatic’ came in 1956 and introduced automatic transmission, simplifying the controls and increasing top speed to 28mph. Cheap to buy, easy to fit and very cheap to run – reports of 240mpg were not uncommon – it was a roaring success. So much so that satellite factories in Naples, Spain, France, Argentina and even beyond the Iron Curtain in Hungary sprang up. It’s estimated around 2,000,000 Mosquitos were produced, making it the most successful of its type in Europe.

Firefly

Around about the same time the eight Garelli pilots were turning their last few laps of Circuit de Pau-Ville, Vincent enthusiasts’ cheque books were twitching in anticipation; the Stevenage factory had hinted that a new model was about to emerge. When that announcement came a few months later and the (presumably very small…) cover came off the 45cc Firefly clip-on engine, those cheque books were put back firmly in the oak bureau drawers from whence they came.

While his big twins were popular, Phil Vincent recognised that there was a growing demand for more affordable personal transport; few people in early 1950s Britain were lucky enough to have cheque books and solid oak bureaus.

He needed a machine to offer to those people though,

Above: Satellite factories in Naples, Spain, France, Argentina and even behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary made Mosquito versions under licence.

and one would come his way from an unexpected source.

Miller – suppliers of electrical components – had been working on a small clip-on power unit that could be fixed to a pedal cycle. Like the Mosquito, it was narrow enough to fit between a bicycle’s pedals, and operated using a similar principle: the engine slid rearwards via a lever under the cycle’s seat (this lever would be moved to the handlebars by Vincent, prior to production) wherein a toothed wheel made contact with the tyre to transfer the drive.

Along with the ‘engage/disengage’ lever on the handlebars was a combined decompressor and throttle lever – pushing it forward shuts the throttle and opens the decompressor; back does the opposite, as you’d expect. The engine sat on rails under the bottom bracket of the cycle to enable the slide. The long, thin fuel tank fitted to the down tube.

Unusual for the time – although not too unusual considering the engine’s designers – it had an alternator fitted. Ignition was by a coil fitted in a recess at the base of the fuel tank.

Almost as soon as the Miller Firefly was announced, production moved to Stevenage. Initially it was available as a bolt-on unit only, but shortly after launch Vincent decided to offer the Firefly as a complete bike – dubbed the Vincent Power Cycle. Early frames were made by Sun, later ones by Philips.

Around 3000 were produced during the three-year production run, which came to an abrupt end due to a new tie-in with NSU and Vincent taking on the marketing of the Quickly moped in the UK. Ironically, their rarity and oddity means Vincent aficionados are now very willing to fish around in the oak bureau drawer for the cheque book, should a Firefly come up for sale – and they rarely do.

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1

2 Above: This wasn’t perhaps what Vincent owners were expecting when a new model was being rumoured…

1: Phil Turner (left) and owner Gordon Hallett discuss 1950s autocycles.

2: Again, with the Mosquito, width was of the essence…

3: Drive system is pretty simple, relying on friction.

3

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Garelli aand Vincent | Mosquito and Firefly

Mosquito vs Firefly

So I felt rather privileged to be able to pilot one, and even more so to be doing it in its birthplace of Stevenage.

Handily, the Hertfordshire town still has an extensive network of cycleways – the brainchild of chief engineer of the Stevenage Development Corporation, Eric Claxton – linking New Town’s housing estates, shops, schools and places of work. Cyclists are kept separate from road traffic and pedestrians throughout the majority of the 30-mile network; the wide, smooth contraflow lanes run alongside the roads and cross major junctions and underneath roundabouts via lit underpasses.

It was the ideal testing ground for the Garelli and Vincent – mopeds are allowed on the network, so long as due care and courtesy is afforded to those using pedal power only.

Having never ridden one before, I was advised by Garelli owner Gordon to cut my cycle-motor teeth on the Garelli; its controls being slightly easier to master than the Vincent’s.

After a few hair-raising attempts at starting it, balanced on the very narrow centrestand – the feeling it’s about to give way underneath is disconcerting/ terrifying – the little 48cc engine buzzed into life and I was off.

I don’t mind admitting that there was a lot of wobbling, pulling levers in the wrong direction and frantic grabbing at virtually non-existent brakes until I got the hang of it, but once I did the Garelli was a little gem, the engine happily buzzing away beneath me and offering its assistance whenever an incline presented itself. My main mistake was to treat the Mosquito as if it were a motorcycle – i.e.: sit still and let the engine do the work – but once I reprogrammed my brain and started riding it like a bicycle, everything became a little easier and more natural.

Just as I got the hang of it, I switched to the Firefly, which felt far from natural. Like the Garelli, the engine is started by engaging the drive and spinning the pedals.

4

5

4: Although it felt a bit alien at first, Phil Turner soon got the hang of the Firefly.

5: The Mosquito has a proper petrol tank!

6

6: Another great British motorcycle name – the Firefly engine is mounted in a Birminghambuilt bicycle.

This is supposed to be done on the stand but as it looked and felt less sturdy even than the Garelli's – and the saddle was much further from the ground – it was decided I’d better do it on the move.

The method is as follows: engage the drive using the clutch-like lever on the left of the handlebar – this operates in reverse, so holding it in engages it. There’s a clip designed to hold it in, which is useful when you have the knack, but not when you’re learning. As you’re doing that, push the throttle lever all the way forward to operate the decompresser and pedal, then once the engine is spinning sufficiently, pull the throttle lever back towards you and the engine should start. When it does, you keep the drive engaged – unless you’re heading towards something coming the other way or just in the way – and control the ‘assistance’ with the throttle/decompresser, being careful not to decompress too much.

Got that? No, I didn’t either at first and I don’t mind admitting there was even more wobbling, pulling and pushing of levers and grabbing at brakes than there had been on the Garelli.

Still, I got the hang of it eventually and really rather enjoyed buzzing my way through underpasses and around the sights of Stevenage New Town – although I’m not sure how enamoured I’d have been, had I been removed from the safety and serenity of the separated cycle lanes and thrown into modern traffic – and I started to wonder how easy it would be to organise a few more flyweights, a group of friends, and a couple of weeks exploring the Netherlands... You might say End I’d been bitten by the bug(s).

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Classic camera

On the grid British road racer gets ready for the start of a South African motorcycle race.

Photograph: MORTONS ARCHIVE

F

rom his grid position way back, Britain Dave Chadwick – with a couple of helpers in some rather natty headgear – looks fairly relaxed on his Norton for the start of the 500cc scratch race, at the Transvaal Club’s Grand Central Circuit meeting, on the main road between Pretoria and Johannesburg, staged on February 2, 1957.

There was a crowd of around 20,000 lining the 2½mile circuit – and a lot of them had come to see one man – multi-world champion Geoff Duke, who was there with a 500cc four-cylinder Gilera. In this race, Duke duly did as expected, streaking off to take the win, though the start had been delayed allowing him to make it on time.

Feeling unwell, he was last man to the grid, but there was little sign of his sickness as he cleared off and won, although local Borro Castellani, on his 500cc Manx Norton, excited the local crowd by keeping with Duke early on, ‘...riding like a man possessed.’

Sadly, it ended predictably, with Castellani coming off and ‘receiving severe arm injuries’ and that was his day done. Duke won, from Boet Ferreira (Norton) and Jannie Stander’s Velocette. There was no mention of Chadwick in the results, although he later did finish seventh in the programme-concluding handicap race, while it was also noted he was ‘…riding the 350cc Norton

which caused such a sensation by lapping the Port Elizabeth course at 97mph in January.’

There was no such high-speed success for Chadwick on this day, though in the open handicap Duke became the first person to lap the Grand Central Circuit at over 70mph, his actual lap record being 72mph. Still, it wasn’t enough for him to finish any higher than last, owing to four minutes lost at the beginning when the normally super reliable Gilera proved recalcitrant to get going, then sulked for a lap, necessitating a pit stop.

Once going, Duke was flying, breaking the lap record and providing a fine show for the spectators.

There were some other names in the programme that were to become familiar, with Paddy Driver and Jim Redman, who were both to come to Europe and excel, featuring. On this day, Driver was second in the 250cc race on a Velocette, Jim Redman, Norton, fifth in the 350cc race.

Chadwick, whose successes included second in the 1958 Junior TT in the Isle of Man on his way to fourth in that year’s world championship, was killed racing in Belgium in 1960, only two months after getting married, Mike Hailwood being his best man. Chadwick and Hailwood’s friendship forged from racing together End in South Africa.

Dave Chadwick had caused a sensation in South Africa, lapping the Port Elizabeth course at 97mph on a 350cc Manx Norton.

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Classic slife

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"Tendays after/ bought myfirst Bantam,a gearbox selector fell out andwent through the bottom ofthe crankcase."

Early doors "My very first bike, at 16 in 1968:' Alex told me, "had been a 250cc Royal Enfield, but the gearbox was unreliable.

Dad was running the garage then, and one of his customers, a Mr Holmes, offered me the 1950 Bantam, for £4. Mr Holmes had lost an eye, riding along when a bee hit it.

"Ten days after I bought the Bantam, a gearbox selector fell out and went through the bottom of the crankcase.

Aluminium welding was a secret art then, but eventually I got it done; meanwhile Mr Holmes offered me £2 back!

I didn't take it. And I kept that Bantam for years:' The 125cc Bantam's renowned longevity and resilience came into play, and there were some lively times when Alex's then girlfriend, now wife, Pauline, was game to learn to ride on it.

"The first time she had a go was in a car park, and she rode it straight up a grassy bank! After that I'd sit on the back and shout instructions. One time we were coming into a local village with a bend by a pub, and Pauline changed down for it - but with the throttle wide open.

On the pillion pad I used my body weight to lean the bike over and we just got round, but we never went through that bend so fast, before or since!"

Eventually Alex's 125cc Bantam ended up as a 175cc. Since the Bantam's 58mm stroke, and hence

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I: Though clearly not the original finish, the D1 sports a lovely patina.

2: 'Duck-bill' silencer was part of the early D1 charm.

Right: It's easy when you know how... Alex Taylor fires up the Bantam for Steve Wilson.

the engine height, never changed, and neither did the engine's fixing points, any Bantam engine will fit into any Bantam frame. Alex also attached leg shields, and these came in handy after he'd had a fall, resulting in 18 stitches in his left knee, and the leg in plaster.

"But I had to get down to see Ken Heanes in Hampshire. So I bolted a piece of angle iron to the leg shield, propped my leg up on it, and rode down there.

One copper along the way did give me a look, but he never said anything. I only sold the Bantam when I bought my Trident. I got £42.50 for it:'

A different D 1 Since then, Dl prices have soared, as they have become collector's items. Relatively original early examples like Alex's are sought after, but he drew on his extensive network of old bike and car (he runs Model Ts) friends and acquaintances to secure his current Bantam. A friend offered Alex his late son's Dl, which had been stood in a shed for 20 years, and he paid about half the current dealer asking price for similar machines.

"It was a good price between friends:' said Alex, "as previously I'd sold him an Austin 12 at a fair price:' The only downside was that this wasn't exactly the Dl which Alex had enjoyed in his younger days. It was the alternative model, introduced for 1950, with Lucas battery and generator electrics, rather than the original type featuring a Geni-Mag flywheel magneto from WicoPacy (Wipac). Details will be found later, but there were several differences, not least in the view from the saddle, with the Lucas-equipped ones carrying a headlampmounted lights/ignition switch with a detachable key, in a mounting behind a small ammeter. The Wipac model just had a plain, non-detachable plastic switch there as well as the iconic bulb horn, passing down through the steering head stem.

Alex also clearly (and correctly) remembers that his early D 1 handlebars, like the wheel -rims, were Mist Green-painted, not chromed, while the D-shaped speedo's body had been black, not green-painted as here. A final non-standard component on this Dl is the tail-light, which Alex remembered had been a small circular one (the Lucas 480, fitted to battery models 1950-1953), supplemented by a circular reflector, but the one here is a Lucas 525 combined light and reflector, which went on later Dls, before the model was discontinued in 1963.

But Alex is less concerned with minute originality and more with mechanical reliability. He removed the engine and stripped it right down. The Lucas ignition - "I'd rather have had a Wipac/ direct lighting one" proved problematic, as dealers back in the day had found it to be.

"I had to make up a puller to get the rotor off the crankshaft - the 'generator' is basically an alternator. All the wiring was shot, I did minimal repairs to the harness, taping it all up, as there's not enough wires to make it worth replacing. When I still had trouble, I contacted electrical specialist Al Osborn at A.O. Services (Tel: 01953 884681/07557 785895) - he said 'Send me £7 and I'll solve your problem: He sold me a solid state rectifier, which did sort it:' 0 The BSABantam Club were unfailingly helpful

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over matters like where to source the correct looking 2.75xl9inch profile (Chinese) tyres, but for all other components, Alex favoured C&D Autos (Tel: 01564 795000). "They've got all the bits - crank seals, clutch plates etc - and they're the right bits:' For despite relative simplicity, there were several differences between the Wipac and Lucas models. The latter had a different left side crankcase cover, accessing the points, and the two-fastener toolboxes were of different dimensions. The battery model's crankshaft was shorter and the flywheels had thicker rims. If fitted, as here, with the optional plunger suspension, the rear mudguard had a different-shaped valance. 'Similar' did not mean the same.

Alex did not neglect the cycle parts -"I spent hours getting the rear brake pedal into a proper position" - but perhaps his greatest triumph was work done on the famously wonky sprung centrestand introduced for 1950, which has resulted in it being remarkably stable, and in conjunction with a good aftermarket sidestand, has made the rider's life much easier.

Birth of the D 1: Hatching a Bantam

I: Seventy years on, and the D1 Bantam is still 'something to crow about'.

2: Neat and narrow rear profile. Tail-light is incorrect for 1950.

3: This 1950 D1 was 'De Luxe' - with Lucas generator and battery electrics, plus plungers. So it cost ÂŁ20 more than the basic ÂŁ80 model.

4: Back to the future. In 1968 a 1950 D1 had been one of 16-year-old Alex Taylor's first motorcycles.

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As early as 1944, BSAworks manager James Leek had raised the lack of a lightweight group model.

Around the same time, a Swedish company had ordered a consignment of small capacity two-stroke stationary engines.

In May 1946, the drawings and at least one example of Germany's two-stroke DKW RT125 were offered to BSA as war reparations, having already been turned down

by Villiers. At BSA'snewly established experimental department at Studley Road, Redditch, under Erling Poppe, chief draughtsman Les Whittaker made fresh drawings for this project, which was strictly hushhush, given postwar sensibilities about German-based products. Six prototypes, still left-side gear change, were built, and after testing it was back to the drawing board.

The engine remained the same Schneurle-loop, DKW-originated design and retained the RT's 52x58mm dimensions. But to suit UK habits the layout became a mirror image of the original, with the kick-start, and the gear lever for the three-speed box, now mounted, concentrically, on the right; though this made the shift pattern down-for-first/up-for-up, unfamiliar to most except Triumph riders. Inside the unit construction engine's egg-shaped cases, the primary drive, unusually for a Brit, was on the right too.

The tests had shown that the 125cc two-stroke performed best with the original Bing carburettor, but commercial considerations meant that this was abandoned in favour of an Amal 261. On test this returned up to 128 miles to the gallon of petroil mix, important due to continued postwar petrol rationing.

And the original dynamo and coil ignition went, replaced by the Gerri-Mag from Buckinghamshirebased Wico-Pacy. This system featured, on the left side of the crankshaft, a heavy permanent magnet rotor flywheel, keyed and locked to the crankshaft. With it the lights only worked when the engine was running, the horn was that bulb, and the legally required parking lights were provided by a dry cell battery within the headlamp shell.

BSAhad no experience with two-strokes and were cautious. The first announcement in March 1948 was simply that a 4.5bhp two-stroke engine had been produced to meet the Swedish order. The Bantam itself was announced in June 1948, tested by TheMotor Cycle in October, and appeared at the first postwar Earls Court Show in November 1948. At that time it was for export only; it would eventually be exported to 29 countries, though the bulk of sales would be at home. These first models were identified by a plain red BSAtransfer on the shapely 1.75 Imperial gallon tank, rather than the crowing cockerel.

Once released at home, the Bantam was an instant hit.

Its 19in wheels, all-welded frame and telescopic forks (though undamped), all gave very acceptable handling.

Its appearance was unthreatening and most appealing, with the all-Mist Green finish, cream red- and goldlined tank panels, and that proud cockerel transfer. As author Owen Wright put it in his excellent book 'BSA Bantam' (Crowood Press), ''...a machine devoid of any plating" (bar the exhaust system and the headlamp rim) "and with a silencer shaped like a duck's bill, was the prettiest (lightweight) yet:' But the clincher was probably price - just over £80 all-in for the rigid original, rising by £14 if the 1950-on plunger option was chosen.

Both its 27½in seat height and 1701bkerbside weight, when BSA's250cc ClO and Cll were around lO0lbs heavier, marked it right away as suitable for nonenthusiast riders of all ages and both sexes. Between mid-1949 and spring 1951, 50,000 Dls were built and

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BSA I D1 Bantam

sold (it would be 100,000 by 1953). These were big numbers then, and for a time the Bantam was the most popular motorcycle in the world.

This instant success wrong-footed Wipac, then a relatively small concern for whom Bantam components became 80% of their business. They could not produce Geni-Mags quickly enough, and that was the basic reason behind the Lucas battery models, which added ÂŁ6 to the machine price. They fitted an 1A45 generator, six-volt battery, and rectifier, and so could feature a stop-light, electric horn, and lights operating independent of the engine running. But starting now depended on battery condition, and as mentioned, dealers were not impressed. Wipac responded with an improved SS85 Geni-Mag for 1951.

Bantamania Despite its 6.5:1 compression, I couldn't easily start the Dl, because the front part ofmy Size 10s fouled the footrest at each prod. I'd never had that problem with the late 175cc versions I used to run. Alex did the business, reminding me to flood the little carb with its built-in strangler choke, every time I went to start it again.

The clutch with its famously robust quick-action helix mechanism, took up the drive smoothly and easily.

Accelerating away, I soon changed up, with the big boots meaning I didn't have to reach too far forward to work the long gear pedal. I cruised happily at up to 30mph in second along narrow village streets, enjoying the Bantam engine's flexible and unpeaky nature. The only trouble came when I'd braked to a standstill at a crossroads, the Sin anchors working well together, with the rear one the better. But then I had a senior moment

I: Amal 261 carburettor with 'strangler' choke/ air fllter. The set-up returned over 110mpg.

2: From mid-1950 the exhaust pipe was routed above the footrest.

Using the kickstart, mounted concentrically with the gearchange, was a pain for big feet.

3: Tester Steve Wilson has owned many Bantams but they were all later swinging-arm 175cc versions.

about the Triumph-type gearchange pattern, and ended up pulling away in third ... And even with a 14 stone rider, the Bantam would do it!

Another learning curve arrived at the end of the 30mph limit, when I changed up into third. Too soon, forgetting the well known yawning gap between second and third for a Dl on standard gearing. The motor groaned and wallowed until I changed back down, wound it up, engine screaming, closer to 40 before hitting third again, and all was well. But while I'd been floundering in the flat period with too few revs in third, the undamped front forks had also gone wibbly-wobbly.

And they then performed poorly when we hit a series of narrow, unmarked speed-bumps disfiguring a perfectly decent country lane (all right, it was approaching a level crossing). The pan saddle and plungers took care of the rear end, but at the front it was hammered home that this was a relatively crude device.

Back in the day, some folk would substitute ClO/Cll front forks for their Dl's.

A few more miles, though, and all was soon resolved.

I paid attention to the timing of gearchanges, avoided potholes where possible, and blipped the throttle when coming to a halt as the revs dropped, to prevent inadvertent stalling. I was rewarded with a nice light wieldy ride, excellent steering and a decent turning circle, and a lively feeling to the pick-up when I used the throttle firmly. With the low saddle-height 40mph felt quite fast, and Alex has seen 45. Pick B-road routes to avoid traffic and you could still go long range jaunting on a little Bantam, as many did back in the 1950s and 60s. The Dl was not just a little motorbike - for • many lads and lasses then it was a way oflife. 'iii'

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