THE WAY WE WERE
Lipstick application on a ’20s BSA and other recollections
ONE FOR RICK, I think. This photo is of my wife’s grandparents, Sydney and Doris Jagger, just setting off for their regular fun day out riding to Box Hill in Surrey. He and his pals would ride up with a female riding pillion who had to try and put on their lipstick on the way to the top. The best attempt won and the others stood the first round on the way home, what fun. I am not an expert on older bikes and would like to know what make model it is, please. I believe the photo was taken in the 1920s (there is a tenuous family link to a slightly more famous M Jagger, apparently). Thanks for the great mag – it helps to keep me sane during these strange times.
Greg Woods, Glastonbury, Somerset
Hi Greg, what a great picture! I am delighted to say that the bike is one of my favourites – a London-registered ohv BSA 350cc L25 dating from 1926/26. These were a sporty bike for the time – good for around 70mph and Sydney’s has open pushrods with a sort of bracket at the bottom, suggesting that it is a ‘Super Sports’ model with a much stronger bottom end. The history of these is a bit vague; they were not officially around until 1927 – but I’m not sure there weren’t a few earlier ones, so this is either a rare 1926 Super Sport or it has been upgraded sometime after with a later motor. The bike looks too new to have been altered like that, though, making this a very interesting photo. If you look closely, the brake lever is awkwardly mounted over the top of Sydney’s hand, because he has twisted the handlebars in the clamp to give a racing drop position – clearly the tendency to show off was around in the Jagger family for some generations! All the best, Rick Parkington