Bikes you couldn't buy
Seems a strange title but there were bikes which filled the papers week in, week out but you couldn't buy one for love nor money!
There are motorcycles which everyone knows about, they're in the press week in, week out, yet couldn't be bought. We look at Jeff Smith's BSA.
Looking through the back issues of the motorcycle press of the Sixties, there are a number of machines which regularly featured in the sports reports of the time and were well known, but couldn't be bought. Why?
Because they were works specials, hand-built examples of sporting machines - and there was little intent from whatever factory's name was on the tank to build them as production machines.
Why go to the effort of doing all this? Well, in the Sixties, off-road sport was seen as a development toolyes, a factory was interested in being seen as a winner, but this wasn't the primary object of the exercise.
You see, there are few test beds more challenging than the one where a motorcycle is plastered in mud and subjected to rapid acceleration from tickover to valve-bounce in all gears as its rider concentrates on winning. Any shortcomings in components will show up very quickly, often disastrously, under these circumstances. Things which road riders might take many thousands of miles to test out were done in 45 furious minutes, discussed in the car on the
1:Vicvaughan was loaned this ex-team
bike by BSAIN the Sixties.
2: On display at the 1964 Motorcycle Show, and if Bond Girl Caron Gardner is handy well. .. 3: Oil-in-frame saves the weight of a tank. 4: Bsaprovided a decent air filter for Smith's machines. 5: BBCTV scrambles kept Smith in prime race condition before the season's start. way back to the factory and fettled straightaway.
Take Bsafor instance, in their day they were veritable manufacturing giants able to boast 'one in three motorcycles sold in the world is a Bsa.'their top rider not only rode for the factory but worked there too and had served his exacting engineering apprenticeship with the company, so knew a thing or two, or where to find out what he didn't know.
Additionally, the factory competition shop manager was also a top rider with an engineering background and an eye for the future of the sport as well as the company.
With the advantage of both rider and manager able to talk technical and sporting secure in the knowledge the other would understand, it's little wonder the combination of Brian Martin and Jeff Smith did so well for the factory.
As far as publicity went it was excellent for the factory to see 'BSA'IN the results and reports, but these results were achieved with little will to produce a production motocross machine. Arguably there was no way these motorcycles Jeff was racing would be
saleable on the open market, even allowing for the changing nature of motorcycle sport which no longer required a motorcycle to be ridden to events or do duty as transport during the week.
It was beginning to be accepted by the competing public such motorcycles would require more fettling than a road machine, but few would be prepared to change crankcases, crankshafts, con rods, gear clusters and the like after each meeting as the components were stressed to the edge of their life.with this level of hand preparation needed is it any wonder these were bikes you couldn't buy?
Bsahad gone from using the fabulous all-rounder Gold Star - available in just about any spec one would care to name and in the hands of riders such as Jeff Smith certainly winners (the privateer version too was a winner and at one time in order to win at a scramble an unburstable Goldie seemed to be needed) - to using a lightweight which needed cossetting. Even more confusing to the buying public, they had done so despite the big single being still successful. The reality of the matter was both Martin and Smith realised the big non-unit construction single was at the limit of its development but what could possibly replace it?
Bsawere a business, albeit a massive one at the time but still didn't have unlimited resources to throw at things such as motorcycles, so any suggestions which would or could use existing
stock would be more favourably received.
The company had listed a 250 scrambles machine in the C15s,and Jeff Smith and Arthur Lampkin were happily racing such models and the concept of a lighter bike being a good start for a new 500cc class machine was not unknown to the comp department. Problem was, the C15swasn't strong enough to be made bigger. Brian Martin had a look at the newly introduced B40which, at 343ccwas already heading towards the magic 500 size. It also, even in road form with equipment, was only a few pounds heavier than the 250 C15sso just dumping the lights and road tinware to replace them with aluminium components would drop the weight right down, all of which was encouraging and at this stage something almost any owner could do. It was about to become much more technical and the reason why our feature title is 'bikes you couldn't buy.'
Success in motorcycle sport is a good way for manufacturers to promote their wares to the public and not having a production model to sell isn't always a handicap. Honda for example produced special machines for no reason other than to win in certain disciplines and while Eddy Lejeune was multi world trials champion on Honda machines they were nothing like what Honda made to sell. So it was with Bsa,they liked the name in the press and with Smith behind the handlebars this was a frequent occurrence, but one couldn't buy a replica.
The problem is there was just too much of the handmade in such a motorcycle to make it a viable project. This made for some exciting machines which everyone knew about but were for development purposes only and the factory would often claim '...for testing purposes ...' as they made some special item, maybe they would have their collective fingers crossed behind their backs as they said so but ...
The initial B40task had to be approved and with the potential for using production bits appealing, BSA'S hierarchy gave the nod. Was it a stroke of genius to launch the attempt at an event such as Red Marley Hill Climb where it was accepted due to its uniqueness something non-standard would be okay? Maybe, but it remains Brian looked around the stores and built something approaching viable for the event and with the bosses' agreement if not blessing went along to this Worcestershire hill climb with the intent of breaking the bike so he would have some idea where attention was needed. What he broke were records ...
Obviously even a rider as talented as Smith would be at a serious disadvantage with a bike 150cc less than the opposition in a Gp.commissioning special bits
was out of the question as, in contrast to the titanium experience, there was little in the way of budget to begin with, so increasing capacity had to be done with what could be found. A special engine with a one-off con rod gave encouraging results but to hand-make even a few rods would be out of the question cost wise then, as can happen, chance takes a hand.
Bsadid experiment with all sorts of things in their life, not everything came to fruition and one can imagine a conversation "Yerwant an 86mm con rod? Didn't that eight-cylinder, 1¾ litre three-stroke they played around with in 1870 have 86mm rods? Sure the dies are still in old Fred's cupboard ..."Whatever the truth, there were dies to make rods quickly and cost effectively, some work at the bench made a distance plate to lift the barrel up a little and suddenly an engine was 67cc closer to the 500cc mark.
The resultant bike was potent but still needed a lot of work, a frame came first and this too was special, having abandoned the cast lug and brazed tube method for an all-welded construction it was light and stiff.
99Theproblembeing therewas just too much of the hand-made in such a motorcycleto make it a viableproject.~
Now this could have been easily replicated with a jig but it's not quite as simple as that because other parts would need to be altered to fit. To highlight the task, think back to doing something as simple as altering a bolt on your own bike. Offer up the bolt to the correct place, measure it, mark it, take it to the workbench, cut it, file it, put it in to place ... and that's just one bolt. Now, while we may happily work on our own bikes for hours and not have to think of the hourly rate, BSA couldn't work that way. Fitters' time had to be paid for as there was no reason to expect them to work for nothing.
Though by now Smith was showing the promise of the exercise, he and Brian Martin were still officially only developing ideas, so there was little budget to do anything with and things such as crankcases and gearboxes were replaced after every meeting.
Clearly such a thing would be beyond acceptable for privateers.
Reason for the level of changes was down to the flex in the cases which wore them out, back at the factory another set from the production line stock was
taken, the old set went into the melting pot and would surface as something else later.
Once the world title had been won, Bsaand Smith had to be seen to be racing what the public could buy but as good as a production bike was they still needed something more.
Modifications aimed at lighter and more power often involved fancy materials such as titanium and magnesium when poor old boring aluminium alloy was deemed too heavy. With a title to defend BSA naturally wanted their Gpvictor to be seen to be doing the work but as ever in 'works bike' world what was seen was not always what was. All the little things which went into making a works bike perform beyond a production machine ensured Jeff would successfully defend his title in 1965.
The problem is not all these developments work and just because the factory is doing it doesn't mean it's always right. Cdbhad an insight into a genuine factory machine when invited to the unveiling ofvic Vaughan's 500 Bsawhich we featured in issue 36. It had been restored, or rebuilt to the spec it would have raced in by the lad who built it at the factory. To the uninitiated - me - it looked Victorish but when given the 'tour', so to speak, by Graham Home, who built it at the factory and Vicvaughan for who it was built, the differences were pointed out.
No, it didn't have the titanium frame as Bsahad backed off on that due to its difficulty in repairing in the field. The frame was similar to the Victor Gpbut lighter, forks were similar too but had magnesium castings for the sliders. The engine was no longer magnesium as it had been found aluminium casting was stiffer, so held the power for longer in a race.
The motor itself may look like a Victor but it isn't, nor is it the later B50,but instead is a hand-crafted version which falls mid-way between the two models.
Wheels too were made from parts found in BSA'S stores and hand fettled to make them perform better but not resemble any standard part. And so it goes on, with bits being made and tried and developed until a bike which every reader or enthusiast knows, but none could buy.