1971 BSA Rocket 3

For 1971, BSA was looking to restyle its range and one of the decisions regarding motorcycle frames was to move away from the traditional black finish and switch to a dull silver. This decision was influenced by the titanium frames of the works motocrossers and was signed off for production. However, producing the paint was going to take time and works manager Al Cave saw that if there were delays in production, jobs would potentially be lost. To avoid this scenario, Cave acquired some dove grey paint cheap from the MOD and started using it on the 1971 frames. It was an interesting business decision that must have been welcomed on the shop floor, if it meant workers stayed in employment.

Bound for export to the USA, the customers responded well to this bold colour choice. However, once riders had put some miles on their new machine, the colour choice was seen as not that practical, due to the fact it was impossible to keep clean. In response, BSA went back to black frames to avoid bad publicity – as a result, true grey frame machines are very rare, having only been produced between January and end of May 1971.

This particular Rocket 3 model is the Mark 2 which uses a teardrop style tank, and while being part of the restyling, the tank is a 1969 design, hence the old-style badge. Another element to note is this is a five-speed model, making it even rarer; one of 200 produced for homologation purposes to enable BSA to enter Rocket 3s with five speed gearboxes into the Daytona road races.