London floods of 1964

My father passed away recently and in going through his effects I came across this image of a BSA Bantam. It looks like the bike is a Post Office BSA Bantam, at best guess the year is 1964 as this roughly corresponds to when he was living in London and there was flooding in South East London nearby where he was living.

Post Office Bantam negotiated floodwater.

More Tokyo street spots

Some more Tokyo street spots snapped on an amble up and down the 311 between Haneda and Kamata. The Beemers and BSA were outside a Beemer dealership and a very friendly chap came out for a chat when he saw that I was paying an interest. I found it strange but admirable that a load of dusty (though good condition) classic rides were fronting a showroom full of very shiny modern BMWs. The Yamaha was outside a Kawasaki dealership and looked like it was perhaps the daily rider of someone who works there.

Unusual to see three 100RS together.

A distance shot on the Beemers.

BSA A65 Lightning. Looks like a 1970 model.

The Yamaha SRV250 was made
from '92 to '96 and is a really
sweet looking bike that never
made it to the UK.

BSA A65 street tracker

Another post from Japan, this one a street spot from Sasebo. Just at the end of the main shopping arcade in the city I spied this sweet BSA A65 outside of a barbers shop.

Of course Japan is known for its mastery of the art of motorcycle customisation and this Beesa is a really right looking subtly modified bike.

Lundy Flyers Golden Mile

Waiting for an escort down the beach.
The jeep is a tender vehicle, all the tenders
were WW2 machinery. Very cool.

Been meaning to post this for a while as the event was back in early September but, hey, this isn't a hot of the press news site so it hardly matters.

I'm not a fan of the phrase 'bucket list' but taking part in a beach sprint has been on mine for a good while now. I knew from my work schedule that I would be at home for the Lundy Flyers event and it being in Devon it was relatively local.

As it turned out in the end I was kind of wrong on both these counts as come that weekend I could only manage to attend on the Saturday and it was a three hour drive from home, but totally worth it.

Saunton Sands 'village' in the distance, it's a long
beach and access is all the way in the distance.
Given the number of 'civilians' on the beach riding
to and fro needed an official escort.

The event is at Saunton Sands in North Devon and is organised by the Lundy Flyers, a local Hot Rod club. The entry is eclectic and the atmosphere wonderfully casual. Basically, enter, turn up and ride / drive. The racing is head to head and not timed so escapes too much regulation

I entered my ZB32 Gold Star, yes, I had some concerns about thrashing it on the sand but ultimately it's only a few runs and if you make sure to wash carefully immediately after there's no long term damage.

Over the day I got in about six runs down the 1/8th mile strip. The sand was reasonably solid but none the less as the speed gets up it's fairly hairy, just keep the power on and the weight back and cross your fingers. At least the ZB32 carries its weight nice and low. As above it's all fairly casual so it's definitely the taking part rather than the winning. On the day you chose a partner for the runs, just picking someone with a bike that looked like a fair match, it worked well, we (the Goldie and I) won as many runs as we lost and in the end most of it came down to gear changes and which line on the sand was taken.

So, in the end, yep, a brilliant day out and a fanstastic event. Totally recommended either as entrant or spectator. There's a really good friendly vibe there and some great machinery to watch being thrashed.

Alpine touring with a BSA Golden Flash

There's not been a photo from back in the day on the blog for a little while so here's a couple of shots of a well loaded alpine touring BSA A10 Golden Flash.

The alpine view pic is marked to the reverse '1954 Austria'.

Even though the photo is in black and white it is clear to see that this BSA is not Golden in colour. The Golden coloured edition gave the model its name but even if the bike was finished in traditional black it was still known as a Golden Flash.

Military BSA Model K

This unusual photo is of a WD issue BSA with its pith helmeted services rider. Usefully there is an annotation on the back 'Feb 1st 1918. Daressalamm' (sic).

At that point (1918) Tanzania was still officially part of German East Africa. Having rebelled against German rule just over ten years previously presumably Tanzanians were less than pleased that their country was passed on to the British Empire after the Treaty of Versailles came in to effect at the beginning of 1920.

Note the military contract number painted on to the petrol tank.

BSA military Model K in Tanzania.

Golden Mile Gold Star

I've just recently had my entry confirmed for the Lundy Flyers beach sprint in North Devon at the beginning of December.

I've entered my 350 ZB Gold Star as it seems to fit the bill. Enough power to be fun but hopefully not enough to hurt myself, the weight on the bike is nice and low down too so that should be a benefit. It doesn't seem to be a hardcore race to win type event but I like to put in a good showing - it's going to be my first time sprinting on sand so any tips gratefully received...

Most importantly it looks like a fun weekend of camping on the beach, hanging out with like minded folks and riding bikes.

More details:

https://www.lundyflyers.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/lundyflyers/

BSA Model E combination

Here's a bike made to be used. BSA v twin fitted with a tradesman's box sidecar. Heavily accessorised to be ridden every day and in all weathers

Hard to say if it is the 770 or 1000cc model but more likely the 770 as this was the bigger seller by far. Look at the enormous front mudguard, these were known as 'colonial style' to cope with the mud and dust to be found in far flung areas.

The bike has been updated with a drum brake from a later model, it would have originally had a dummy rim brake (see the mount on the forks for the lever). If it's a 770 the bike is a Model A and dates from approximately 1922 (dated on the front fork design which BSA phased out in 1923).

BSA S29-18 1929 combination

A few evocative shots of a vintage BSA combo. I believe it is a S29-18 from 1929 though am happy for any experts out there to correct me!

BSA Models numbers of the late vintage / early post vintage era are slightly confusing as they are alpha numeric and the same model number prefix applies to multiple different models - ie S29 designates that it is a 500cc model from 1929 (in 1930 it was the S30). Bikes usually get identified with the prefix only but it is the suffix that gives the true id. So, for example an S29 could be any bike in the 1929 range that was 500cc, the '-18' suffix means that it was the upright-engined side-valve model (also known at the 4.93hp Light).

For more details on 1930s Beesas take a look at this site: https://www.bsa1930s.nl/

 

BSA flat tanker

Easy to recognise the bike as a BSA, the background looks slightly industrial and the photo is annotated 'Dover April 1926' on the reverse.

 The HB prefix number plate is apparently from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. 

Hard to say the year of the bike but it seems more than likely from the mid twenties as it is still in rather nice condition and the model is probably a H. Enlarge the photo and look carefully and you can see a Cowey type klaxon on the top tube.

BSA H from the mid twenties.

Isolated Mini Moto Camp

Last October's mini rally at a 'secret location' in deepest Wiltshire ticked the boxes for seeing mates, riding bikes and sleeping under the stars so as restrictions in the UK have eased it seemed like a fine idea to repeat the exercise. To start with we had the max number six signed up for the camp but in the end work commitments whittled us down to the same three as in October.

Last time I rode the Buell (now departed to a new home) so I decided to ride up the Norton Dominator but a last minute suggestion for some green laning from Matt rendered the Norton a poor choice. Obvious would have been the Himalayan but somehow it wouldn't be in quite the spirit of the exercise so the trusty Bantam was settled upon.

The last time I had ridden the Bantam a long distance from home was something like fifteen years ago and I had vowed never to do such a foolish thing again. However, time heals all wounds, the Bantam has been rebuilt and slightly 'hopped up' and it somehow seemed like loading the Bantam up with camping gear might actually be a good idea. Besides that I've recently been reading John Storey's mini autobiog in the British Two Stroke Club magazine and it's pretty inspirational. John has travelled all over Europe on 'Project 9', a D1 125cc Bantam. I can honestly say that I think he's one of the greatest motorcycle explorers ever. There's not much about John online though he did appear in a short article in Sump magazine a few years back - https://sump-publishing.co.uk/john%20storey.htm. Someone should publish his biography...

As it was, what could have turned out to be a huge mistake ended up quite enjoyable: a beautiful sunny day and quiet roads meant that covering the 70 odd miles to Minety at 30mph was a breeze.

The story continues in picture captions...

Seeing old friends and the achievement of turning
up on an old bike makes arrival so much the sweeter.

A field to camp in and a barn for shade and shelter,
what more could you want.

Plotting the afternoon of green-laning with the
aid of an Ordnance Survey map.

Dan with his trusty, high mileage Bullet.

We rode the un-metalled sections of the ancient
Fosse Way.

Matt turning on the style on his BSA A10 combo.

And a video fly by.

All was smooth going until we arrived
at this ford.

There was no way round for the combo so after

much goading from Dan and I along with a pledge

that we would push him out if it came to it, Matt

attempted the crossing.

Having got his feet wet helping Matt through the

ford Dan decided to ride it anyway.

There was no way the Bantam would make the ford
without flooding the magneto so we chose the
option of the footbridge.

Drying the combo out.

And the boots...

Back at camp that evening.

Though the days were warm the nights were cold.
Here's early morning.

Matt samples the raw power of the Bantam.

I took a new route home via Pewsey Down and
past Woodhenge. A cracker of a route, I even
took a diversion after Salisbury to extend the ride
further.