The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and machine tools; coal cleaning and handling plants; sintered metals; and hard chrome process.
Royal Enfield was a brand name under which The Enfield Cycle Company Limited of Redditch, Worcestershire sold motorcycles, bicycles, lawnmowers and stationary engines which they had manufactured. Enfield Cycle Company also used the brand name "Enfield" without the "Royal".
The BSA Bantam is a two-stroke unit construction motorcycle that was produced by the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) from 1948 until 1971. Exact production figures are unknown, but it was over 250,000 and some estimates place the number closer to half a million.
The Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 was a technically advanced, high-performance roadster motorcycle made by Triumph Engineering and BSA from 1968 to 1975, and sold under both the Triumph and BSA marques. Alongside the Honda CB750, and later the Kawasaki triples, it brought a new level of sophistication to street motorcycles, marking the beginning of the superbike era. The Honda CB750 overshadowed the Trident to be remembered as the 'first superbike', in spite of the Triumph Trident actually debuting before the Honda by a few weeks.
Unit construction is the design of larger motorcycles where the engine and gearbox components share a single casing. This sometimes includes the design of automobile engines and was often loosely applied to motorcycles with rather different internal layouts such as the flat twin BMW models.
The BSA Gold Star is a motorcycle made by BSA from 1938 to 1963. They were 350 cc and 500 cc single-cylinder four-stroke production motorcycles known for being among the fastest bikes of the 1950s. Being hand built and with many optional performance modifications available, each motorcycle came from the factory with documented dynamometer test results, allowing the new owner to see the horsepower (bhp) produced.
Edward Turner was an English motorcycle designer. He was born in Camberwell in the London Borough of Southwark, on the day King Edward VII was proclaimed King. In 1915, Turner had his first ride on a motorcycle, a Light Tourist New Imperial.
The BSA M20 was a British motorcycle made by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) at their factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. Although initially viewed as a near failure by the War Office in 1936, the M20 evolved into one of the longest serving motorcycles in the history of British military motorcycling, as well as becoming the most numerous type produced for World War II with 126,000 in active service. Many are still in use around the world today.
The BSA Lightning is a British BSA 650 cc-class motorcycle made in Birmingham between 1965 and 1972.
The BSA A7 was a 500cc motorcycle model range made by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) at their factory in Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham. The range was launched in 1946 using a 495 cc (30.2 cu in) long stroke engine. An improved 497 cc (30.3 cu in) version based on the BSA A10 engine was launched in 1950. The various A7 models continued in production with minor modifications until 1961/2 when they were superseded by the unit-construction A50 model.
The BSA C15 was a 250 cc single-cylinder ohv motorcycle manufactured by the British company BSA from September 1958 until 1967, and was BSA's first four-stroke unit-construction bike. For most of that period, after the introduction of 'Learner Laws' in 1961, a 250 cc was the largest capacity solo machine that a learner could ride unaccompanied when displaying L-plates in the United Kingdom. A road-going Sports derivative was added in 1961, and off-road versions, for Trials and Scrambles, were also available in the range.
The BSA C11 is a British motorcycle manufactured by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) at their factory in Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, between 1939 and 1956. Actor Steve McQueen owned a 1951 BSA C11.
Cheney Racing is a British motorcycle manufacturer, founded by Eric Cheney, based in Petersfield, Hampshire which builds complete specialist high performance motocross motorcycles, rolling chassis or frame kits to individual customer specifications.
The BSA B50 was a single-cylinder 499 cc (30.5 cu in) ohv motorcycle, produced by BSA at their factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. The last of the big capacity unit-construction singles from the Birmingham Small Arms company, it had an alloy engine with a bore of 84 mm (3.3 in) and a stroke of 90 mm (3.5 in). As well as the road version, special models were produced for off-road competition use.
BSA motorcycles were made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA), which was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and machine tools; coal cleaning and handling plants; sintered metals; and hard chrome process.
David W. Garside is an inventor and former project engineer at BSA's Umberslade Hall research facility. He is notable for having developed an air-cooled twin-rotor Wankel motorcycle engine which powered the Norton Classic road bike. Although the Classic was not the first production rotary-engined bike, it was significantly lighter, smoother, more powerful and better-handling than the contemporary Suzuki RE5.
The BSA unit twins were a range of unit construction twin-cylinder motorcycles made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) and aimed at the US market. A range of 500 cc (31 cu in), 650 cc (40 cu in) and 750 cc (46 cu in) twins were produced between 1962 and 1972, but they were really developments of the older pre-unit A7/A10 model range with less weight. The engines had a reputation for vibration, but acceleration was good for the time, to a top speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).
The BSA B25 was a series of 250 cc (15 cu in) unit construction single-cylinder OHV four-stroke motorcycles made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company. Developed from the BSA C15, the machines were produced between 1967 and 1971. The B25 was the fastest British production 250.
The BSA B40 was a series of 350 cc (21 cu in) unit construction single-cylinder OHV four-stroke motorcycles made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company. Developed from the BSA C15, the machines were produced between 1961 and 1967 for civilian use. Military versions were manufactured from 1967 to 1970. Around 14,000 machines were built in total.
The BSA B44 was a series of 441 cc (26.9 cu in) unit construction single-cylinder OHV four-stroke motorcycles made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company between 1966 and 1970. The machines were developed from the BSA World Championship Motocross machines, which were themselves based on the C15/B40.
