24 BSA BULLETIN 1 BSA BULLETIN

Newsletter of the BSAOC of Northern California

December 2015 Number 361

In this issue:

The state of the industry report Letters to the Editor The way we were Travels with Shirley Roy Bacon Obituary Difficult to ride-ride. Swap meat Maggie Neato New original poem by Art Book reviews of “The Strange death of the British Motor Cycle industry” Book review of “Save the Bonneville” by John Rosamond

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Number 361 December 2015 The BULLETIN of the Northern California BSA Owners’ Club is the forum for the

exchange of information among the members. All material contained within this

newsletter is property of the BSAOCNC unless otherwise stated within the article.

Material is not to be reproduced or copied without the written consent of the

BSAOCNC. If you would like to use an article or picture found in this newsletter

please contact the Editor.

Deadline for submission of material for publication is the 10th of each month. Members are encouraged to submit technical information, ads, letters, photographs, or any other items of potential interest. Photos will be returned only if so requested in advance. Opinions expressed in the BULLETIN are those of the respective contributors, and do not necessarily represent the position of the Club membership or its officers. BOARD OF DIRECTORS David James President 510-562-6769 Gary Roper Vice President 541-858-5313 Ray Pallett Secretary 650-592-7244 Mike Crick 916-797-0879 Jim Romain 707-894-3805 Ants Uiga 949-466-6404 REGALIA SALES Patti Meadows 775-359-8150 LIBRARIAN Randy Reiter 510-222-2546 WEBMASTER David James 510-562-6769 INTER. RALLY DELEGATE Barry Porter 831-464-2867 TREASURER Bill Whalen 707-837-0424 ADVISORS Thomas Stott (Pre-unit C Series Singles) 951-659-2406 Heinz Batterman (Gold Star) 510-339-1776 (M20/21) need volunteer *** - *** - **** Jack Wheeler (Pre-unit Twins) 510-724-1782 James Banke (Unit Singles) 831-335-1422 Jerry Meadows (Unit Twins) 775-359-8150 Bill Whalen (Rocket 3) 707-837-0424 (Bantam) need volunteer ***-***-**** CONTRIBUTORS Maggie Neato (Personals) Write c/o the BULLETIN Hap Hazard Write c/o the BULLETIN Claud Baddley Retired Lion tamer Sigmund Fraud Ex-analyst

Membership: The Northern California BSA Owners’ Club is open to all BSA enthusiasts at $20 per year.

Associate membership is $5 per year for additional members in the same household. The address for submitting material for publication in the newsletter is, 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd. Perris, Ca. 92570

. e-mail: bsaocncEditor@aol.com

www.BSAOCNC.org

Cover: A lovely BSA goes under the hammer at Bonham’s auction at Stafford Show

Back Cover: The Stafford classic show, one of 5 halls filled with British machines!

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HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE BSA OWNERS CLUB OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA:

Dave Aldana Earl Bowlby Don Danmeier Eddie Dow Dick Mann Neil Keen Bob Raber Jim Rice Jeff Smith Craig Vetter In Memoriam: Kenny Eggers Nick Nicholson Roland Pike Roy Bacon

NEWSLETTER Bill Getty, Editor 951-940-5411

Don Danmeier 415-898-0330

RIDES Don Danmeier, Chair 415-898-0330

Ray Pallett 510-815-3561

Mike Crick 916-797-0879

CALIFORNIA Don Danmeier, Chair 415-898-0330

BSA RALLY Otto Lindegaard 805-489-4191

David James 510-562-6769

CLUBMAN’S SHOW Rick Price, Chair 707-484-3566

Jeff Sunzeri, Chief Judge 831-636-3020

Don Danmeier, MC 415-898-0330

David James 510-562-6769

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

Bill Whalen 707-837-0424

ELECTIONS Gary Roper, Chair 541-858-5313

David James 510-562-6769

MEMBERSHIP Bill Whalen, Chair 707-837-0424

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

Ants Uiga 949-466-6404

WEB PRESENCE David James, Chair 510-562-6769

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

Jeff Sunzeri 831-636-3020

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22 BSA BULLETIN

Save the Bonneville! By John Rosamond Another book on the tail end of the Brit-ish Cycle industry this work is by the Ex-Chairman of the Worker’s board of Di-rectors at the Triumph Meriden Co-op. Although the demise of the industry has been documented and debated in many books this one is of special significance to the true British motorcycle lovers. It documents in fine detail, bordering on the intense and gives one mans view of the events occurring before and after the announced close of the Meriden factory by Dennis Poore. Mr. Rosamond goes into the family nature of the factory and the intense loyalty the workers had to the Triumph name.

Working through the book re-quires a bit of patience. Mr. Rosamond includes reams of business meeting minutes that can be a slog to read through but for the person interested in the finial death throws of the industry this postmortem gives a very detailed if somewhat one sided point of view. I personally feel that the final Co-op T140 Triumphs were some of the very best motorcycles to ever come out of the traditional British industry. The work of Doug Hele and Brian Jones are well documented in the effort to make the most of a dire financial situation. Of special interest is the detail on the 8 valve TSS and the issues encountered with the also financially strapped Westlake Engi-neering. The short lived TR7RV dual sport and the 600 cc Thunderbird as well as the only TSX 8 valve are shown in detail. A number of experimental models are detailed. The Phoenix 900 cc twin prototype as well as the counterbalanced Bonneville now at Reg Allen motor cycles in London are detailed.

It is kind of like reading the story of the Titanic, you know how it ends but you still hope that somehow the end will be different this time. A good read if you jump over some of the Board meeting minutes and well worth the time for a true Anglo-phile. Ed.

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The way we were Your humble Editor

Buying a motorcycle was so much easier when I was a kid, except for the money part. My father was an executive with a large Amer-ican electronics manufacturer (long time ago!). I recall a huge building with hundreds of workers soldering circuit boards for 8 hours a day, 3 shifts running 6 days. One of his co-workers had bought a Honda 150 Dream to ride to work and had tried it once or twice but motorcy-cles were still unacceptable in those days, no matter how nice a person you met on a Honda. My father had bought my brother and I a Yamaha LT1 and a G4TR Kawasaki mostly to needle our mother who had recently remarried. Mom had said those famous lines we all heard “you’ll have a cycle over my dead body”. Dad took her at her word! Anyway the Honda 150 sat for 5 years in the garage of Dad’s co-worker until I saw it one visit. He offered it to me for $25, a princely sum for a guy getting $ .50 to mow a lawn. I borrowed the cash from Dad. A weekend spent cleaning the bike and cleaning the jets according to instruction given by a bike riding neighbor had the thing running. I sold it for $150 the next week. I am not the brightest bulb in the box but even with a D in math I could see that I would need to mow a lot of lawns to make that much money and certainly couldn’t mow that many in a weekend. I began watching the paper classified section for cheap cycles. These days the local paper never has any motorcycles but in 1969 the cycle section was 1/2 page or more. My buddies and I would pool our resources and buy some derelict bike to fix and sell. Beats flipping burgers! By doing this we came into a number of really desirable bikes now but then they were just old junk. I bought a late 50’s Matchless Hurricane for $50 and sold it for $300. Bought Tony Dunn’s Trident drag bike and all the spares for $500 and sold the engine for $700 and parted the rest. In fact there were so many Brit-ish Bikes for sale cheap it was hard to decide where to spend our money. John’s cycle in Costa Mesa had a complete original low mile Rocket 3 for $300 that sat for months until he sold it to D&M Cycle salvage who sold the motor out of it. I didn’t buy it because the Triumph chopper I bought for $35 had my complete attention. One that got away that I really wanted was one of the Norton Hybrids, a G15 750 “scrambler”. The fellow had advertised the bike for $750. I went with my father to look at it and fell in love instantly. The red tank had already faded to pink on top, and the Norton badge was missing on the right side, but that bike screamed freedom. I had vi-sions of Mike Patrick winning desert races on one just like this one. Dad wasn’t so sure, after all it had no key! Just kick and go– people were more honest in those days per-haps? I gave the guy a deposit but Dad wouldn’t let me pay for and take the bike until the seller could produce a pink slip for it. A few days went by and I kept calling the seller asking if he had found the pink yet. Then one day I called and the number was out of service. No freedom for me, no winning the Barstow to Vegas race, no envying looks from my school chums. And most of all no $150 I had left as a deposit. I guess people weren’t any more honest in those days after all. I have had a few of the hybrid Norton twins since then and they aren’t quite what I had envisioned but last week my friend Mark came by with one that Don Harrell had restored. That old lust flared up like I was 16 again. The difference is that today the entry price was $12,000 not $750. Oh yes and the other difference is that I can afford it now better than in those long gone days. I am seriously considering it but I just saw the new Triumph Thruxton 1200 pictures and really want one. Ah choices. I chose to skip school and work in the cycle business my whole life and never regretted it. At 62 do I buy a Norton that will keep it’s value or a Triumph that will lose half? But which will be more fun? Ah choices! Ed.

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Letters to the Editor Send to: bsaocnceditor@aol.com or by mail : 17320 Santa Rosa Mine

Rd, Perris, Ca. 92570

Volunteers Needed! The Club needs volunteers for

many of the tasks performed throughout the day of the Clubman’s Show, ie: Entry door, Patrol the patio, Show bike door, Swap door, Trophy distribution, just to name some. The more volunteers we get, the less time each is asked to serve. Please contact Patti @ 775-224-1657 or meadows550@yahoo.com. Even if you have been doing the same job for the past several years, we still want to compile a list of who is doing what/when. Thank you so much.

Have you seen the new 2016 Triumph T120 ? They finally have it almost right. But does a Bonnie buyer really want heated handgrips, ABS or Traction Con-trol? I wonder if all those things are made by Lucas? An observation - in movies, any time they want to show a cool dude on a bike, without making a statement, they always use a Triumph. A Harley Hog makes a statement. A Rice Rocket makes a different statement. But a Triumph rider is just a cool dude on a bike. Reference Jurassic World. Full throttle through the jungle on a TR, but that was easier because it was mid-night. Butch Gordo

I believe a correction is in order concerning the BSA pictured on page 3. In 1969-1970, a BSA B25S is a "Starfire" not a Shooting Star. A "Shooting Star" from those years should be a B44SS. I can agree that the little 250 is a lot of fun. It's my only BSA and I flog it regu-larly. Dan O'Keefe

Right you are Dan. My mistake! ED.

Continued page 5

We had a beautiful 100-mile All-British Ride yesterday. Not as many bikes as at Hansen Dam, but then this one is 100% British with no apolo-gies for that. Spectacular. Don Yes, it seems that HD is becoming a more modern event. Ed.

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Book Review of: The Strange Death of The British Mo-tor Cycle Industry by Steve Koerner

On my recent trip to England I was looking for reading material for the long flights and lonely evenings. Having read about every book on the British Motorcycle business this one caught my eye. Mr. Koerner is a Norton owner and British bike enthusiast. He writes in a clear and concise fashion and makes very few mistakes in identify-ing various model changes and reliability issues. Mr. Koerner began his study of the British indus-try as his thesis for his doctorate and then modi-fied it for publication. Unlike the great book by Hopwood this book has very little prejudice when it comes to blame for the undoing. In addition the author begins at the beginning back at the dawn of the industrial revolution in England. He traces the rise of the major and some minor companies and documents their activities through the teens and twenties and into the depression era of the 30’s. He goes into detail about the advantages the big 4 had during the war years and how they were able to prepare for the post war boom that was sure to come. The factories were aware that their Euro-pean competition would be unable to answer the British offerings for some time due to rationing and restrictions placed on manufacturers such as BMW and Adler. This huge advantage was wasted in the effort to build large and powerful sporting motor cycles when what was needed was smaller transportation machines. BSA had the Bantam and that was indeed their best selling machine but it was a 1930’s German DKW in reality and not modern in the late 40’s. The European factories set about building small ma-chines in rather large numbers and eclipsed British production numbers far sooner than British management had thought possible. The author documents import figures from Italy and Germany as they rose from a trickle to a wave to a tidal wave in the 50’s. He addresses the rather anemic response from the big 4 makers in the UK, that being BSA, Triumph, Norton and Matchless. He goes into detail on the Japanese invasion and the British efforts to open the Japanese market, completely unsuccessful. The book is a must read for any student of business and shows how a vibrant industry can be lost even with huge amounts of government support. The last years of BSA and the Co-op are discussed in less detail because as an industry the final days were of minor signifi-cance to the motor cycle business worldwide. The real demise of the industry was….. Well you may need to read the book to find out. If you are a businessman you need to read this book. Ed.

20 BSA BULLETIN

Clubman’s Calendar

06 Dec (Sat) Ariel OC of North America holiday party

626-966-7363

06 Dec (Sun) NCNOC holiday party

www.nortonclub.com

06 Dec (Sun) BSAOCSC holiday party, Palmdale

Art Sirota, 661-273-7005 or Barbara Barrett, 661-703 -9249

13 Dec (Sun) SCNOC Mt. Palomar / Julian ride

www.socalnorton.com

17 Dec (Sun) NCNOC “Freeze Ride”

408-272-0369 or www.nortonclub.com

16 Jan (Sat) BSAOCNC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Location TBD

Volunteers Needed! The Club needs volunteers for

many of the tasks performed throughout the day of the Clubman, ie: Entry door, Patrol the patio, Show bike door, Swap door, Tro-phy distribution, just to name some. The more volunteers we get, the less time each is asked to serve. Please contact Patti @ 775-224-1657 or meadows550@yahoo.com. Even if you have been doing the same job for the past several years, we still want to compile a list of who is doing what/when. Thank you so much.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Ron Hansen Lafayette, California

R.E. Rogers Little Rock, Arkansas

5 BSA BULLETIN

Author Roy Bacon

passed away in the Isle of Wight, on June 18, having strug-gled for several years with Park-inson’s disease.

Born May 1, 1932, Roy wrote a vast array of books which have proved invaluable to restorers over the years – titles covering Ariel, Triumph, BSA, Norton and AJS/Matchless were among his many works. He started writing about motorcycles and motorcy-cling in 1964, contributing to many magazines over the years. He was also an enthusiastic amateur racing participant, with his BSA Bantam. He was elected an Honorary Member of the BSAOCNC, and visited Northern California sever-al times, while on annual vacation cruises. His wife Barbara died in 2012, and he leaves behind a son, Stacey.

Roy working on his BSA Bantam, IOM TT,

Roy and Babs in later years, Longstock,

UK, 2007

Hi Bill, Really enjoyed the November issue. Of course the Travels with Shirley was interesting and well done. Also enjoyed the parts article and the magazine covers layout. I certainly enjoyed the old covers better than the modern ones. The older ones focused on one picture, whereas today there is so much writing that it overshadows everything else. A few words are ok but today that is over-done to the detriment of the cover picture- in my opinion . I have a question for the older riders. When I raced my Honda 250 in the early 60s it was dead reliable, but after 20 or 30 miles the chain was always loose. Assuming others also had this problem, how was this handled on the big west coast races that lasted 100 to 160 miles? I will run with this additional question, what ever happened to John Bull tires of the early 50s? Thanks again Bill, we appreciate you! RER

6 BSA BULLETIN

State of the sport as seen from the inside. Or “Where do you get parts

for that?”

Many of you know me as the director of JRC Engineering Inc. in

Perris California. JRC was established in 1974 as a Bultaco retail outlet but

moved into Triumph spares in the mid 70’s when Triumph Meriden was unable

or willing to supply spares for the bikes of the 40’s-60’s. The history of Tri-

umph is shared with the British cycle industry in general and can be researched

in a number of books should that sort of thing interest you. See the book re-

views on this subject in this issue. Back to British Motorcycle parts supply evo-

lution though, it seems that when the BSA Company folded in 1972-3 that the

British government arranged a shotgun wedding with Norton by offering gov-

ernment money to bail out the companies. BSA had owned Triumph from 1951 so the Meriden

factory along with BSA came under the authority of Manganese Bronze Holdings owners of Nor-

ton-Villiers. It was determined to close the Meriden factory where the Bonneville was produced

and use the BSA factory to make the Triumph T160 triple and the Norton factory to manufacture

the Norton Mk3 Commando while the rotary was under finial development. The Meriden workers

staged a sit in at the factory and were successful in getting the factory reformed as a workers co-

op. The marriage between BSA and Norton became NVT or Norton/Villiers/Triumph– at least for

a short time while the co-op became Meriden Triumph, a separate company. As the new company

was not responsible for the products of the old Triumph Engineering it was decided that all re-

sources should be applied to bike production and that hence forth no parts would be made for the

old Meriden or BSA bikes. The idea was that if you couldn’t get parts for your old Triumph you

would be forced to buy a new one. Problem was that the punters bought new Hondas!

This lack of spares was a golden opportunity for some really ingenious businessmen. In

the USA Bob Shantz launched Domiracer Distributors and was very successful. In the UK a num-

ber of suppliers arose supplying what the factory called “pirate parts”. Chief among these was Les

Harris. Born in London Les began sourcing parts for older Triumphs from a number of undis-

closed sources. Indeed in the 1980’s after the collapse of the Triumph workers Co-op the new

owner of all things Triumph , John Bloor, awarded Les the rights to manufacture the Bonneville

of which 1600 (maybe) were produced. LF Harris International went on to supply a wide range of

parts to the trade and still trades out of a large factory in the south of England.

Velocette Motor Cycle Company is located in the old #2 Triumph works across the

road from the original Triumph Meriden factory site. The TR5T was assembled in this factory.

Triumph Engineering company also stored tooling and obsolete parts in this massive facility.

When NVT folded this building and the vast stores of parts inside were sold to the Scandinavian

Triumph importer who established PS motors to sell these original spares. Enter Matt Holder. Mr.

Holder had been a sheet metal fabricator and amassed a fair fortune making wings and other sheet

metal bits for the war effort. Using that money he bought up the rights to Vincent, Royal Enfield,

Scott and Velocette as they became available. When his Birmingham factory was slated for demo-

lition to make room for a new motorway he used the proceeds from the sale of that property to

buy PS Motors and the remaining Triumph tooling and inventory. Mr. Holder had been manufac-

turing the Birmingham Scott, a development of the original Scott 500cc two stroke twins and so

had the equipment and skill to move into Triumph spares.

Another company that had benefitted from the downfall of BSA was MCE (Motor Cy-

cle Equipment) another parts supplier. A final player was MCA a company started by the wonder-

ful Peter Brown, former BSA spares manager. MCA absorbed Thatcher rubber who made all the

rubber bits for most factories as well as Doherty the lever maker and Clarkes the cable makers.

All this was moved into a facility in Aston, Birmingham, UK.

At WE Wassell, a large wholesaler of British spares, the founder Ted passed away and

his 2 sons took the helm. Regrettably the learning curve was steep and the boys bankrupted the

company. That was soon absorbed by MCE who had also purchased huge stocks of factory spares

Continued on page 7

Rubber mixing machine at Eskadine

19 BSA BULLETIN

DEAR MAGGIE:

My boyfriend, "Mr. Clean", rides a BSA

Rocket 3, and part of the attraction has always

been how clean and immaculate he keeps it.

Let me put it another way; his Rocket 3 made

Bill Whalen's look like a beater bike! When

his birthday rolled around a few months ago, I

bought him a bike lift as a present. I thought,

"No more wearing out the knees on your Le-

vi’s!" What a mistake! As soon as he uncrat-

ed it, he spent the rest of the day assembling it

and then polishing it. Maggie, it was brand

new! There wasn't a spot of dirt on it! Then

he disassembled it and had all the pieces triple

chrome plated.

While all this was going on, I no-

ticed that his Rocket 3 was starting to look a

bit shabby. There was an especially large,

dead butterfly stuck to the headlamp. But

Clean wouldn't even wipe it off. Something

had changed. Things have only gotten worse.

There isn't any room in his garage for the Rocket 3, because he purchased another bike

lift to keep the first one company! The poor, neglected Rocket 3 is now parked outside

in the back yard, rusting away!

You should see how he rolls his eyes at me if I dare to suggest that he should

actually push the BSA up on one of the lifts! The entire house has begun to look dirty

and his clothes have begun to smell because he's too busy taking 8 X 10 glossies of his

beautiful bike lifts to do any laundry.

Yesterday I suggested to him that we should take a ride on the BSA, but he said that

he had some important work to do. Maggie, he spent the whole day in the garage raising

and lowering both bike lifts! Where did I go wrong?? – ALL JACKED UP IN

PALMDALE

Dear Jackie:

Once again, we have an issue of perception, and a clear illustration of what actually

underlies the “battle of the sexes”. I guess people never learn. Here’s the thing: men

have a different perception of what they are going to get out of a relationship than wom-

en. Since males have a harder time expressing their feelings than females (you already

know that, admit it), it means that it’s up to the superior perceptive abilities of women

to figure out what their men are actually up to. Often, it means being able to read their

body language. In this case, the lifts are the clue. He’s wishing you’d go out and get a

pair for yourself. Let me know what wants to polish after you do.

MAGGIE NEATO

18 BSA BULLETIN

RIDING A BSA by Art Sirota Einstein liked to have a good time by playing the violin when he said "E=mc2" nobody argued with him he dreamt of going real fast traveling through the Milky Way and that's why if he were still alive he'd be riding a BSA Galileo ground his own lenses and invented the telescope he said the earth went 'round the sun and claimed Copernicus was no dope he stood for scientific progress nothing could stand in his way and that's why if he were still alive he'd be riding a BSA Our First Postmaster General was also Ambassador to France while flying a kite in a storm one night he discovered electricity by chance he invented bifocal glasses and a stove that's still in use today and that's why if Franklin were still alive he'd be riding a BSA Now I'm just a common worker and haven't invented a thing but when me and my buddies are on a club ride for a moment I feel like a king the engine beneath me is purring (I change the oil every oth-er day) and my main contribution to my fellow Man is riding my ol' BSA

7 BSA BULLETIN

at the closing sale of the BSA factory. MCE was later absorbed by a re-invigorated WE Wassell

company and established at the 20,000 foot MCE facility at Watery Lane.

So what you say? Well here we are 40+ years later and because of the dedication of the

folks above we can still get parts for our motorcycles. Through my connection with JRC and as

an importer of British spares I have been exceptionally privileged to know these families that

have preserved our sport. I have been traveling to England for over 25 years to visit these facto-

ries and have watched them become well established in what they do. Here in brief is what I ob-

served on my recent trip.

1. The Stafford motorcycle show happens twice per year. Attendance is in the 80,000+ visitors

with there being hundreds of small to medium vendors. Every guy with a mill in his garage

makes some specialty bit and has it on display here. Want a 4 valve head for your Velocette?

It’s here. The turn out this year was the largest I have ever seen so interest is strong for our

hobby.

2. I visited a few small makers who specialized in magneto spares and Vincent bits. I was

shocked to find a gear maker in a garden shed turning out complete new Vincent gearboxes.

New cylinders were stacked up along with 3 different makers Vincent case sets! Vincent

future is secure!

3. Our first major stop was the Velocette factory. David Holder, son of Matt, greeted us in

grease stained pants and shirt. He and his son-in –law Tom were working on a new mold for

Velocette knee rubbers while the banks of up to date CNC machines made Vincent, Velo-

cette and Triumph spares. This facility is in excess of 20,000 feet and boasts the latest in

manufacturing tech. David was reflecting on the Vincent vs. Triumph market and noted that

Triumph had become over subscribed and there was little profit in them. The Vincent busi-

ness was brisk and the Velocette wasn’t far off that. The pace at the factory was healthy and

robust giving me assurance of continued British made goods.

4. Next was WE Wassell now under new and enthusiastic ownership. The directors have pur-

chased the rights to use the Hepolite name and have recently revived Lucas on a number of

reproduction spares. Look for more new products with the renowned Lucas Lion!

5. A visit to the South brought me to LF Harris factory. Unfortunately Les himself passed

away 5 years ago but his wife Shirley and daughter and son-in law Mark and Debbie keep

things on the boil. Also never to be forgotten is the real Triumph man himself, John Birch.

John began at Meriden as a wheel builder and now serves as project manager for LFH. I saw

a pallet of 100+ new cylinders for T120 and another for T140 along with 100’s of the fine

exhaust pipes LFH is famous for. All machines were buzzing and the place was hard at work

filling orders.

6. A stop at Burlen Fuel was enlightening. Burlen makes Zenith and Solex carburetors as well

as Amal. I met John, who makes every single main jet by hand! Each and every jet is tested

on a fixture to ensure exact right flow rate. John even makes subtle changes for ambient

temp and humidity when measuring the jets. Bill and John in quality control were surround-

ed by every type modern measuring tool to ensure Amal overcomes its pervious reputation.

The company is busy retooling for older units and offers Monobloc as well as the old 276

and 289 units. New will be the TT10 and other racing carburetors. I lucked out and was able

to get the first production GP float chamber for my 1954 T110, another new-old product.

7. A trip to Andover Norton followed. To see this modern facility is a delight. The whole place

is packed with new Commando spares to the point one could build a new 850 if one wanted.

The place is as clean and tidy as any I have ever visited.

8. A stop at MCA in Birmingham gave me time to search the bins for new treasure. MCA is

the major supplier of BSA spares followed by SRM. A trip to SRM is in the works for the

spring, I will have to get back to you all on that one! MCA has 20,000+ BSA numbers cov-

ering everything from 1945 to the end. David the son of Peter the founder is a keen motor

cycle collector and has an enviable collection of rare BSA race bikes.

Continued on page 8

8 BSA BULLETIN

So there in a nutshell is the state of the British industry catering to our sport. MCA subsidiary

Escadean LTD. makes all the cables and rubber goods we have come to love. They also make

Doherty levers and throttles. All this in a 15,000+ foot building in east Birmingham. There is a

huge commitment to our hobby by these companies and the future of parts supply looks very

good indeed. Ed.

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Continued on page 9 17 BSA BULLETIN

Swap Meat

Only British motorcycle related items will be listed, with BSA items having priority. Unless otherwise requested, ads will run for three consecutive issues. If you find/sell what you are advertising for during that period, please send the Editor a cancellation notice!

The methods for submitting ads for publication are:

Preferred: via Email, bsaocnceditor@aol.com with any photos in .jpg format

We have a limited supply of Ron Halem Memorial T-shirts (L only) - $15 post-paid and Decals for $5. Please contact Patti at meadows550@yahoo.com

Wanted: I am a 70 year old new Club member who has been a BSA fan since 1956, today owning a nice 1966 BSA Victor. Looking for 1950s-60s manufacturers/distributors promo-tional race win posters. Examples would be "Chuck Minert wins Catalina (or Big Bear) on BSA (or Triumph, etc.)". Original or sharp CD ok- for personal display. Cash or trade- maybe I can help you find some of your wants. Thank you. Rog-ersr.e.65@gmail.com 11/15

For sale– BSA C15 com-plete except headlamp and speedometer. Turns over and has compres-sion. Shifts through the gears. Sold with Ca. Ti-tle. I have the tool box cover and a selection of other bits that go with the bike . Is in CA. DMV system with $600 in fees due. $450. You can try to have fee waved.

Also have 1963 Triumph Cub. Turns over but has bad bottom end by the sound of it. Very com-plete. Bill of sale.

$1200 or best offer. $1400 for both.

Email: my-norton850@aol.com

Located in Sothern Ca.

16 BSA BULLETIN

For Sale

1953 BSA B31 350cc single. Very nice original condition. Brought over from Brisbane Australia 15 years ago. Complete with tool kit. A good runner with only 12,431 miles on the clock. Asking $6500.00 For further information contact Carl @ 503-636-6840 Home or 503-705-5974 Cell. Located near Portland, Oregon. 12/15

Volunteers Needed! The Club needs volunteers for

many of the tasks performed throughout the day of the Clubman’s Show, ie: Entry door, Patrol the patio, Show bike door, Swap door, Trophy distribution, just to name some. The more volunteers we get, the less time each is asked to serve. Please contact Patti @ 775-224-1657 or meadows550@yahoo.com. Even if you have been doing the same job for the past several years, we still want to compile a list of who is doing what/when. Thank you so much.

For sale, 1969 Triumph TR25W 250 motorcycle. Not running has electrical short. Turns over and has com-pression. Very complete and unmolested. Also have 1971 TR25W oil in frame 250 in similar condition also with electrical issues. Not run since 1976. Pink slip from original owner. Turns and has compression . In So. California. Your choice $ 1000 Bill @ my-norton850@aol.com

9 BSA BULLETIN

1. Rows of new gearbox cases at Norton

2.Parts of the huge inventory of BSA

spares at MCA

3. The fabric winding machine at Escadine

making Herring bone oil line!

4. John, the man who personally makes

every single Amal main jet by hand.

5.Triumph rocker covers being threaded at

Escadean LTD.

6. The stores at LF Harris, one of 50 rows.

Mr. John Healy of Coventry Spares exam-

ining the parts.

7. Miles of new Amal carburetors boxed

and ready for dispatch

8. John hand reaming a main jet making

sure each jet is what it says it is.

9. Amal fixture for measuring jet bodies on

Monobloc carburetors. Each is hand

checked before assembly.

10. Flow bench to test Monobloc carbure-

tor jet blocks, Each and every one is hand

checked.

11 Hand assembly at Amal of concentric

carburetors

12. Escadean 15,000 foot factory where all

rubber goods, Doherty Levers and cables

along with hundreds of other parts are

made.

13. Rubber slugs being molded into NF704

Triumph peg rubbers

12

13

10 BSA BULLETIN

1996: Part 2 The plan was this – we’d leave the bike for a while, and do the previously unthinkable: rent a car. We figured that we could make a quick trip down to the South Island while the boys in the shop tackled the BSA. So we did. Taking the ferry to Picton, we got a four-wheeler and headed toward the East coast. Bad idea. After traveling exclusively by bike in countries where one used the left side of the road, my passenger was not about to put up with our lack of maneuverability in the unfamiliar left lanes of those skinny, twisty roads. We got as far as Kaikura, stayed one night, and took the car back the next day. Some trip. It got worse. The ferry we took back to the North Island, a catamaran, promised a quicker trip than the conventional boat - which sounded like a good idea, what with my upchuckabilty problem on the high seas and in private aircraft. Oh, it was faster all right. It managed to stop lurching once it got up on a plane, but then it simply bounded over the waves by slamming into them, leaping from one to the next, and spraying water all the way up to the windows on the third deck. I wasn’t the only one who fell sick on that crossing; the crew was frantically dealing with at least half of the passengers. I was a wreck. I staggered into the ferry terminal in Wellington, and flopped on a bench while Shirley ran off to call Peter. He took us to their house, where I went straight to bed shivering with the chills, and stayed there until the next day. Actual-ly, it wasn’t entirely unexpected, as the same thing had happened before, the worst of which occurred on fishing trips flown into Canada, some of which flattened me for 24 hours. But I love to go fishing, so each year, I’d do it again. Maybe that’s a little like childbirth – a woman goes through excruciating pain, but after a year or so, begins to think that another baby sounds like a good idea. No? Meanwhile, back in Upper Hutt, my bike had received the fast-track treatment. When I went in to check on it, I was dumbfounded to learn that it was all finished, ready to go. Think about it – that was 48 hours, for a complete engine rebuild, including a valve job, boring and balancing. Who does that? I’d never heard of such a thing. But I was elated to be back aboard my bike, with the full Rally week still before us. In fact, registration took place the following day. The 1996 International Rally was held over March 9-15 at Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt. On-site accommodation for the Rally was somewhat limited. There were a few cabins, a few four-man huts (pretty basic – four bunk beds and a door); tent sites, and that was it. Extra space was available as an option, at a local prison. Gus and Janice shared a cab-in with us; Wally and Patty shared one with Brian and Yvonne; Ron and Peggy went to jail. I’ve forgotten where the rest stayed. Evenings were spent in a great tent (“marquee” to the Kiwis), where the beer flowed freely and conversation was somewhat boisterous. We found a couple of restaurants in downtown Upper Hutt (including one which was excellent), but there wasn’t much in the neighborhood of Harcourt Park,except for one, and fortunately, it was a good fish-and-chips joint. I think we made their day. Actually, we made their week. Every International Rally of the BSA persuasion has a set of traditions that goes with it. One of them is an Opening Ceremony, to formally kick things off. No two are the same, but there always is one. Here in the Land of the Long White Cloud, it would prove to be steeped in Maori ritual. We were instructed to fire up the bikes and ride over to the local

TRAVELS WITH SHIRLEY Don Danmeier

Continued page 11 15 BSA BULLETIN

Looking for the adventure of a lifetime? Mike has set up a new class for vintage 4 strokes in the Mexican 1000!

Give Mike Pearlman a call for details at 805-390-1671

It is recommended you form a team of riders to share the journey, as many as you need. One each 100 miles perhaps.

Anyone want an over the hill rider? Ed.

down the twist fest of 178 to Bakersfield, only to peel off and head out. The road that winds through the oil fields, Rount Mountain, is always fascinating to me. I was trying to capture the surreal landscape with my camera through the windows, but it didn’t work out… lot of blur. I guess you have to stop moving to take pictures. By the time we reached Lunch at Hassano’s there were only three bikes up and riding, with the President of BSAOCSC Burt and Barbara joining us to cheer us on. Burt noted that he has been on these roads quite a bit. After packing away some scrumptious pizza, I raced off in pursuit of Gregg Goris and Bob Rymer who were heading to Wofford Heights via Greenhorn summit. Once again, I was having more fun than should have been possible with a beat up truck, slid-ing through muddy corners and in general being a hooligan. The motorcyclists were a little more careful, and we all made it back. So by my reckoning, Bob, Gregg, and Ray Pallet finishing the entire route. Good work, I say.. they deserve extra points. As well as Ants and Marsha for hosting. See you next year? Tim Kenney

14 BSA BULLETIN

Southern Sierra Ride - The difficult to ride ride, October 17, 2015.

Ants and Marsha laid out a feast, and in some ways I was glad that Bodfish was so difficult to reach on that Friday night. From Ojai we drove up the east side of the Sierras to 178 and came west, facing miles and miles of south bound traffic that was diverted east due to the numerous mud slide related road closures in the area. The Salmon was delicious, the hor du vores tasty, the deserts plentiful, the smoked Tri Tip luscious. And there were no crowds of ravished BSA club mem-bers to push through, just a small friendly bunch. We heard rumors that Burt and Barbara's arrival was imminent, but a HazMat spill on 155 put dashed their hopes of sneaking in from Bakersfield. Even the locals were stumped by the road conditions. But, no surprise, Frank Forster showed up, nonplused by the traffic. The morning brought clearing weather and open roads, so after a ride meeting at the Paradise Lodge, the slightly enlarged group headed on the Saturday route. Up the Kern to Sherman pass, then a climb to Kennedy meadows for Lunch. Caution was called for, as there was some mud and sand on the roads, but still they were surprisingly clean. The warmth of the morning became chilled at 9400 feet, but the view was worth it. Ant's had even plotted out a better view spot, but that involved a dirt road and walking, so I skipped it. Some of the party testified to the value, however. Oh, and a note to self, don’t try to keep Frank’s pace when he is in a cage. Yikes. Lunch was relaxing, as it has to be at the small single person cafe up in Kenne-dy Meadows. Bulldozers moved mud around while we sat like marmots, bask-ing in the sun and telling wild stories. A ride over to and down the 9 mile drop to 395 was exhilarating, if not a little unnerving, as there are scant guard rails to prevent an even steeper descent. Once on 395 refueling was called for, where we encountered many other mo-torcyclists roaming the suddenly warm environs. Back to 178 and west towards Lake Isabella. My trusty 500 Daytona was not acting it’s usual spunky self, there must have been a hex on Triumph 500s this weekend, as Ant’s was thwarted both days, and I had to park my bike on Sun-day. The curse of non-BSA riders? Evening found us regathering at the Sierra Vista Restaurant in Weldon for cheer and tire kicking. According to the proprietor of the temporarily disposed (window replacement project) Paradise Cove eatery, many of the employees are the same, and the service was certainly up to snuff. Speaking of the Para-dise Cove Lodge, they recently remodeled their rooms, and they were quite nice. I always forget how hard the wind blows and the sound of traffic, but it is a great location. As my bike was misbehaving, I elected to SAG on day two, with my trusty truck, and I got to admit, the roads were so good that it was even fun driving a stripper Ranger. I can imagine what it would be like in a real car. The old road out of Kernvale down to 178 is always a treat, and was in good shape, if a little moist in parts. At this point there were three support vehicles following a handful of bikes. Some turned around and headed back to the Lake, others continued

Continued on page 15 11 BSA BULLETIN

Marae (Maori meeting-house). In a gracious welcoming speech, the Mayor officially opened the Rally The local Maori had a roasted pig dinner and Polynesian entertain-ment in store for us, but we were first required to encounter the haka, or war challenge, out in front of the place. You may have seen images of the grotesque facial contortions, accompanied by shouts, growls, and foot stomping that the warriors use to enact this, which is now, of course, purely ceremonial. Hey – I know this: I wouldn’t have wanted to be a skinny white guy facing those buggers on the beach when I jumped off the King’s bloody boat back in 1769. All of this ruckus was followed by gracious Polynesian singing by the Maori women, which we understood to be the welcoming part of the ceremony. Then somehow the Rally representatives from each country were lined up, and informed that we were ex-pected to reply in kind. No kidding. That included yours truly. Most of us were abashed, but not the first vocalist, Brian Birch of the UK: he trotted right up and belted out “You’ll Never Walk Alone” like he’d been practicing for a month – by the time he finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Maybe he had practiced, I sure as hell hadn’t, and in my mind I flashed back to flunking out of the church choir tryouts that the nuns had arranged for us in the sixth grade, and I hadn’t been asked to volunteer for that, either. How could anybody follow Brian’s act? It was intimidating. But the number of singers was rapidly being reduced in front of me, and I needed inspiration where there was none. In a final grasping at the straws of what might possibly work, I came up the Rolling Stones num-ber, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, and managed to croak out one weak cho-rus. It was embarrassing, to be sure, but folks were falling all over each other with laughter, so it may have been worth it. The absolute topper in the humor department however came from our pal Gunnar Skare, who sang a lilting ditty that must have been a sea chanty, in his native Norwegian. That was an absolute riot. As I’ve mentioned, the indoor feast featured roasted pork. Even more memorable how-ever, was the Polynesian singing and dancing entertainment afterward, and the shenani-gans that the Maoris tricked us into. And it so happened that the Californians, being not only really bright, were maybe also a little pushy, as they got seats right in front of the stage. So when the kotiro (maidens) decided to invite participation in their tropical go-ings-on, they latched onto the most obvious candidates. Strangely, they included only males. (sounds of giggles from our girls). Since the Maori men were essentially naked (except for loin-cloths and skirts), they insisted that our guys. at least strip to the waist, and for good measure they tied a hula skirt onto Gus (tittering from the audience). We were expected to learn and follow their chants, shouts, foot-stomping and vocalizing, with much waving of the arms and beating of the chests, in time with their guys. We rehearsed, we danced, we shouted and all the rest, but it was a decidedly ungraceful performance, which was, after all, probably the whole idea in the first place. The audi-ence went nuts. Our girls were screaming and crying. It was a blast. As we saddled up to leave afterward, the Mayor admitted that in his youth, he, too, rode a BSA. On Sunday there was a group ride, over the Rimutaka Hill Road to Tauherenikau. That road, winding its way up the mountain out of Wellington, is the local equivalent of the run up to Alice’s Restaurant back at home, but being a national highway, has much more traffic. We made a stop at the Tin Hut pub for a BBQ lunch. There was a lunch stop that week, and I think that this was the one, where the bartenders and waiters dressed in American Western togs (blue jeans, leather vests, and cowboy hats), but of course greeted us in the local dialect, which sounded odd to guys raised on the dialog growled out by John Wayne. Another group ride on Monday took us to Wellington and the Mount Victoria lookout, with lunch at the Greta Point Tavern. My buddy Peter knew a guy in Wellington who shared my love of Ariels, so he came up with the notion that I should go to his place and meet

Continued page 12

12 BSA BULLETIN

Continued from page 11

him. He arranged for an agreeable time, so that afternoon Wally and I rode up into the hills for a visit. It turned out that this fellow, another Peter, had a garage under his house, which naturally was full of stuff, including a 1928 Ariel single which was his “daily rider”. Not a shiny, restored unit, but a genuine beauty of a bike that he indicated had been totally reliable and really a joy to ride. That was a sweet machine. But he also had an unrestored Matchless Silver Hawk, as well as several other machines in various states of assembly. Over in the corner, I spotted an old V-twin propped against the wall (it had no stands). It was a tatty looking thing, with rusty, obviously homemade pipes; apparently original pant on the tank, but not without blemish; a homespun upholstery job on the solo saddle; but no horn or speedo. Tell me about this Zenith, I said. He stat-ed that the horn and speedometer were not required in new Zealand when the bike was originally imported, which he assumed was in 1950, when it was new. He fired it up for us, and what a lovely racket it made! Those hokey aftermarket silencers gave off just the same tonal aroma as an old Indian Scout. He shut it down, and indicated that his research led him to believe that this was one of the very last Zenith postwar twins pro-duced, and one only three known to survive. My mind went into gear; he'd just triggered the formula for the range of bikes in my garage back in California. Well. Peter allowed that he’d had it for quite a while but that he was being made redundant (lain off) so that the bike might have to go. Oh, brother, I was going to get into trouble again. I was to do a bit more research on this one, but I already knew that I had to have that bike. Some-day. Somehow. Wally just grinned that Cheshire cat smile of his.

To be continued

A call to arms!

Call for Directors:

It’s that time again this year to reward a select few of you members

with the title of “member of the Board”. As chair of the elections com-

mittee I would like to invite any of you who want to get a bit closer to

the workings of our great group. Meet and get to know the dignitaries

like Don Danmeier, Bill Whalen, David James, Ray Pallett, and Ants

Uga. Be aware of decisions that affect our club before they are even

made! Feel entitled to eat the sandwiches behind the BSA club booth

at the All Clubman’s show. If you don’t like the way the club does

things don’t just complain. Be a Board member and make change hap-

pen. We usually meet a few times a year by telephone conference and

stay connected by email. Most of the hard work is done by those men-

tioned in the back of the Bulletin. The Board presents an opportunity

for representation by active and interested club members. WE NEED

YOUR HELP!. Call me: Gary Roper 541-858-5313 or email

gary_roper@yahoo.com or talk to any of our club officers if you

are interested.

13 BSA BULLETIN

TRY HARDER TO MAKE IT NEXT YEAR Ron Perconti

Yes that's an open invite to do THE ALL BRITISH RIDE For 2016. I had to use my car

with a jug of gas and some oil tools and spark plugs last year. Thought I was good to go and a

Sunday before the ride while warming up to change engine oil the compression went down. Tear

down shown a segmented middle ring land and ring. The 55 B33 a no go. It had been a few years

since I had missed this event riding on two wheels.

This year the iron barrel and head of the 55 B33 single was going to make 2nd at-

tempt. Besides the new piston and rings it had a newly rewound magneto armature. It all had

been thoroughly road tested. I started out on a wonderful day of sunshine and promise but in a

few miles on Hwy 37 east of Vallejo was a Triumph and owner at the side of the road and the

carb ticklers showing gas was in tank and not getting where it was needed. Don Clancy's brother

pulled up with his Brit steed in the back and so it was moved over to take the Triumph on to the

Novato starting point. I heard at lunch gas was added and it started 2nd kick. Best thing to hap-

pen instead of taking some of my gas after you search and clean some refuse bottle or can from

the roadside.

Speaking of Don Clancy, did folks catch that little trophy strapped to the top of headlight of

the 52 Thunderbird he was astride? AKA Marlon Brando from the movie "The Wild One' I don't

think anyone threw a tire iron at Don though. Well in a few more miles was the 350 Velo that

had gotten hot as Jeff Scott had turned around and gone at least 3 miles to clear K rail to get back

to him. It was soon started and the owner decided not to run the little 47 beauty so fast. I was one

of the last one to leave and Bill Whalen and David James and his passenger, Daughter Liz saw

me push start a Matchless twin. The owner said he thought he had flooded engine. Hey I might do

the same thing listening to 168 British motorcycles start up and leave. There was one guy still

waiting with two Triumphs as his brother had gone by his house instead of coming on to Novato

as instructed. Now I was alone and listening to the pleasant exhaust of the old single as she brisk-

ly took me out of town only to find a Vincent off the pavement with a horn wire that had come

loose and shorted the electrics. They had just fixed it and were soon visible in my mirror. Hey it

was still sunny with mild temperature and the ride is ON! Nearing Tomales via the Petaluma

Bodega highway there is Brent Lenehan at the side of the road with two other riders assisting. His

beautiful special Italian red framed Triple. I gotta say this about Brent as I noticed he was still

smiling. Brent adheres to the RIDE EM DON'T HIDE EM! Minutes later at Tamales the prob-

lem was a battery terminal loose. His friend had taken extra bottom license bolt and nut from his

Triumph special and problem was solved. No wonder Brent was smiling with folks like this to

ride with. What a mob at Tomales. As they all left I was out again with Whalen, David James and

daughter Liz. We made our way to Occidental and through the woods and then the terrible T-

intersection of Coleman Valley road. I pulled over in time to turn around two riders who had

made the right turn but turned around thinking they were wrong till I assured them with a OK.

I must have spent 15 more minutes there for 4 more riders. When I got going again Whalen

and James had pulled over miles away and waited for me to come along. That is just the way this

club is. I found out later that Fred Mork and guest Stacie B. London on Fred's loaned A10 had

missed this turn and gone straight on Joy Road back to Bodega Hwy.The A10 ran out of gas and

Stacie produced plastic coffee cup which got sufficient amount of the go juice from the Velo to

get them to Sebastopol for fuel

They then boogie on Hwy 116 and picked up the route to arrive for the pulled pork and barbe-

qued chicken with salad baked beans and a cookie. Don had the “comedy enriched award” cere-

mony and it was over. I had stopped only 7 miles out of town to help Velo Club member John

Simmons who after checking had no spark and I went on. I was to learn later the Chase Truck had

taken him back to his truck and he went home. Meeting and knowing John earlier this year I

believe he is the kind of person who will "Try Harder Next Year" His was the type of well-

maintained machine you just don't expect this to happen to. Ron Perconti