Back in the eighties British music had a hint of dour feeling with such acts as The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order. 
Colin Vearncombe also known as Black had a hit with A Wonderful Life. The Liverpudlian sang this minor key ode to Thatchers dream using a very effective black & white video filmed on the seafront of Wallasey. One frame shows a small BSA C11 rolling along the promenade.
Early sixties New Jersey scene with a pair of greasers and their aped, bobbed, whitewall tired bikes. The BSA on the left looks like an A10 Rocket Goldstar. Both it and the Norton Atlas appear brand new too. Halcyon days just before the British Invasion lead by John, Paul, George & Ringo.
There’s nothing beats looking at the unique details a motorcycle attains over its lifetime. From the original parts, decals and paint to an ownership or two of patina and mile worn age. This BSA Royal Star is still crowned after fifty years of distance run.
A Triumph front wheel with alloy rim and lightened disc brake. Just what I’m going to do on mine. So it’s good to see what it’ll look like: fantastic.
RAF roundel on a Street Triple. Yellow outer ring denotes a type C1 used from ’42 – ’47 . The lighter yellow giving it better visibility on upper dark camouflage surfaces. Not the Mod icon but the Spitfires and Hurricanes of WW2.
Hmmm…
BSA – Birmingham Small Arms. I enjoy seeing the other great British make on show. These sixties unit Beezas were a varied selection of their available machines that folk looking for a Triumph alternative which every bit as good as the Meriden Iron, were drawn to. These bikes utilize a superb balance of fine engineering and style.
If Triumph was the Beatles then BSA is the Rolling Stones…
Firebird 650 – high pipes, big tank, knobbly tires – desert sled?
Enjoy the visual art that these two classic racing motors exude. The perfect balance of form & function with refinement to an engineering requirement achieved a purity in appearance. They both hold a special place in the history of motorcycles. The Norton International stamped its name on the gladiatorial stay circuit at the Isle of Man. The BSA Goldstar was the superbike of its day. If you wanted to be notices AND be at the front of the pack then this was your machine. DBD34
Maxwell Paternoster creates vivid art that buzzes like nails on a chalkboard: 
Twister Biker doodles with an uncanny eye for the unwieldy. Boom box toting hound and a tank-dancing Bōsōzoku; the Japanese out-of-controllers who will wreak havoc in flashy style.
Zombie BSA rider one time all time member of the Corpses From Hell gang.
Tiger Triton tearaway on taught tee-shirt. Go Mr Tora!
My Gran would have been one hundred today. Muriel Lawrie née Hartnupp. Here she is with my Grandad George on his AA combination motorbike and aunt Jean on his knee. Puts this photo about 1939 at 5 Whitsun View in Wooler Northumberland. Uncle Cuth looks on. Muriel died a week shy of her 90th.
Mike ‘The Bike’ Hailwood would have been 75 today. Considered one of the Greats even by the greatest his comeback at the Isle of Man TT is stuff of legend. Here’s the ’71 wrecking crew at Daytona in ’71 where he teams with Emde, Mann, Aldana &Rice on board Triumph/BSA Rob North framed racing machines. Dick Mann won that race, with Emde getting ‘bronze’. Mike burned his engine hammering out the lead for most of the race. All were in awe of this bike-god but apparently he was the most approachable of fellas.
Our four legged furry pup from yesterdays posting leads us on to this pair of Hairy Bikers. It’s Si King and David Meyers. They present a cookbook show in the vein of Keith Floyd meets The Two Fat Ladies. Traveling the length and breadth of the British Isles in search of food delights of blighty. The two bikes here are immaculate stunners: Si is on an early Pre-Unit Bonnie and David a BSA Rocket Gold Star.
Other motos used include these mike munching Triumph Rocket 3. 2.3 liter heavyweight. John O’Groats is a short spin away.
Café Rocket Goldstar from BSA. Sitting pretty in the sunny forecourt of the famous Ace Café on the North Circular NW10. I know these bikes to the nut and bolt having restored one and think they’re a marvelous piece of road kit.
The smilin’ gal is just distraction…
von Dutch style! My intrepid roving reporter Dean Rennie was in LeClaire IA at the American Pickers store. Owner Mike Wolfe and TV partner Frank Fritz were on the hunt for a rare motorcycle. A cruiser framed item with a Volkswagen flat four engine shoehorned in. They discovered it under a dusty tarp in a barn. The VW badge remarking its provenance. Here a photo of the bike displayed at their location just north of the Quad Cities.
I like the sign hung in the window… Need one for my workshop…
Nothing is as fun as a monkey on a motorcycle…
Ape in tartan with a BSA: “dinnae mess wi’ me ye sassenach!”
Unless you dress up as a public schoolboy, blazer cap and all. Form Captain?
After a disastrous show at the Isle of Man ISDT in ’65 the British manufacturers joined forces to prepare Arthur Lampkin to take on the world in a factory special.
Here’s a complete article about the gilded history of this machine: http://speedtracktales.com/folks-n-motors/arthur-lampkins-1965-isdt-tribsa/
Not likely: when the booted country wanted cool they imported the works of Britain. Norton Villiers Triumph. As well as AJS. Bepi Koelliker was the roman anglophile in question bringing all vehicular things blighty to Rome.
Hadrian would be shocked!
On the Embankment steps just below Big Ben is the bronze statue of Boudica and her daughters in a chariot behind a rearing horse. That’s the front hoof we see in this BSA advert for the indomitable Spitfire. Queen Boudica (or Boadicea) was the mashalling force of an uprising against Roman occupation in 60ad. Despite her defeat she is passed down the ages as a hero queen. Revived in the Nineteenth Century it was Queen Victoria who took on a modern embodiment of the Iceni Celtic tribe leader – Victoria is a literal translation of Boudicea “Victorious”. Indeed the Roman name for the island colony, Britannia, took a new life during the Empires reign when the British Navy controlled the Seas. Inscribed on Thomas Thornycrofts statue’ plinth are words:
“Regions Caesar never knew
Thy posterity shall sway.”
By William Cowper 1784
The British motorcycle industry held much sway during its reign and thus BSA was at the head of the line in its day. And what now? Well the latest Triumphs surely give Ducati’s a run for their money… “Romani ite domus!” As Brian would daub a hundred times in giant red letters…
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