Over the years I've had the lot. The full range of post war BSA pre-units singles except for the B32 and B34 Gold Stars. Many in the know would argue that the Gold Stars are the only ones worth having, but with current prices of £5000 upwards, I'm never likely to find out. I've owned some of the later unit construction singles - C15, B40 and the like but the less said about them the better - they just give British iron a bad name.
So what's the attraction of ageing dinosaurs from the days when BSA was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world? What gems or horrors await the hardy souls daring, or foolish, enough to venture into this Belstaff wearing world? I was going to say Barbour wearing but that firm's excellent jackets have been usurped by chinless yuppies in Suzuki jeeps accompanied by their elegant ladies and smart dogs (sometimes it's hard to tell them apart).
The range had five models, all in a state of constant development (no, that wasn't a joke). There was the M20, a 500cc side-valve sluggard mostly issued to squaddies in the war. With the opposition on BMW's it's a wonder we won! Then the red hot technology of Birmingham developed the M21, a 600cc side-valve engine with an insatiable appetite for exhaust valves if pushed to dizzy levels (over 50mph). Most were attached to sidecars where the lack of top end performance helped to keep their intrepid rider in one piece. If you broke down, the AA came to the rescue on a similar mount.
Side-valves were cheap to produce but limited in potential, so progress couldn't be halted and overhead valves arrived at BSA with the B31 and B33 350 and 500cc singles. For solo riding they were, and are, the best of the bunch. Back in the late forties and early fifties they started out with rigid frames, progressed to plunger back ends and reached the modern era with swinging arms in 1954. The final post 1958 models even abandoned magnetos for alternators and coil ignition - whether or not this was progress is somewhat doubtful. It just meant that instead of being an optional extra, added to impress policemen, batteries became essential.
My present bike's a 1950 B31 which, as those who've been paying attention will know, is an overhead valve 350 single equipped with a sprung saddle and a rigid frame. It looks and rides like something from a different world. Handling, on smooth roads at least, is surprisingly good! No flexing swinging arm with clapped out bushes or complex suspension linkages to pick up grime and grit; in fact, no swinging arm at all.
Of course, your spine has to take a while to adapt to rough roads and potholes. It's all down to what kind of machine you're used to. I admit, that the B31 could come as a great shock to the system to a British bike virgin. It's only when you hit bumps and potholes halfway around a bend and the rear end starts skipping across the road, that you begin to understand why rear suspension quickly took over the world when it was introduced. Under normal conditions comfort is actually better than you'd expect, thanks to the well sprung seat. Admittedly, an old saddle will have you wobbling about all over the place.
Seat height is only 30 inches so you don't have to be tall, although life for a pillion's close to hell, but that is someone else's problem. The peg/bar relationship could teach some modern cycles a lesson, although it is a slow bike and I've fitted a protective half fairing in white to confuse car drivers. They hear and feel the single cylinder thuds before they see the bike as a flash of white which could to their panicked minds be a plod motorcycle.
The brakes look pretty minimal, half width SLS items, but in the context of slow, sensible riding they are able to cope with the stopping of the 350lb bike. Forget all the stories about old British bikes having poor brakes, if they don't work properly, something is probably wrong with them - poorly adjusted or worn out shoes, seized up filthy cables or oval drums are the most likely culprits.
Starting is no problem once you know how. Tickle the carb to flood it a little if it's cold, retard the ignition, use the valve-lifter to ease the piston past compression, release the valve-lifter and jump on the kickstart. All things being equal, it’ll start first time. The ignition system's totally self contained. A magneto feeds the spark plug, that will work if the battery's dead or not even fitted! The brushes do wear out eventually but it's easy to service; the same technology used to be employed in aeroplanes and it was only replaced because the alternator and coil system was cheaper. Of course, with any big single it's possible to muck up the kick and be thrown through the air; a useful anti-theft device!
Fuel consumption is excellent, 70mpg easy to achieve and more than 80mpg possible with a little care on the throttle. It will break the 70mph limit but only just. Top speed by modern standards is a joke. Still, at least it's impossible to get a speeding fine! In any case, no-one buys a forty year old 350 to go fast on.
Forget, also, tales of unreliability. Used as intended, that is for plonking along at 50mph, with the occasional short, mind bending, burst to the dizzy mid 60's, the machine will probably go on for another forty years. It was only when the faster Japanese machinery started to arrive and British manufacturers responded by trying to squeeze extra power from obsolete designs that reliability went out of the window.
Bikes of the fifties and early sixties were, and are, very reliable. That must've been part of the problem. Once Joe Public had bought one he probably wouldn't need to replace it for twenty years. If anything does go wrong, spares, for this BSA at least, are plentiful and cheap. Try getting a piston complete with rings and gudgeon pin for your Kwackazappy for £25.
Getting MOT's is fun, too. You have to find the right garage. I was once failed by a tester who said he couldn't pass the rear shocks because he couldn't find them. With a sympathetic tester I just spend 30 minutes chatting about bikes and after one glance I'm away for another year. There's nothing much to test, anyway - no swinging arm bushes, rear shocks, indicators, brake light.....
Still not sold on the idea of an old BSA? Take one out in the country on B roads or smaller, plonk along in the sunshine, watching old codgers' faces light up as you thump by and stop at a pub to be greeted by half of the locals with, 'I had one of them when I was a lad.' They still turn up hidden in the back of barns and garages if you don't want to pay Classic Bike prices.
Alan Frost