The competition ancestry shows through as soon as you sit on the bike, the large ground clearance and short wheelbase resulting in a seat height of 31", which for me, at any rate, at 5'5" becomes very precarious when I have to put my feet down, especially when there is a nasty camber to the road. The bike has a higher centre of gravity that many 250 or 400 Jap twins. Doing U turns shows this up, many Jap bikes feeling much happier in tight circumstances, although when you've ridden the B44 for a while most of these problems fade into the background.
The B44 doesn't offer much more performance than the average modern 250. Maximum speed is just over 90mph, but acceleration can be very rapid. It is a lovely feeling to whack open the throttle around 60mph and feel the bike charge forward. Sure, someone dancing on the gear lever of an LC would make the BSA look as though it was going backwards but there is two decades of technology between them.
On the open road the BSA will cruise at whatever speed you wish, up to the maximum go. I normally do between 65-70mph. which gives me plenty of power in hand for overtaking. The 441cc engine seems remarkably unruffled by thrashing. I held mine at a continuous 80mph for about ten miles to see what would happen when I was travelling down the local motorway. The motor showed no external signs of its caning by oil leaks or loosening bolts. Vibration is an inconvenience rather than a problem. Most of it comes through the handlebars and can leave the throttle hand less than comfortable after a few hours.
Riding into head winds knocks off the speed quite drastically, while opening up the throttle into strong winds turns up the vibes to unacceptable levels. In contrast, in still air or with a tail wind the bike seems to fly and sings along like a good 'un. At low speeds the top heaviness mentioned earlier is noticeable. The bike is at its best scratching along a smooth but twisty main road. The large ground clearance pays off in excellent cornering angles and the whole bike gives a feeling of a confidence. This is despite the fact that the front forks are an atrocious piece of engineering. Riding over pot holes jars the machine horribly. It's so bad that I'm trying to find some softer springs, if any B44 owners have effected a cure can they please let us all know.
The single leading shoe brake, while not up to disc brake standards, is perfectly adequate for my riding habits. In emergency stop situations it's more than capable of squealing the front tyre. A similar rear brake is fitted that is a little too powerful in some circumstances and it's quite easy to lock up the back wheel. A lot of extra braking is available by shutting off the throttle and it's lots of fun to shoot around in top gear just using the throttle to control the speed.
As regards problem areas and reliability, forget all those tales of British bike owners lining the pockets of their Barbour jackets with pistons, valves, clutch plates, spanners etc. My BSA always has (and, hopefully, always will) run quite happily on minimal maintenance. It simply has its chain adjusted and lubricated, and an eye kept on the oil level between oil changes. It has only ever broken down once when the generator bullet connector wasn't fully pressed home after its last rebuild, naturally the battery went flat.
The bike now has around 33000 miles. I stripped the motor at 32000 miles to cure various niggles like an oil leak at the crankcase joints and a tendency to jump out of first gear. The engine was rebored by the previous owner at 27000 miles. I have now managed to make the engine 99% oil tight. The fibreglass oil tank does not conform to that happy description, oil leaks out where the filter screws in at the bottom. I don't exactly trust a twenty year oil tank as the one on my Starfire cracked at the back, so when I find something better it'll be replaced. A crack did occur in the fibreglass petrol tank but I successfully repaired it with a fibreglass repair kit. I have replaced the tank with a metal one because of safety fears and because the old one only held two gallons.
I have just had to throw away a perfectly good stator coil after fatigue failure of the wires just where they emerge from the encapsulated stator windings. It also seers to be impossible nowadays to buy decent cotter pins for the kickstart. They appear to have a life expectancy of about two weeks. I now buy cycle cotter pins which don't fit any better or last any longer but are half the price. As for spares, engine bits are no problem and in most cases they are quite cheap. Non wearing cycle parts, like side panels, are often difficult to buy new but can normally be bought second hand, but they are often just as bad as the original bit.
Advice to anyone who wants to buy one (or any other Brit bike)? Look for a machine which has evidence of miles successfully covered rather than a machine which has just been done up to sell. I bought mine in June '85 for £270. It had a sound but tatty chassis and a motor which looked very tidy and ran beautifully. Two years and another £300 later it looks a lot nicer. I have modified it with electronic ignition, done a complete rewire, fitted indicators and it is now a reliable bike that's used every day at the moment, while I have my 400 Superdream repaired.
A couple of areas I haven't yet covered: nine out of ten times it starts first kick, but you do have to know the technique for starting big singles. It's rather amusing to watch people who have only started a bike with their thumbs attempt to leap up and down on the kickstart of the BSA.
Fuel consumption isn't quite as good as you'd expect, with fairly hard riding it only returns between 55 and 60mpg, which isn't as good as many much faster Jap fours. I am expecting to improve that when I tune the carb properly and buy a stainless steel exhaust.
To sum up. The B44 is a perfectly acceptable motorcycle for anyone who does not mind 250 performance or riding a machine which is two decades old in age and three (or possibly more) in design. The engine is very easy to work on and engine parts are readily available at prices that will turn modern bikers green with envy.
But twenty years is a long time in the life of a motorcycle and the engine may well have been butchered internally. It is the behaviour of such pillocks that, I believe, leads to the poor reliability reputation of some British bikes.
Alastair Marshall