1942 BSA- A little off topic

[Brian B]

Happy D-Day all!! Always wanted one of these and was able to drag this one home on Wednesday night. It's a 1942 with an earlier motor and a mix of parts form it's service years. I am finding out that these bikes were worked on with the same approach as the rifles were. The mechanic working on the bike and replacing parts wasn't concerned if they grabbed a period correct part for the bike they were working on, they just grabbed a serviceable one and fixed the bike.

This bike went through rebuild in a base workshop in Germany in 1953. I love the way it looks. I pulled that wrong shovel off and put on the pannier frames that I received with the bike.

I know this is off topic, but I thought you all might enjoy seeing a 72 year old warhorse on this very special day.

Brian B

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[gsimmons]

Nice bike! Here's my brother and his 1942 BSA M-20.Attachment 53538

[Brian B]

Thanks for sharing. I love the Sterling propped up against his bike!!

[waco16]

Thanks for sharing. I love the Sterling propped up against his bike!!

Its a sten gun....

[Brian B]

Its a sten gun....

My bad. It looked too long for a Sten in the picture!!

[Peter Laidler]

It's a Lines Brothers Mk3 Sten.

That's a great bike to save Brian. Here's a bit of info for you. On the oil tank you'll see the letters OMD-330?. That indicates OIL, Mineral, Detergent and the viscosity rating. Can you tell me the markings on the workshop repair standard plate and I might be able to give you more info as it is all in a sort of simple code. In the few years before '52 the War Department as it was then were changing all of the old census numbere (like the C-52121 on Gary's picture) and replacing them with WD registration numbers such as 13YA28 (allocated from a central point at Ruislip in Middlesex incidentally) and the workshop repair plate might have this number stamped on it above or below the old original census number. My brothers old Bedford had L-xxxxx and that was changed to 77YC16 in 1952 at Bovingdon Base Workshop. The letters YH were used on the old Jeeps and YP on DUKW's and so on.

The union jack flag on the tank is/was a requirement of the fledgling W-German authorities (although they really didn't have toooo much authority.......) in 1956 for NATO vehicles to show the nationality of the vehicles so you know that it was still in service after 1956

There another few bits of useless Enfield info. Not strictly Enfield info of course - but sort of........, with the BSA connection!

[Brian B]

Peter,

Thanks for the excellent information. Here is a shot of the fender tag along with a shot of the rebuild tag on the engine.

Also, here is a link to all the pictures I have on photo bucket.

1942 BSA M20 Photos by BBrown3407 | Photobucket

Thanks for the help,

Brian

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, that's the WD registration number 07YE19. 4 Base Workshop was at Bad Oeynhausen in the BRitish sector of Germany and was in an old German heavy plant and machinery factory.

There, that's a bit of your bike history.

[Brian B]

Peter,

Thanks again for the excellent information. I am excited that the bike may be mostly original as it left military service. I image the black paint on the primary case and toolbox might have been a post war addition.

Thanks,

Brian

[Peter Laidler]

Hey, Brian. Keep us all up to date with restoration progress on your little BSA. The real mystery is just HOW it came to be in the USA! Obviously sold in the late 50's/early 60's at the huge vehicle disposals site at Hamm in W-Germany, probably by a dealer and sold on to a US serviceman.

When I first knew my wife, her dad had an old ex US lend lease British Army INDIAN motorcycle in his garden shed. It was hand painted blue but under the blue paint you could clearly see the old WD census C- number and the trace of old 'tac' signs. That was obviously an old lend-lease bike too but generally speaking, disposal of lend lease stuff was tightly controlled, even well up to the 70's when we were still disposing of plant and machinery. CAT dozers (were they D8's as I recall from the big Engineers depot at Ripon?) were one of the last things to go. They all had post war SY and SZ numbers. There was an article in the Royal Engineers Corps Journal about the last of the old wartime kit being disposed of.