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The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a United Kingdom manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment, and still exists as an airgun sport manufacturer and distributor.

At its peak, BSA was the largest motorcycle producer in the world. Loss of sales and poor investments in new products in the motorcycle division, which included Triumph Motorcycles, led to problems for the whole group.

History BSA was founded in 1861 in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham, England by fourteen gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, who had together supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War. The company branched out as the gun trade declined; in the 1870s they manufactured the Otto Dicycle, in the 1880s the company began to manufacture bicycles and in 1903 the company's first experimental motorcycle was constructed. Their first prototype automobile was produced in 1907 and the next year the company sold 150 automobiles. By 1909 they were offering a number of motorcycles for sale and in 1910 BSA purchased the British Daimler Motor Company Company for its automobile engines.

World War One During World War I, the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced rifles, Lewis guns, shell (projectile), motorcycles and other vehicles for the war effort.

Inter-War years In 1920, it bought some of the assets of the Airco, which had built many important aircraft during the war but had become bankrupt due to the falloff in orders once hostilities ceased. BSA did not go into aviation; the chief designer Geoffrey de Havilland of Airco founded the de Havilland company.

As well as the Daimler car range, BSA re-entered the car market under their own name in 1921 with a V-twin engined light car followed by four-cylinder models up to 1926 when the name was temporarily dropped. In 1929 a new range of 3 and 4 wheel cars appeared and production of these continued until 1936.

In the 1930s the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use - it had been stored at company expense since the end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty.

In 1931 the Lanchester Motor Company was acquired and production of their cars transferred to Daimler's Coventry works.

World War Two By World War II, BSA had 67 factories and was well positioned to meet the demand for guns and ammunition. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles, Sten sub machine guns and half a million Browning Model 1919 machine guns. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. BSA supplied 126,000 M20 motorcycles to the armed forces, from 1937 (and later until 1950) plus military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle. At the same time, the Daimler concern was producing armoured cars.

Post war Sir Bernard Docker headed BSA until 1951, after which Jack Sangster became Managing Director.Post-war, BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph Motorcycles in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world. The cycle and motor cycle interests of Ariel (vehicle), Sunbeam (motorcycle) and Sunbeam (motorcycle) were also acquired. Most of these had belonged to Sangster.

In 1960 Daimler Motor Company was sold off to Jaguar (car).

The BSA bicycle arm was sold off to Raleigh (bicycle) in 1957. Bicycles under the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles of India.

The production of guns bearing the BSA name continued beyond the 1957 sale of the bicycle division, but in 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and are still based in Small Heath, West Midlands in Birmingham.

The end of BSA's motorcycle production,In 1968 BSA announced many changes to it's line of single, twin and the new triple cylinder machines for the 1969 line-up. Now concentrating on the more promising USA and to a lesser extent Canadian markets despite the adding of turn signals and even dual flag USA/UK BSA A65 twins the end was near.Upgrades and service bulletins continued right until 1972 but the less service intensive Japanese bikes had by then flooded the market on both sides of the pond (ocean). The merger to Norton villers was started in late '72 and for a brief time a Norton 500 single was built with the B50 based unit single engine but few if any were sold publicly. BSA unit single B50's 500cc enjoyed much improvement in the hands of the CCM motorcycle company and the BSA basic design continued living until the mid to late 1970's in competitive form in Europe.

Norton-Villiers-Triumph The Group continued to expand and acquire throughout the 1950s but by 1965 competition from Japan (in the shape of companies like Honda) and Germany was eroding BSA's market share. The BSA (and Triumph range) were no longer aligned with the markets; mopeds were displacing scooter sales, superbikes were up at 1000cc and the trials and scrambles areas were now the preserve of two-strokes. Some poor marketing decisions and expensive projects contributed to substantial losses. For example, the development and production investment of the Ariel 3, an ultrastable 3 wheel scooter, was not recouped by sales; the loss has been estimated at some 2 million pounds.

Reorganisation in 1971 concentrated motorcycle production at Meriden, Triumph's site, with production of components and engines at BSA's Small Heath. At the same time there were redundancies and the selling of assets. Barclays Bank arranged financial backing to the tune of 10 million.

By 1972, BSA was so moribund that with bankruptcy imminent, and with government backing its motorcycle businesses were absorbed into the Manganese Bronze company, Norton-Villiers, which became Norton-Villiers-Triumph with the intention of producing and marketing Norton and Triumph motorcycles. The shareholders of BSA confirmed the deal. Although the BSA name was left out of the new company's name, a few products continued to be made carrying it until 1973. The final range was just four models: Gold Star 500, 650 Thunderbolt/Lightning and the 750cc BSA Rocket 3.

However, the plan involved the axing of some brands, large redundancies and consolidation of production at two sites. This scheme to rescue and combine Norton, BSA and Triumph failed in the face of worker resistance. Norton's and BSA's factories were eventually shut down, while Triumph staggered on to fail four years later.

Out of the ashes of receivership, the NVT Motorcycles Ltd company which owned the rights to the BSA marque, was bought-out by the management and renamed the BSA Company.

The BSA bicycle arm had been sold to Raleigh Bicycle Company in 1956 and the BSA Winged-B logo was still seen for a while on up-market bicycles.

Limited revival The BSA company produced military motorcycles (with Rotax engines) and motorcycles for developing countries (with Yamaha engines) under the BSA name. In the later case the old "Bushman" name was recalled to duty - it had been previously used on high ground clearance Bantams sold for the likes of Australian sheep farmers.

In 1991, the BSA (motorcycle) Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd., to form a new BSA Group, largely producing spare parts for existing motorcycles. In December 1994, BSA Group was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group. The new company, based in Southampton, has a large spares business and has produced a number of limited-edition, retro-styled motorcycles.

Products Bicycles Bicycle manufacture was what led BSA into motorcycles. The subsidiary business BSA Bicycles Ltd was sold to Raleigh Industries in 1956.

Motorcycles {{Infobox Defunct Company| company_name =BSA Motorcycles Ltd| company_logo =| fate = effectively bankrupt| successor = Norton-Villiers-Triumph. The bulk of use would be for commuting. BSA motorcycles were also popular with "fleet buyers" in Britain, who (for example) used the Bantams for telegram delivery for the [General Post Office or motorcycle/sidecar combinations for AA patrols Automobile Association (AA) breakdown help services. This mass market appeal meant they could claim "one in four is a BSA" on advertising.

Machines with better specifications were available for those who wanted more performance or for competition work.

Initially, after World War II, BSA motorcycles were not generally seen as racing machines, compared to the likes of Norton (motorcycle). In the immediate post war period few were entered in races such as the TT races, though this changed dramatically in the Junior Clubman event (smaller engine motorcycles racing over some 3 or 4 laps around one of the Isle of Man courses). In 1947 there were but a couple of BSA mounted riders, but by 1952 BSA were in the majority and in 1956 the makeup was 53 BSA, 1 Norton and 1 Velocette.

To improve US sales, in 1954, for example, BSA entered a team of riders in the Daytona 200 with a mixture of single cylinder BSA Gold Star and twin cylinder BSA Shooting Stars assembled by Roland Pike. The BSA team riders amazingly took first, second, third, fourth, and fifth places with two more riders finishing at 8th and 16th. This was the first case of a one brand sweep.

The BSA factory experienced success in the sport of motocross with Jeff Smith (motorcyclist) riding a B40 to capture the 1964 and 1965 Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme 500cc Motocross World Championships. It would be the last year the title would be won by a four-stroke machine until the mid-1990s.

Motorcycle models Pre World War II as the WD M20 the motorcycle of the British Army in WW2

Post World War II









The C11 used a C10 motor fitted with OHV top end. The frame on the C11 was almost unchanged until 1951 when BSA fitted a plunger rear end making only a little improvement to the quality of the ride. Early gearboxes were weak and were know to explode. The C11G was available as a 3 speed with rigid frame or 4 speed with the plunger frame version. Both models had better front brakes than earlier models. This model was a popular all round commuter motorcycle, and many can still be seen around today.

(1956 - 1958). 249cc OHV







Cars Car timeline

Military vehicles



Military equipment

Air Rifles

Air Pistols

See also

External links

The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a United Kingdom manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment, and still exists as an airgun sport manufacturer and distributor.

At its peak, BSA was the largest motorcycle producer in the world. Loss of sales and poor investments in new products in the motorcycle division, which included Triumph Motorcycles, led to problems for the whole group.

History BSA was founded in 1861 in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham, England by fourteen gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, who had together supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War. The company branched out as the gun trade declined; in the 1870s they manufactured the Otto Dicycle, in the 1880s the company began to manufacture bicycles and in 1903 the company's first experimental motorcycle was constructed. Their first prototype automobile was produced in 1907 and the next year the company sold 150 automobiles. By 1909 they were offering a number of motorcycles for sale and in 1910 BSA purchased the British Daimler Motor Company Company for its automobile engines.

World War One During World War I, the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced rifles, Lewis guns, shell (projectile), motorcycles and other vehicles for the war effort.

Inter-War years In 1920, it bought some of the assets of the Airco, which had built many important aircraft during the war but had become bankrupt due to the falloff in orders once hostilities ceased. BSA did not go into aviation; the chief designer Geoffrey de Havilland of Airco founded the de Havilland company.

As well as the Daimler car range, BSA re-entered the car market under their own name in 1921 with a V-twin engined light car followed by four-cylinder models up to 1926 when the name was temporarily dropped. In 1929 a new range of 3 and 4 wheel cars appeared and production of these continued until 1936.

In the 1930s the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use - it had been stored at company expense since the end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty.

In 1931 the Lanchester Motor Company was acquired and production of their cars transferred to Daimler's Coventry works.

World War Two By World War II, BSA had 67 factories and was well positioned to meet the demand for guns and ammunition. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles, Sten sub machine guns and half a million Browning Model 1919 machine guns. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. BSA supplied 126,000 M20 motorcycles to the armed forces, from 1937 (and later until 1950) plus military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle. At the same time, the Daimler concern was producing armoured cars.

Post war Sir Bernard Docker headed BSA until 1951, after which Jack Sangster became Managing Director.Post-war, BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph Motorcycles in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world. The cycle and motor cycle interests of Ariel (vehicle), Sunbeam (motorcycle) and Sunbeam (motorcycle) were also acquired. Most of these had belonged to Sangster.

In 1960 Daimler Motor Company was sold off to Jaguar (car).

The BSA bicycle arm was sold off to Raleigh (bicycle) in 1957. Bicycles under the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles of India.

The production of guns bearing the BSA name continued beyond the 1957 sale of the bicycle division, but in 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and are still based in Small Heath, West Midlands in Birmingham.

The end of BSA's motorcycle production,In 1968 BSA announced many changes to it's line of single, twin and the new triple cylinder machines for the 1969 line-up. Now concentrating on the more promising USA and to a lesser extent Canadian markets despite the adding of turn signals and even dual flag USA/UK BSA A65 twins the end was near.Upgrades and service bulletins continued right until 1972 but the less service intensive Japanese bikes had by then flooded the market on both sides of the pond (ocean). The merger to Norton villers was started in late '72 and for a brief time a Norton 500 single was built with the B50 based unit single engine but few if any were sold publicly. BSA unit single B50's 500cc enjoyed much improvement in the hands of the CCM motorcycle company and the BSA basic design continued living until the mid to late 1970's in competitive form in Europe.

Norton-Villiers-Triumph The Group continued to expand and acquire throughout the 1950s but by 1965 competition from Japan (in the shape of companies like Honda) and Germany was eroding BSA's market share. The BSA (and Triumph range) were no longer aligned with the markets; mopeds were displacing scooter sales, superbikes were up at 1000cc and the trials and scrambles areas were now the preserve of two-strokes. Some poor marketing decisions and expensive projects contributed to substantial losses. For example, the development and production investment of the Ariel 3, an ultrastable 3 wheel scooter, was not recouped by sales; the loss has been estimated at some 2 million pounds.

Reorganisation in 1971 concentrated motorcycle production at Meriden, Triumph's site, with production of components and engines at BSA's Small Heath. At the same time there were redundancies and the selling of assets. Barclays Bank arranged financial backing to the tune of 10 million.

By 1972, BSA was so moribund that with bankruptcy imminent, and with government backing its motorcycle businesses were absorbed into the Manganese Bronze company, Norton-Villiers, which became Norton-Villiers-Triumph with the intention of producing and marketing Norton and Triumph motorcycles. The shareholders of BSA confirmed the deal. Although the BSA name was left out of the new company's name, a few products continued to be made carrying it until 1973. The final range was just four models: Gold Star 500, 650 Thunderbolt/Lightning and the 750cc BSA Rocket 3.

However, the plan involved the axing of some brands, large redundancies and consolidation of production at two sites. This scheme to rescue and combine Norton, BSA and Triumph failed in the face of worker resistance. Norton's and BSA's factories were eventually shut down, while Triumph staggered on to fail four years later.

Out of the ashes of receivership, the NVT Motorcycles Ltd company which owned the rights to the BSA marque, was bought-out by the management and renamed the BSA Company.

The BSA bicycle arm had been sold to Raleigh Bicycle Company in 1956 and the BSA Winged-B logo was still seen for a while on up-market bicycles.

Limited revival The BSA company produced military motorcycles (with Rotax engines) and motorcycles for developing countries (with Yamaha engines) under the BSA name. In the later case the old "Bushman" name was recalled to duty - it had been previously used on high ground clearance Bantams sold for the likes of Australian sheep farmers.

In 1991, the BSA (motorcycle) Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd., to form a new BSA Group, largely producing spare parts for existing motorcycles. In December 1994, BSA Group was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group. The new company, based in Southampton, has a large spares business and has produced a number of limited-edition, retro-styled motorcycles.

Products Bicycles Bicycle manufacture was what led BSA into motorcycles. The subsidiary business BSA Bicycles Ltd was sold to Raleigh Industries in 1956.

Motorcycles {{Infobox Defunct Company| company_name =BSA Motorcycles Ltd| company_logo =| fate = effectively bankrupt| successor = Norton-Villiers-Triumph. The bulk of use would be for commuting. BSA motorcycles were also popular with "fleet buyers" in Britain, who (for example) used the Bantams for telegram delivery for the [General Post Office or motorcycle/sidecar combinations for AA patrols Automobile Association (AA) breakdown help services. This mass market appeal meant they could claim "one in four is a BSA" on advertising.

Machines with better specifications were available for those who wanted more performance or for competition work.

Initially, after World War II, BSA motorcycles were not generally seen as racing machines, compared to the likes of Norton (motorcycle). In the immediate post war period few were entered in races such as the TT races, though this changed dramatically in the Junior Clubman event (smaller engine motorcycles racing over some 3 or 4 laps around one of the Isle of Man courses). In 1947 there were but a couple of BSA mounted riders, but by 1952 BSA were in the majority and in 1956 the makeup was 53 BSA, 1 Norton and 1 Velocette.

To improve US sales, in 1954, for example, BSA entered a team of riders in the Daytona 200 with a mixture of single cylinder BSA Gold Star and twin cylinder BSA Shooting Stars assembled by Roland Pike. The BSA team riders amazingly took first, second, third, fourth, and fifth places with two more riders finishing at 8th and 16th. This was the first case of a one brand sweep.

The BSA factory experienced success in the sport of motocross with Jeff Smith (motorcyclist) riding a B40 to capture the 1964 and 1965 Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme 500cc Motocross World Championships. It would be the last year the title would be won by a four-stroke machine until the mid-1990s.

Motorcycle models Pre World War II as the WD M20 the motorcycle of the British Army in WW2

Post World War II









The C11 used a C10 motor fitted with OHV top end. The frame on the C11 was almost unchanged until 1951 when BSA fitted a plunger rear end making only a little improvement to the quality of the ride. Early gearboxes were weak and were know to explode. The C11G was available as a 3 speed with rigid frame or 4 speed with the plunger frame version. Both models had better front brakes than earlier models. This model was a popular all round commuter motorcycle, and many can still be seen around today.

(1956 - 1958). 249cc OHV







Cars Car timeline

Military vehicles



Military equipment

Air Rifles

Air Pistols

See also

External links



Birmingham Small Arms Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a British manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment, and still exists as an airgun sport manufacturer and distributor.

The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was founded in 1861 by ...
The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was founded in 1861 by fourteen gunsmiths in Birmingham, England, to supply arms to the British government during the Crimean War.

A Catalogue of the Papers of the Birmingham Small Arms Company ...
Reference: GB 0152 MSS.19: Title: Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited: Dates of Creation: 1873-1987: Held at: Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Library

An examination of the post- second world war relative decline of UK ...
This is a study of the decline and collapse, in 1973, of the Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd, primarily a motorcycle manufacturing company and pre-WW2 world market-leader.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE POST- SECOND WORLD WAR RELATIVE DECLINE OF UK ...
an examination of the post- second world war relative decline of uk manufacturing 1945-1975, viewed through the lens of the birmingham small arms company ltd

Birmingham Stories | Workshop of the War
... Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association to supply armaments to the British government. Their association was cemented in 1861 when they became the Birmingham Small Arms Company ...

Arthur Neville Chamberlain
He later became chairman of Hoskins and Sons, Bordesley, makers of ships' metal berths and also joined the board of Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA).

RBS: The Archive Guide - London Small Arms Co Ltd
... Originally founded as The London Armoury Co Ltd in 1856, this company was dissolved, reconstituted and incorporated as The London Small Arms Co Ltd in 1866. Like the Birmingham ...

Birmingham Small Arms Company - Simple English Wikipedia, the free ...
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

Birmingham Small Arms (BSA motorcycles) - What does BSA stand for ...
Acronym Definition; BSA: Birmingham Small Arms (BSA motorcycles) BSA: Boy Scouts of ... Birmingham Small Arms Company Birmingham Small Heath Birmingham Small Heath (constituency)

 

Birmingham Small Arms Company



 
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