Classic Transfer
A Bantam Story

A BANTAM STORY

The BSA Bantam, one of the Birmingham Small Arms Company’s most successful machines ever manufactured. Based on a prewar German DKW, this simple lightweight two-stroke was a roaring worldwide success for BSA. 1948 is the year it all started with the Rigid Frame Bantam D1. Featuring a 58mm stroke with 52mm bore, it produced a 123cc modest engine and 3-speed gearbox. For the novice motorcyclist, this distinctive and small capacity machine was the perfect first choice.

By the end of 1948, the U.K.’s General Post Office (GPO) started purchasing thousands of Bantams and using them as cost effective and economical transport for their telegram delivery service.

You would often see these little red roosters on streets and pavements all over the country. They were finished in the famous Post Office Red. Featuring King George VI royal crest on the tank, GPO transfers on the Legshields, BSA Garter Rifles on the toolbox, Pilled arms on Rear No. Plate Bracket, Tyre pressure transfers on the mudguards and some fitted with a first aid box.

Later versions had Queen Elizabeth II’s crest on the tank instead and a revised Garter Rifles as BSA changed their company name from B.S.A. Cycles to B.S.A. Motor Cycles Ltd in late 1953.

By the 1950s the model began to evolve, now offering a plunger frame, and larger capacity models, BSA aimed to compete against the sea of Villiers two-stroke rivals. It wasn’t too long before riders were looking for more power and so their focus turned to increasing their engines capacity and this first came with the 148cc Bantam D3. Available in two road options and competition models offering either rigid or plunger frame with heavier front forks on all D3 versions.

By late 1957, it was back to the drawing board for the design team in the never ending race to increase engine capacity. A failed attempt at increasing a longer stroke which resulted in stronger torque but terrible vibration lead to the solution, a plan to increase the bore size and a re-design of the bottom end. The result was the D5 (Major) with an engine displacement of 174cc and top speed nearly of 60mph.

The D7 shortly replaces the D5 in 1959. This Bantam Super was seen as more of an improvement rather than another bore-job and this model endured until 1966. Replacing the D7 in 1966 was the short lived D10, with noticeable changes to the engine and improved electrics and later versions of the D10 Sports and Bushman highlighting a 4-speed box taking up the same space as its predecessor.

Out with the 3-speed gear box and in with the 4-speed Bantam D14/4 series from 1968. A larger exhaust, respectable price and the fastest of all Bantams of as yet, meant it sold well despite falling behind competition probably due to the lack of investment.

Early 1970’s saw the rise of the Japanese models and sadly the demise of B.S.A. The D175 was their last chance to save the Bantam. Revised improvements to the engine were welcome but it was too little too late for the nimble bantam. The faster, more reliable and cheaper rivals at Honda and Suzuki had crushed the competition and ultimately crushed B.S.A. by the end of the decade.

BSA BANTAM MODELS TRANSFER SETS

THERE MAY BE MINOR VARIATIONS TO THIS LIST WITH DE-LUXE, COMPETITION, EXPORT VERSIONS, ETC.

1948 D1     125cc

1949 on  D1     125cc

1954 – 57 D3     150cc

1958 D5 / 1959 D7     175cc

1960 – 63 D7     175cc

1964 – 66

1966 – 67 D10     175cc

1967 – 68 D10/S

1968 D14 & D14/4S

1969 – 70 D175

BUSHMAN

Classic Transfer
BSA B44V – THE VICTOR STORY

BSA B44V – THE VICTOR STORY

After dominant victories on the 500 Gold Star in the late 50’s, BSA Motocross Champion Jeff Smith decided that they needed to move in the Lighter direction. With Brian Martin’s expertise, a C15 Trials and a B40, they got to work on building a lighter motocross machine.

Jeff had been testing a 250cc BSA C15. The C15 was based on a street-model 250cc four-stroke, and the only changes were to take off the street gear and fit motocross tires. BSA decided to compete in the British 250 Grand Prix on these modified street machines. To Jeff’s surprise and quite unexpectedly, he came second behind Rolf Tibblin who won the British 250 GP using the works Husqvarna. John Draper was fifth on C15 machines. As a result, BSA built a 342cc version of the B40 engine for Smith to race in the 1963 500 World Championship while working on the 441cc design.

Brian Martin, head of BSA’s competition department, started a project to enlarge the B40 engine. Initially, the engine was enlarged to 421 cc and for the 1964 Motocross season, the engine was fitted in a lightweight frame that carried the oil in the top tube. Smith took this machine to 3 victories in the championship and, with 3 rounds to go, the displacement was increased to 441 cc. The extra capacity was obtained by increasing the B40’s 70 mm stroke to 90 mm, the 79 mm bore was retained. The cast iron barrel of the B40 was changed to an alloy item. With just three rounds remaining in the 1964 FIM 500 Grand Prix season left, Jeff with the newly configured motorcycle he was looking for, beat the winner of the two previous championships, Swede Rolf Tibblin, to the title by a narrow margin.

In 1965, Jeff Smith was able to retain his championship by winning six GPs. In the final race, the East German GP, Smith used a pre-production C15S-framed model with the 441cc engine and finished sixth. On the strength of Jeff Smith’s two World Championships, BSA introduced a replica at the 1965 Earls Court Motorcycle Show, and christened it the: B44 Victor GP and the following year (1966) BSA introduced the model to the public.

B44 Victor GP

On the strength of Jeff Smith’s two World Championship, BSA introduced a replica at the 1965 Earls Court Motorcycle Show, the B44 Victor GP. The model was discontinued in 1967 and around 500 GPs were produced in total.

For collectors, it is important to note that the Victor 441 GP is very rare in America, so make sure the oil tank is built into the Reynolds 531 frame and the bike has a flat-bottom alloy tank, fiberglass airbox, conical hubs, 20-inch front wheel and rigid footpegs. Mudguards should be aluminium, and look for a 4-inch gap between the tank and short seat. 

B44VE Victor Enduro/B44VS Victor Special

A road legal on-off-road version with lights was introduced in 1966 as the B44VE Victor Enduro in the UK and the B44VS Victor Special in the US. From 1967 the Victor Special name was used in all markets. The fuel and oil tanks were made in alloy. Production continued until the model was replaced by the B50 Victor Trail in 1971.

B44VR Victor Roadster/B44SS Shooting Star

A roadster version, designated B44VR Victor Roadster in the UK and B44SS Shooting Star in the US was introduced in 1967. The model used fibreglass fuel and oil tanks and was fitted with a 7″ half-width front brake. From 1968 the model was known as the Shooting Star in all markets, the tanks were changed to steel and a larger 8″ front brake was fitted. A 7″ full width twin leading shoe front brake was fitted from 1969. The model was discontinued when the 500 cc B50 models were introduced in 1971.

Press Reports

“The Victor … has the weight and general handling usually associated with 250s, while it does have the urge of a 500.” — Cycle World, April 1966

“The 441 single is a rare jewel of simplicity and a masterpiece of performance.” — Cycle, April 1968

“For those of us who like to potter about with old bikes, motorcycles like the Victor still deliver satisfaction in spades.” — Cycle World, August 1989

“Bash it, thrash it, even trash it, the 441 Victor was proof positive that the British could build a highly stressed, reliable power unit.” — Rider, July 1993

Transfers available to order here

Classic Transfer
‘The Gentleman’s Motor Cycle’ – ‘The Sunbeam’

Established, said the catalogues, in 1790, though able to claim origins fifty years before that, the company which made ‘The Sunbeam’ is now one of the oldest in Bristish History. John Marston was born in 1836, at Ludlow in Shropshire and later entered the up and coming Bicycle trade, registering the trademark of ‘Sunbeam’ in January 1888. The first line was slow to move, but after a year or two, expansion of staff and some exhibitions, it was clear that Marston was serious about cycles and their production.

Marstons policy became that of marketing a limited range of designs and of trying to make them perfect, which he succeeded in very well. By 1911, Marston was ready to enter another profitable market, the one of motor cycles. The ‘Gentleman’s Motor Cycle’ was the result and ‘The Sunbeam’ was a beautifully finished as the cycles.

Renowned for their lustrous deep black finish relieved only by gold transfers bearing the manufacturer’s name, Sunbeam bicycles and motorcycles represented a very high quality product that few other manufacturers could rival.

Surprisingly perhaps, the early motor cycles were swiftly entered in competition, almost taking the Isle of Man TT on their first appearance in 1914. The Great war put a stop to this for some time and the firm was occupied in radiator production whilst making a relatively small number of motor cycles for France, Italy and Russia.

After the war, the competition use of Sunbeams was intensified in the hands of Alec Bennett, Tommy de la Hay and George Dance, the latter’s superb tuning and riding skills pushing sunbeam to the front of trials and racing. They won the Senior TT four times in the 1920’s.

The company, meanwhile, had changed. John marston had retired in 1916, dying in 1918, and Marstons’s was sold to Noble industries. In 1937, the cycle and motor cycle business was sold to Associated Motor Cycles of London, already owners of Sunbeams’s old Wolverhampton rivals, AJS.

In 1943 AMC sold the Sunbeam Trademarks to BSA, who produced ‘war-grade’ Sunbeams cycles from that date and from 1946 a new Sunbeam motor cycle appeared, to be followed in 1959 by two motor-scooters.

In 1956-7 the cycle interests were sold to Raleigh who, inexplicably, discontinued BSA’s nicely-made touring Sunbeam cycles and transferred the famous trademark to a range of children’s ‘pavement cycles’.

Classic Transfer
The Hidden Italian Gem

Ceccato is probably not a name that instantly springs to mind when asked to name an Italian classic motorcycle….that is, unless you are one of those in love with this lesser known little Italian gem!

Founded in the 1930’s by Pietro Ceccato, the company originally started out manufacturing industrial equipment, then turned to producing clip-on engines for bicycles and small capacity motorcycles at the end of WW II.

The company really came into its own in the early 1950’s, when in 1953, they purchased a design for a DOHC 75cc engine from none other than Fabio Taglioni, after his offer to Mondial was turned down. Although 5 DOHC race bikes were built, a modified SOHC Corsa version came to the fore and proved to be the strength of Ceccato’s racing efforts. Being much lighter in weight this type of engine, 7hp at 10,500 rpm with a top speed of 110 km/h, proved to be much more suited to long distance road races such as the Giro d’Italia. Over 500 racers were built before sadly, production came to an end in 1961 with the last of the bikes being sold in 1963. Argentina proved to be a major buyer of these bikes where they were sold under the Zanella Ceccato brand name.

Although Ceccato still remains in business, today the name is more associated with being the world’s largest producers of car and train washing equipment!

However, as always there are still a number of enthusiasts seeking to lovingly restore these little known gems to their former racing glory. This is proving to be somewhat of a challenge as even in Italy, actual Ceccato parts are extremely rare and hard to locate but still worth the effort for those in love with this little Italian master piece!

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BSA B44V – THE VICTOR STORY

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'The Gentleman's Motor Cycle' - 'The Sunbeam'

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