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Newsletter of the BSAOC of Northern California February 2020 Number 410

In this issue: The way we were Bill Whalen’s latest Letters 30th all British Ride Travels with Shirley BSA B44 GP Mini bike racers BSA road rep bio Swap meet Race photos The last page

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Number 410 February 2020 The BULLETIN of the Northern California BSA Owners’ Club is the forum for the

exchange of information among the members. All material contained within this

newsletter is property of the BSAOCNC unless otherwise stated within the article.

Material is not to be reproduced or copied without the written consent of the

BSAOCNC. If you would like to use an article or picture found in this newsletter

please contact the Editor.

Deadline for submission of material for publication is the 10th of each month. Members are encouraged to submit technical information, ads, letters, photographs, or any other items of potential interest. Photos will be returned only if so requested in advance. Opinions expressed in the BULLETIN are those of the respective contributors, and do not necessarily represent the position of the Club membership or its officers. BOARD OF DIRECTORS John Magri President 415-587-7541 Jim Romain Vice President 707-894-3805 David James Secretary 510-562-6769 Frank Recoder Steve Eorio Michael Gordon Doug Atkins REGALIA SALES Patti Meadows 775-359-8150 LIBRARIAN Randy Reiter 510-222-2546 WEBMASTER David James 510-562-6769 INTER. RALLY DELEGATE Barry Porter 831-464-2867 TREASURER Bill Whalen 707-837-0424 ADVISORS Thomas Stott (Pre-unit C Series Singles) 951-659-2406 Heinz Batterman (Gold Star) 510-339-1776 (M20/21) need volunteer *** - *** - **** Jack Wheeler (Pre-unit Twins) 510-724-1782 James Banke (Unit Singles) 831-335-1422 Jerry Meadows (Unit Twins) 775-359-8150 Bill Whalen (Rocket 3) 707-837-0424 Ray Pallett (Bantam) 510-456-6578 CONTRIBUTORS Maggie Neato (Personals) Write c/o the BULLETIN Claude Baddley Retired Lion tamer Sigmund Fraud Ex-analyst Commander Thaddeus McBragg Video Naval Commander Anne Nonomous Not really sure

Membership: The Northern California BSA Owners’ Club is open to all BSA enthusiasts at $20

per year. Associate membership is $5 per year for additional members in the same household.

Mail to: BSA OWNERS' CLUB, P.O. BOX 594, NOVATO, CA 94948 The address for submitting material for publication in the newsletter is: 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd. Perris, Ca. 92570.

e-mail: bsaocnceditor@aol.com www.BSAOCNC.org

Cover: A page from BSA’s magazine Back page: Someone thought this was a good idea!

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The way we were Your humble Editor

Last weekend I was able after a long time on being a member of the Southern Club to go on one of their amazing dual sport rides. All bikes must be British and all riders must be a little crazy. To get the proper perspective the day before I took my KTM 525 out with a bunch of younger riders. The difference isn’t as pronounced as it may seem. The main difference is how fast you are going when you fall off! My 1954 Triumph has been my riding companion for over 26 years and has done well over 10,000 off road miles while mine and even more with the original owner Larry Benton. Jim Wilson and Sandy set up the ride from Sandi Bilewitch’s Adelanto home for a frosty January day. Temps were in the 40’s for most of the adventure, which was helpful as muscling around a 400 lb dirt bike is tiring. We rode a number of dirt roads that cross through the outskirts of Adelanto then crossed old Route 66 to the mountains north

of Victorville. We experienced a number of old mining sites and other evidence of man made activity. The trails selected were pretty tame save for a bit of slimy mud that put one rider down with a big knot on his shin. We stopped for lunch along highway 66 at a local favorite and had a lovely late lunch. Our original group was lucky number 13 but a Triumph had a coil fail early on leaving us with 12. After lunch another coil failure on Marty’s T100c put him in the chase truck and we were 11. After lunch we climbed the rather steep road to the top of a peak overlooking Victorville. A lovely view and a real test of brakes on the way down. It was getting to be dusk so we

made a more direct route back to Jimmy’s home. While crossing a sand wash I managed to stall my Triumph right in front of Roger on his B44 Victor. I could here him yell just before he ran into the back of me. He fell and I fell on top of him and his BSA. The impact cased the throttle on the BSA to break and put Roger’s BSA in the truck also. I

was uninjured thanks to body armor and finished the event with no problems with my Triumph. The club hosts 4-5 of these rides every year. They are geared for old motorcycles and mature riders so next event I encourage you to come join us! Ed.

Jim’s T140

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HERE WE GO AGAIN! Finally, finally I’m finished with my latest project; a Triumph T-160. This is the second T-160 that I have restored. It’s taken quite awhile to get this one done. Linda is the one who told me that I needed a project to keep me busy. After a year and a half, and about 8 or 9 thousand dollars, it’s complete. Now it’s time to concentrate on some other projects. All my bikes are running fine and I can just relax. It just so happened that my buddy, Jim Romain has been restoring a 1969 BSA Rocket 3 for a customer for several months, and of course I had to inject myself . The bike was almost complete, but Jim was having a slight problem. It seems the bike had a slight miss on acceleration. Jim wanted me to come and test ride the bike to get my opinion. He had already tried two sets of carburetors which did not solve the problem. I really was hesitant to test drive the Rocket 3. Did I mention that I have a soft spot for BSA Rocket 3s? I advised Jim that if I rode the bike that it would make me want one again. I have ridden 1969 Rocket 3s probably over 250,000 miles and I have learned to love them. But, Jim insisted that he needed my expertise to diagnose the problem, so against my better judgment, I reluctantly agreed to test ride his Rocket 3. As I expected, the short test ride ignited a fire inside me and I indeed immediately wanted to own anoth-er 1969 Rocket 3. This was on Thursday, Dec 19. On Friday Dec 20th we were just getting ready to have a family dinner with my two daughters and their families. At about 5:00 pm, I got a call from my good friend Roland Badertscher advising me that someone had just listed a 1969 Rocket 3 on Craigslist in Oakland, CA complete and for a very fair price. Of course, I did the only natural thing; I immediately called the number on Craigslist and talked to the seller. Not wanting to take any chances of losing the bike, I made arrangements with the seller to meet in Oakland in about an hour and a half. I then cancelled all our family dinner plans, and Linda and I headed for Oakland in the truck. Needless to say, three hours later I was headed home, the proud owner of a der-elict and abandoned Rocket 3. Of course the bike came with no paper work. What the hell, this is not the first time I have bought a bike with no paperwork. But, I know a guy. Bill Whalen

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Letters to the Editor Send to: bsaocnceditor@aol.com or by mail : 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd,

Perris, Ca. 92570

I can't decide... In the 70's, did Your Humble Editor look more like Sonny Barger, or Charles Manson? Butch When I had my shop it seemed that looking crazy made people a little less in-clined to give me grief. Worked really well too. Ed.

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The only drawback to this event had to be the number of riders who shied away, probably because of fears concerning air quality due to the fires that had been raging in Sonoma county. That was understandable. As late as the previous Tuesday, we’d canceled business with our caterer – the County had closed Stafford Lake Park, and the “red flag” warning posted by the weather service meant no BBQ anyway. There began a bit of a scuffle, trying to find another BBQ location and possibly another caterer. But when I went online on Wednes-day morning, I found that the warning would be lifted at 4:00 PM that day, and the Park closure had been lifted. Adam the Park ranger confirmed it. “You’re good to go on Saturday”, he said. There began a scuffle to get the caterer back on board. None of the phone numbers got me anything other than an answer-ing machine; there was no reply to my e-mail, either. That is, until Wednesday night, when I got a return call. They didn’t think they could pull it off. We both agreed that it was very short notice, but they agreed to talk it over and call me the next day. On Thursday morning, they called with an OK, and we were back in business. After that, all the smoke came out of their barbecue, not my ears.

What we eventually got on Saturday was a perfect example of How Can You Possibly Top This? Well, you couldn’t. We missed those who had stayed away, but still had a substantial 103 entries and with no wind, clear blue skies, mild weather, wonderful west Marin roads, elegant motorcycles, enthusiastic riders and good food later at the Park, no, you couldn’t beat it.

Once again, Velocettes were represented in numbers all out of proportion to the number that were ever produced. Maybe that says something about the type of ride we have. BSA, Triumph and Norton, as usual, dominated the entry list. The lone Royal Enfield had retreated prior to lift-off, which you read about last month; there was a beautiful Matchless, also a Rickman Triumph. I did see one Ariel, which was rudely passed by a Velo just north of Tomales.

Happy award winners at the end of the afternoon included:

HARD LUCK Fred Meyer, Velocette

CHROME WON’T GET YOU HOME Jeff Ward, Velocette

TOP PIT CREW Bjorn Stumer & John Magri, Chase Trucks

OLDEST BIKE Kim Williams, 1934 BSA Blue Star

BLING THING Bill Sherlock, BSA Gold Star

The 30th Annual BSAOCNC All-British Ride

Don Danmeier

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SMOKE SCREEN Kim Williams, BSA Blue Star

SOUND OF MUSIC Jeff Sierck, Triumph Trident

EXXON VALDEZ Doug Rumrill, BSA Gold Star

TOP WANKER Pete Young, Velocette

The 1934 BSA won the its second award only because its lubrica-tion system was properly adjusted, and there were no other smok-ers. And Doug told me afterward that the spot seen under his Gold Star Tomales was not oil but rather, pigeon poop. So was that excuse.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Richard Brand Palo Alto, California Gerry Nolan Rio Vista, California James La Russa Rogue River, Oregon Dan Zelinsky Mill Valley, California

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BSAOCNC/

Our Facebook page! Join up, post your photos !

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Don Danmeier

2016: Part 7

You have to hand it to those Brits; they handle the wet better than we. Here they were, camping in a field in the rain, just for the fun of it; that’s a treat that we gave up on long ago. A hint of a drizzle would cancel a ride in California – unless we were already on the road. But before we left for dry surroundings, I had to check out the 1933 BSA four-door sedan that someone had driven in. Unrestored it was, and a little rough around the edges, but still on the road and a delight to see.

The next day dawned bright and sunny in Rugby, but rather than travel I opted to spend a little time servicing the bike. Graeme puttered around with his A10 BSA as well. l fixed an oil weep at the rocker box, snugged up the steering head bearings, lubed the chain, things like that. The battery needed a charge (not sure why), so it got one after I fixed the leads on Graeme’s charger. By then we decided to just take a nap. We stayed in for the rest of the day; Grae-me made dinner, and later we took in the video of “Motorcycle Diaries”, in which the young and pre-revolutionary Che Guevara flogs an old Norton over the mountains in South America. And once again, we faced the daily question, “Do you think that guy Trump can possibly be elected?”

Before we’d left California, I had seen an ad in an English magazine for a bike that was on my radar and had called ahead to learn a bit about it. So, we left Rugby and motored on to Framlingham for the night, planning on seeing the bike the next day. We found a nice old hotel (1545?), checked in, had a drink in the bar, and took a stroll around the neighborhood. This was another market town, where once a week, vendors fill the town square, selling everything from soup to nuts – but mainly produce. It’s what we would call a Farmer’s Market. They’ve been doing that for hundreds of years in this dedicated space, without the need (as at home) to shut down a street for the purpose. After our walk, we went back to the hotel for a pizza.

Next morning found the market in full swing. After breakfast, we fired up the BSA and meandered down the hill to Andy Tiernan’s shop, in the old railway station. Inside, the main space was packed with bikes; there was nobody in the workshop, but we rousted an employee out of the office. He gave Andy a call and once he arrived, orders were given to bring the apple of my eye out into the sunlight. Well. I had been deeply in Like since seeing the ad but was now get-ting That Loving Feeling.

TRAVELS WITH SHIRLEY

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Love at second sight

With a splash of gas in the tank and a prime push on the kickstart lever, one good boot brought it to life and I knew, I knew, I was hooked. I promised to wire money when I got home and Andy said, “You know, you are the only Americans who have ever visited my shop on a motorcycle.” The BSA fired up on one kick of course, and as we climbed aboard he added, “I’ll buy that BSA.” “Nope” I replied, “Not this one!”

During a relatively long day of riding – a lot of headwinds, a lot of A roads, and some miles on the dreaded M25, we met a couple of guys while making a gas stop. Like moths drawn to a flame, they’d independently walked over from their vehicles to get a look. One claimed to have a B40 BSA at home; the other was riding a modern Triumph. Both were nice guys, eager to talk which was fine, but it led inevitably to “Do you think that guy Trump can possibly be elected?”

We finally made it to Brian and Ruby’s down in Kent. These were the folks who had rescued us in Dover the year before. Since our last visit, they’d added a new garage to the house, and had nearly completed a remodeling of the kitch-en. During the day we lounged about in the solarium at the back of the house, talked, snacked and tried to keep track of Larry the tortoise out there in the gar-den. We took dinner overlooking the seaside at Ballard’s, next door to The Charles Dickens pub.

The following day featured a much lovelier ride. Tree tunnels framed the B roads and the falling leaves swirling to the roadside in Canterbury were a subtle reminder that September in England really means Fall is right ahead – in our case, it was five days ahead. We took lunch - great soup and salad - at The Hare in Langton Green.

Our destination was Handcross, Sussex, south of London. I like to stop there to check out the bikes for sale at Verrall’s and to just shoot the breeze in gen-eral. We probably interrupted whatever it was Ian Hatton, proprietor, was doing to the pretty little Velo in the workroom, but that’s what he gets for being unfail-

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ingly pleasant and polite. I spotted a 1914 Premier in there, a 500cc model with an actual clutch, unlike my 250 no-man’s-gear direct drive unit. During our visit he let me know that a fellow Cali-fornian, Paul d’Orleans, had recently stopped by for a visit. Andy Tiernan had told us the same thing. Apparent-ly, Ian said, Paul was partic-ularly interested in a Zenith they had. I know he’s inter-ested in mine, too. He ought to write a book. Ian said that’s just what he’s up to.

Anyway, as we prepared to leave we wondered where to look for lodging and Ian re-ferred us to The Village Pan-try, down the road a bit in Lower Beeding. It’s a B&B but had formerly been not just a bakery but also a butcher’s shop and coinci-dentally, the village Post Of-fice. We got the full story when we got there from Bill and Pam, retired butcher and baker respectively. After settling in and having a nice visit with our hosts, we walked over to The Plough, not only because Bill had mentioned that Mark, the owner/bartender had several bikes, but also because it was the only joint around. It turned out that Mark had more than just the BSA Bantam in the courtyard and the Gold Star in the fireplace, he had a few in the adjacent garage and was only too willing to give us a look. Nice bikes, but not as memorable as those two BSAs. Apparently, the pub is also a popular stop-ping point for folks on the annual Pioneer Run (for pre-WW1 bikes). Some-where in there Mark carried on about the ancient age of the place as well as the legend of the Village Whore, but I don’t recall the details. We polished off the day with a nice pasta dinner and a glass of wine.

To be continued

Poor photo of two sweeties in the September sun

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Found this pic and thought it might be ap-propriate for the Bulle-tin. The not so quick story about it is I met this gentleman shortly after moving to AZ 30 years ago. His name was Fred Jones. He was the purchasing mgr at the Riverside Casino. I dealt with him after machin-ing some parts for the Casino‘s River boat. He was a nice guy and rode quads with a local off road club. I did some boring work for him and he sent me a lot of new customers. He eventual-ly mentioned he did a little racing in the mid-west when he was younger but didn’t really elaborate on the details. A year or two later I heard he had gotten a rare viral infection and was in the hospital. I went to visit him and unfortunately, a couple of days later, he passed away. He was well liked and the Casino held a small memorial for him which I attended. There were several photo albums on a table and when I began looking at them it was clear he did more than “a little racing” in Oklaho-ma. Lots of Class C pics of him on his Indian/Enfield and this little gem. At first it would seem to be an early Victor but if you look closely you’ll see it’s a Grand Prix with a 19” front wheel. In addition, there’s a decal on the air box cover of a topless woman that I’ve seen before but can’t place... Ed Kretz/AJ Lewis era About a month following the service, I received a stack of photos from Fred’s son. This was one of them. The other photos were of a springtime trip Fred’s motorcycle club made to somewhere near the Colorado River. The interesting part was they were all riding British bikes and rode half way across the country to get there and back. The latest bike was a 54 Triumph but there were Vincents, Square 4, Matchless‘s and BSA twins. A tough generation for sure. As for a photo credit, it looks much like a BSA ad photo of that era. Hope you can use it. Rob burg

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People who shaped the BSA dealer network series

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Bulletin ads work! Swap Meet, buy-sell-trade Only British motorcycle related items will be listed, with BSA items having priority. Unless otherwise requested, ads will run for three consecutive issues. If you find/sell what you are advertising for during that period, please send the Editor a cancellation notice!

The methods for submitting ads for publication are: Preferred: via Email, bsaocnceditor@aol.com with any photos in .jpg format

Next Best: Phone 951-943-5886. Good: mail to 17320 Santa Rosa Mine Rd, Perris 92570.

1971 BSA B50SS Only thing I did in my steward-ship was a pro respray ( 2 years ago) and Boyer EI. She is in amazing shape. All the Lucas switch-gear works…I believe the mileage to be pretty darn correct…Clear title in my name and regis-tered in Ca. 5200 Thanks, Dan 650-245-4446 or arieleditor64@outlook.com

For Sale: 1968 BSA Lightning S/n A65LB-9357. 3317 miles on speedo.

Purchased 9-24-95, speedo read 136.1 miles. Maintenance / ride log

since 1995. Original, stock, complete.

Close to concourse but it's a rider. "68

BSA" license plate current. 2 new Amal

carbs and air filters complete. Old carbs

included. New tune-up and spark plugs

November 2019. New AGM battery.

Owners manual , tool kit, matching BSA

posters and literature, including 2 18x24

posters and Cycle World road test of 68

lightning and other BSA's. Lew Brown

559-907-5873 (cell) 559-658-2294

(home) Coarsegold, Ca. $8500.00

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HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE BSA OWNERS CLUB OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA:

Dave Aldana Earl Bowlby Don Danmeier Dick Mann Bob Raber Jim Rice Jeff Smith Craig Vetter In Memoriam: Kenny Eggers Nick Nicholson Roland Pike Roy Bacon Neil Keen Chuck “Feets” Minert Eddie Dow

BSAOCNC Committees:

NEWSLETTER Bill Getty, Editor 951-940-5411

Don Danmeier 415-898-0330

RIDES Don Danmeier, Chair 415-898-0330

Mike Crick

CALIFORNIA Don Danmeier, Chair 415-898-0330

BSA RALLY David James 510-562-6769

ELECTIONS Ants Uiga (Chairman) 949-466-6404

David James 510-562-6769

MEMBERSHIP Bill Whalen, Chair 707-837-0424

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

WEB PRESENCE David James, Chair 510-562-6769

Patti Meadows 775-359-8150

Jeff Sunzeri 831-636-3020

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