How To Kill A Motorcycle!

Old guys like me might remember the BSA, a British made motorcycle that at one time was the most popular bike in it's era, at least by production numbers. Birmingham Small Arms was a major business combine, manufacturing everything from buses and cars to, you guessed it, military and sporting firearms. At it's peak, it was the largest motorcycle producer in the world  A merger with Daimler, a U.K. car manufacturer, should have meant bigger and better things for the company but subsequently added to their ultimate demise.

Even if an arrogant dismissal of the increasing competition by Japanese and European bikes wasn't enough, bad business decisions compounded by some uber-extravagant and suspect personal expenditures borne by the company for the grand living Lord and Lady Docker certainly put the nail in the coffin. From a heyday of the biggest manufacturer of bikes to being bailed out by the government, we'll never know just what kind of bikes they may have been producing today.

Do you have your hands on a vintage motorcycle? We can help you out with insurance on those too.

The BSA logo on a vintage bike

Livin' large with Lord and Lady Docker (wearing her $10,000 gold gown...pricey for the 1950's and apparently paid for with BSA company funds)

Lady Docker's show car, dubbed the  'Zebra Car', was paid for by Daimler, had gold instead of chrome and sported an ivory dashboard and zebra skin seats, which were "much cooler to sit on than mink". 

The Dockers were flying high but Lady Docker got banned from Monaco and The French Riviera for bad behaviour

1941 B.S.A. military bike

Check out future posts on Jamesville custom bike builders to see this influence on his work

The heydays

1937 Vee-Twin