On the move: BSA C11 de Luxe

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On the move: BSA C11 de Luxe
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On the move: BSA C11 de Luxe

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In addition to sporting gold stars and heavy stews, BSA also had something in store for beginners and everyday drivers: a 250 should arouse an appetite for more powerful machines.

D.Tuesday morning in the Allgau. Quirin Rothdach, concrete technologist and classic car enthusiast, goes through his backpack in the office. "Shit, now I’ve left the contract at home. Can you get him quickly? Take the BSA, the quickest way, in half an hour someone will come to sign." Sure, I can, already have my helmet on, lift the black and blue motorcycle from the main stand. And be amazed how difficult it is. The everyday soldier is not slightly lively, as the winged emblem with the three letters suggests.

But reliable: dabbed once, kicked three times, and the old lady from Central England bubbles away in staccato. Unobtrusive, but present. The clutch is not for Blackberry tipsters, a quick kick with the right foot activates 50-year-old Burman gears. The gearshift works typically English, first gear up, second gear down and so on. In addition to the fuel, something else moves in the tank: the needle of the Smiths speedometer. The spring-loaded saddle is comfortable, but the seat height is designed for short-legged people and the knee angle is a bit too narrow for normal people.

When standing, the low BSA may initially convey a big bike feeling, but this impression is quickly put into perspective on the open country road; The crisp exhaust note of the head-controlled four-stroke single is reminiscent of Gold Star & Co. Which does not mean that the 11 horses are not fun to drive – the BSA is clean and lively on the gas. It only gets loud and uncomfortable in terms of vibration when the speedometer needle scratches the 90 km / h mark and the mechanical noises of the valve control and that of the simple primary chain are superimposed on those of the separate four-speed transmission.

When the traffic light in front of me suddenly changes to red, I have to sharpen my iron to avoid leaving any rubber on the Turin sports car in front. And breathe a sigh of relief when the BSA finally stands. Graham Walker, editor of the "Motor cycling", complained about the somewhat tired brakes during the first test of the BSA C11 after the Second World War. Years later, Mick Duckworth reported in the "Classic bike" after a trip with the side-controlled counterpart model C10 something similar. It was not until 1956, when the C12, the last quarter-liter BSA based on the pre-war design, came onto the market that customers could rely on a full-hub brake in the front wheel.

At the end of the 1930s, BSA had also recovered from the global economic crisis. James Leek, head of the gunsmiths founded in 1861 and lord of 28,000 employees, was pleased to see that the motorcycles from Small Heath were back "top notch", in other words: were the first choice among customers. The recruitment of Val Page, who from 1936 stood by Herbert Perkins, the head of the construction department, undoubtedly proved to be helpful for the upswing. Page, a capable mind, had previously won laurels at JAP, Ariel and finally at Triumph and revised their vehicle pallets meticulously and farsightedly.

The newly formed design duo not only threw the old chassis concept overboard, but also the drive technology with wet sump lubrication that had been used up until then. Almost all future BSA singles had dry sump lubrication with a separate oil tank that was bolted to the vertical tube of the new frame. Announced in September 1937 "The Motor Cycle" on the cover the first new BSA of the sporty B-series, five models of the M-series made their debut in the same year. In order to be able to offer beginners a four-stroke 250, Page and Perkins worked on a modified, side-controlled single-cylinder with simple technology and an automobile-like interrupter housing that sat in a tubular steel frame.

Model history


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BSA C11 de Luxe.

With a 63 mm bore and 80 mm stroke, the side valve of the C10 introduced in 1938 was traditionally a long stroke with a cast iron head. A generously dimensioned ball bearing was sufficient for the crankshaft on one side and a plain bearing on the opposite side. As with the M series, the right crankshaft stump drove the gear oil pump via a worm wheel. A year later, beginners could choose between the 8 hp model and the more attractive C11 with foot control, 20-inch wheels and head-controlled motor.
When civil production started up again after the war, bread-and-butter motorcycles were in great demand. Except for the small oil tank under the saddle, the C10 and C11 were identical to their pre-war specifications, the second innovation brought the triangular tool container in the rear frame triangle from August 1945.

From the spring of the following year, a telescopic fork replaced the trapezoidal fork with a central spring; Both entry-level models now carried the Smiths speedometer in the right half of the tank. Competition was sparse at first, but then came from within our own ranks – in the form of a DKW RT 125 copy. When the two-stroke Bantam appeared in the range from 1948, BSA exported a good three quarters of all motorcycle production and immediately made substantial profits with the 4.5 hp machine – that is why the C models had to become more attractive quickly and inexpensively. As the C11 de Luxe, the ohv version was given a two-tone paint job for the 1948 season and a modified cylinder with larger cooling fins.

From 1951, Burman supplied a better stepped four-speed gearbox, an optional straight-line suspension offered more driving comfort, while the switch to smaller 19-inch wheels in the following year was purely a rationalization measure. After the 1952 Earls Court Show, one could only guess that the bestseller BSA Bantam and the takeover of Triumph by the BSA Group ultimately meant the end of the C models. Triumph boss Edward Turner had long toured with the idea of ​​an attractive four-stroke entry-level model. The Triumph T 15 Terrier with a 150 cm³ block engine was built in Meriden in 1953 and was offered as the T 20 Tiger Cup with 200 cm³ just one year later. BSA responded with a revised C10L whose telescopic fork and chassis came from the Bantam D3’s parts store.

Also new was the switch from the chain-driven, often overheating direct current alternator to the alternating current generator on the crankshaft stub, which the side valve machine shared with the C11G, for generator. But the young customers who were out and about with Learner plates hardly used the quarter-liter BSA anymore, whereas the Tiger Cub sold like hotcakes – in 1954 more than 10,000 times. This was not changed by the C12, which, in the meantime with a swinging chassis, was increasingly similar to the B31 / 33, and was available in the BSA sales rooms until 1958. Ernie Webster, then head of the BSA development department, had long since picked up the drawings of the Tiger Cub in Meriden and started to design the C15, a new quarter-liter machine with a block engine.

Technical specifications


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Real English: BSA C11.

BSA 250 C11

Engine: Air-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke engine, two valves, actuated by camshaft located below, rocker arms, bumpers and rocker arms, bore 63 mm, stroke 80 mm, displacement 249 cm³, compression 6.5: 1, 11 hp at 5400 rpm, Amal round slide carburetor, Ø 25/32 in

Electrical system: Battery 6 V / 12 Ah, battery ignition, generator 6 V direct current

Power transmission: Two-disc oil bath clutch, Burman four-speed gearbox, primary drive: chain,
Secondary drive: chain

Landing gear: Single-tube frame made of steel, open at the bottom, telescopic fork at the front, straight-path suspension at the rear, tires at front and rear 3.00 x 20, front and rear half-hub drum brakes, Ø 140 mm

Driving performance: Top speed 105 km / h

Manufacturer: BSA Motor Cycles Ltd., Birmingham / GB

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