I took my motorcycle test on one of these in 1973 in the army, Junior Leaders at Bovingdon, aged 16 👍😀 went on to ride them regularly on convoy duties whilst serving until they were phased out. Did not see any gloss green ones, especially that shade of green. Most were Matt olive drab. None had chrome wheels or bars. None had BSA Logo, that’s where the unit ID was stencilled. The only shiny ones were for special duties, such as escorting VVIP’s and royal duties. Good memories 😊
A mate of mine had one forty years ago. It had a Solex butterfly carb as standard and I think they also had a low compression piston too . A twenty inch front wheel, eighteen inch rear with Dunlop trials tyres. On the road the handling was a bit dodgy and it was slow. They Ministry of Defence ordered these for escort duty for lorries that generally travelled at about thirty mph. Also the spark plug lead had a great big suppressor on it so it wouldn't upset the signallers radios. The handlebars, wheels, exhaust and other bright parts were dull chromed. Unlike the civilian unit singles the alternator cable exited the primary drive case running forward and fitted with a waterproof compression gland to stop crap getting in. Ian named his the Green Slug in awe of its road burning performance. In fact he was jealous of my 1959 B31. Several armies around the world also used them, Pakistan, Canada and then Egypt and Israel used to capture B40s off each other. Currently I am doing up a1966 B44E, same frame but a bit more power. I think Jeff Smith did a lot of testing on the Army spec bikes to make sure that they were squaddie proof.
What I remember from my dispatch riding was that the most important thing was an easy starting machine. On convoy duties you have to frequently restart the engine. Easiest starting I've had was a Norton WD16H. My present ex Danish B40WD not so easy due to a worn Monobloc. Will be replaced with a Concentric as the Australian ones had.
Lovely bike, the paint and panniers are spot on.
I took my motorcycle test on one of these in 1973 in the army, Junior Leaders at Bovingdon, aged 16 👍😀 went on to ride them regularly on convoy duties whilst serving until they were phased out. Did not see any gloss green ones, especially that shade of green. Most were Matt olive drab. None had chrome wheels or bars. None had BSA Logo, that’s where the unit ID was stencilled. The only shiny ones were for special duties, such as escorting VVIP’s and royal duties. Good memories 😊
A mate of mine had one forty years ago. It had a Solex butterfly carb as standard and I think they also had a low compression piston too . A twenty inch front wheel, eighteen inch rear with Dunlop trials tyres. On the road the handling was a bit dodgy and it was slow. They Ministry of Defence ordered these for escort duty for lorries that generally travelled at about thirty mph. Also the spark plug lead had a great big suppressor on it so it wouldn't upset the signallers radios. The handlebars, wheels, exhaust and other bright parts were dull chromed. Unlike the civilian unit singles the alternator cable exited the primary drive case running forward and fitted with a waterproof compression gland to stop crap getting in. Ian named his the Green Slug in awe of its road burning performance. In fact he was jealous of my 1959 B31. Several armies around the world also used them, Pakistan, Canada and then Egypt and Israel used to capture B40s off each other. Currently I am doing up a1966 B44E, same frame but a bit more power. I think Jeff Smith did a lot of testing on the Army spec bikes to make sure that they were squaddie proof.
What I remember from my dispatch riding was that the most important thing was an easy starting machine. On convoy duties you have to frequently restart the engine.
Easiest starting I've had was a Norton WD16H. My present ex Danish B40WD not so easy due to a worn Monobloc. Will be replaced with a Concentric as the Australian ones had.