When BB was KING Leek saved
Long before Jeff Smith earned the world championship reward for his and BSA compshop boss Brian Martin’s patient development work on the Gold Star’s successor, another BSA star was laying the groundwork for the legend that would become the DBD model.
Bill Nicholson had been making a name for himself in Irish events, trials and short road races mainly, and had even come to mainland UK as part of an Irish team for the Colmore Cup trial soon after the end of the Second World War. On his own interpretation of what a BSA competition bike ought to be like, Nicholson managed to beat all but BSA’s star man Fred Rist in the important national trade supported event. This led to an invitation by then BSA competition shop boss Bert Perrigo to call in at the factory on the way home and an invitation to come over again for the Victory Trial a couple of weeks later.
Nicholson won a first class award on his home-brewed bike, which convinced Perrigo to loan Bill a just-introduced B32 comp bike. Nicholson repaid the trust by winning his
