BEST SIX-FIFTIES ANYWHERE?

Because that is what it is: the pursuit of perfection, the BSA way. These things were once very simple. A manufacturer would develop a new model, introduce it to the waiting world, continue to develop it in fits and starts (usually), until it was pretty much bang-on. All the flaws had gone (mostly), all the production bugs had been ironed out, (usually), the marketplace loved the things and was buying them at a financially pleasing rate (almost certainly), and all was well. At that point, the only obvious thing to do is ditch the perfected motorcycle from the range and introduce a new one, so starting the process all over again. It was almost as though someone high up the company tree was looking forward to the future, when generations of retrospective enthusiasts would pore over old model lists and specs, working out how it had all worked, and which was The One To Have.

Or… by the time the model was properly developed, the tooling was worn out, the opposition had introduced the next new great idea and it was a case of compete or die in the marketplace, soldiering on with increasingly outdated designs. BSA were – and are – criticised for doing both. Sometimes you just can’t win.

The year is 1954, then. BSA had been building their fine and popular A7 500 and A10 650 twins for several years, and had steadily developed them from the original A7 Star Twin of 1946. A nice engine, and one of the few rigid twins available today to connoisseurs of such delights (can you name two other marques who offered them?). An engine redesign followed the first 495cc twins, introducing the A10 and