Daring to be different
Once upon a time, in order to go racing a motorcycle had to be created and the factories – we’re talking about the British ones here – were so busy churning out road bikes for export they had little time for the competition stuff, even though it brought kudos to their door and gave the marketing team something to shout about.
The comp products were little different from the roadsters anyway and the enterprising youngster could create something and go off to his local club’s scramble and have a lot of fun. Yes, there were a few proper scramblers out there, BSA’s Gold Star for instance, and you could buy one, but for a lot of lads that was unobtainable. Luckily for the racer, BSA’s A7 and A10 and later B31 and B33 road frames were all welded tube rather than brazed and lugged behemoths and breakers yards had plenty of them, plus the odd Triumph or other old comp engine.
After that it was down to
