Going grey

Amid all this, BSA ploughed on, flying the tattered Union Jack in the face of a remorseless barrage from Japan, which had recently dared to venture from their established field of lightweight motorcycles, into the realm so long dominated by the Brits – the big bike. True, BSA/Triumph had fought back with their new generation of triples, which broke clean away from the long-established parallel twin mould. But while the original triples – in Trident (Triumph) and Rocket 3 (BSA) guise – performed well enough and were volume sellers in many markets, including Australasia, they never quite grabbed the Stateside attention they coveted. The quirky, slab-sided styling failed to excite the Yankees, and if the sales storm created by the Honda CB750 wasn’t enough to combat, the Kawasaki Z1 was poised to inflict even more pain.

BSA/Triumph had put on a brave face and firmly embraced the American racing scene as a means to demonstrate the capabilities of the triples, and to a large degree they had succeeded thanks to the efforts of John Cooper, Dick Mann and quite a few others. But racing success still did not address the basic shortcomings of the BSA in the eyes of the Americans. It needed a makeover – and fast, because back in boggy Birmingham, the parent company was bleeding.

What transpired for 1971 was a completely restyled Rocket 3, which borrowed styling cues from across the BSA range, particularly the big twins. The fuel tank mirrored the red