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The BSA A65 Star was a Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) motorcycle aimed at the US market for unit construction twins.As well as giving a clean look to the engine, with the pushrod passages part of the cylinder block casting, unit construction reduced the number of places oil could leak from. [3]
The BSA unit twins were a range of unit construction twin-cylinder motorcycles made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) and aimed at the US market. A range of 500 cc (31 cu in), 650 cc (40 cu in) and 750 cc (46 cu in) twins were produced between 1962 and 1972, [1] but they were really developments of the older pre-unit A7/A10 model range with less weight. [2]
BSA's first parallel twin. Called "Flash" in the US after 1954 A7S Star Twin: 500 cc 1949 1954 Tuned version of the A7 A7SS Shooting Star: 500 cc 1954 1962 Tuned A7 in swinging arm frame A10 Golden Flash: 650 cc 1950 1962 BSA's first 650 cc parallel twin. Known as "Royal Tourist" in the US from 1960 A10 Super Flash 650 cc 1953 1954
In October 1949 BSA launched the Bert Hopwood designed 650 cc twin cylinder A10. The engine in the A10 was a redesigned and improved version of the A7 engine. A 497 version of the redesigned engine was produced for the A7. Initially fitted in the new A7S Star Twin, it was also fitted to the base A7 model in 1951.
The machine had a top speed of about 90 mph and was relatively free of vibration. Sharing common engine and cycle parts with the larger BSA A65 Star 650 twin, it was an over-engineered machine and proved very robust. The only major fault with the engine design was a plain crankshaft bearing on the timing side which, when worn, would cause a ...
The final BSA range was just four models: Gold Star 500, 650 Thunderbolt/Lightning and the 750 cc Rocket Three. By 1972, BSA was so moribund that, with bankruptcy imminent, its motorcycle businesses were merged (as part of a government-initiated rescue plan) with the Manganese Bronze company, Norton-Villiers, to become NVT, headed by Dennis Poore.
The BSA A65R Rocket was one of a series of unit construction twin cylinder Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) motorcycles made in the 1960s. A version branded as the A65 'Thunderbolt Rocket' was aimed at the US market. [2] The A65R Rocket was produced from 1964 but was stopped in 1965 when all development at BSA was halted by financial ...
BSA, then the largest UK motorcycle manufacturer, was falling behind in the parallel-twin race after the introduction of the 650cc Triumph Thunderbird. Although BSA had a 500cc parallel-twin, the BSA A7, they needed to develop a 650 to remain competitive. Bert Hopwood served an apprenticeship under designer Val Page at Ariel.