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Birmingham Small Arms Company

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The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a British manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment.

At its peak, BSA was the largest motorcycle producer in the world.

Contents

History

BSA was founded in 1861 in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham, England by fourteen gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, who had together supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War. The company branched out as the gun trade declined; in the 1880s the company began to manufacture bicycles and in 1903 the company's first experimental motorcycle was constructed. Their first prototype automobile was produced in 1907 and the next year the company sold 150 automobiles. By 1909 they were offering a number of motorcycles for sale and in 1910 BSA purchased the British Daimler Company for its automobile engines.

World War One

During World War I, the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced rifles and Lewis guns, but also shells, motorcycles and other vehicles for the struggle. In 1920, it bought some of the assets of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco) which had built many important aircraft during the war but had become bankrupt with the lack or orders post hostilities. BSA did not go into aviation; the chief designer of Airco founded the de Havilland company.

In the 1930's the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use - it had been stored at company expense since the end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty.

World War Two

By World War II, BSA had 67 factories and was well positioned to meet the demand for guns and ammunition. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles and half a million Browning machine guns. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. BSA supplied 126,000 M20 motorcycles to the armed forces, from 1937 (and later until 1950) plus military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle. At the same time, the Daimler concern was producing armoured cars.

Post war

Post-war, BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world.

The company had sporadically made automobiles in:

The Daimler company produced cars for BSA from 1910 to 1915, and 1921 to 1960, when Lanchester Motor Company cars also became part of the BSA. In 1960 Daimler was sold off to Jaguar.

The BSA cycle arm was sold off to Raleigh in 1957. Bicycles under the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles of India.

The production of guns bearing the BSA name continued, but in 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and are still based in Small Heath in Birmingham.

Norton Villiers Triumph

The Group continued to expand and acquire throughout the 1950's but by 1965 competition from Japan (in the shape of companies like Honda) and Germany was eroding BSA's market share. Some poor marketing decisions and expensive projects contributed to substantial losses. By 1972 BSA was so moribund that it was absorbed under Government instruction into Manganese Bronze company Norton Villiers to create Norton-Villiers-Triumph - the BSA name so unused outside the USA, it was considered non-essential to include in the companies name.

However, as the plan involved the axing of some brands and the movement of production to two sites, the plans to rescue and combine Norton, BSA and Triumph failed in the face of worker resistance. Norton's and BSA's factories were eventually shut down, while Triumph staggered on to fail four years later. Out of the ashes of recievership, the NVT Motorcycles Ltd company which owned the rights to the BSA marque, was bought-out by the management and renamed the BSA Company

Limited revival

In 1991, the BSA (motorcycle) Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd., to form a new BSA Group, largely producing spare parts for existing motorcycles. In December 1994, BSA Group was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group. The new company, based in Southampton, has a large spares business and has produced a number of limited-edition, retro-styled motorcycles

Products

Motorcycles

Pre World War II

as the WD M20 the motorcycle of the British Army in WW2

Post World War II

1957 BSA Golden Flash 650
Enlarge
1957 BSA Golden Flash 650

Cars

Car timeline

Military vehicles

Military equipment

Air Rifles

See also

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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