BSA
M20
In the time
there are no visitors I sift through the magazines to see if there is
something interesting to read or there is an article on one of the
machines we do have in the Museum. In the Classic Motorcycle of
February 1993 I find, amongst other things one such article on the BSA
M20. The 500cc side-valve single that was a strong plodder and used
by many for sidecar work.
According to the report the Ministry of
Defence people had set specifications that turned the very
comfortable civilian M20 into a decidedly uncomfortable forward lean
version with too much weight on the arms and knees pressing into the
tank. It did about 60 mpg and about 60 mph! Used for dispatch riding.
After the gripes there was much praise for the robustness of the
machine that it could carry an extra 400lbs of armour plating along
with a machine gun. BSA had provided them with a bullet proof
machine and some say one has been purported to have survived a
nuclear attack! It was not necessarily the best machine for the job
and as you may remember the bit about Douglas DW60, and the TRW and
there was a BSA twin that was never to get into action. It did not
have the ground clearance or the lightness to be what the military
needed and as army surplus you could buy one from Pride and Clarke
for as little as £20 in the sixties. It was an endearing machine
with good reliability and easy maintenance as most people at the time
could not afford someone to do the work for them.
The one in the
Museum is of a similar spec but without the monumentally long side stand that
you could park it up quickly on any terrain, good old canvas bags and
in our case a manikin that has got a bit tired and dropped off
holding his tray of medals.
In the background is the little 122cc
James, the “Clockwork Mouse” and next to it a Vickers machine
gun (sometimes used to wake him up). In the other photo is the
“Flying Flee” a 125cc Royal Enfield that was so named because it
was used by the parachute regiment and dropped in a steel cage where
it could be rescued from the cage and set free to bite the enemy as
required. A complete one in its' cage, can be seen at Duxford at the
Imperial War Museum.
There is an M20 at Duxford parked up by a
communications van. In spite of the extensive use of motorcycles used
by the military from the First World War onwards there were only a
few examples to be seen there.
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