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Second Pattern BSA Paratrooper Bicycle Register

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R34736 Worthpoint UK

Credit: Worthpoint

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R50823 of @Wing Your Heel in UK

Now in USA?

Used in an episode of a series for Discovery TV Channel.

Photo Credit Wing Your Heel, filming in LA.
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Hi All,

This is a near duplicate of a reply I've written on the 'First Pattern BSA Paratrooper' Bicycle Register' thread, in case you don't get over there.

From a first run through of the information I've gathered, (around 200 confirmed frames, with varying level of detail) these are my thoughts and observations. If you can tie down the details better, or know otherwise, please let me know.

The earliest survivor so far recorded is R923 of Lex Schmidt @Welbike. The start number is unknown still, but R1 is unlikely, and R100, or possibly R500 are more likely starting points. Lex has a great amount of experience with WW2 British motorcycles, and says that 100 is used by some UK motorcycle makers, so I consider that most likely.

Frame Details:

I have twin tubes confirmed to R6599, First confirmed single tube at R10779. Since the twin tube was a design failure, I'm not sure if BSA would have built to a set number, or just introduced the design change as soon as possible. But certainly in the order of 10000 frames.

The last 'Angle Iron' type hinge I have recorded is R1422, and the first cast hinge R3641.

R77527 of John Neuenburg @Houndsworth remains the highest frame number recorded.

The spread of numbers I have is pretty good, at least one from every thousand built, however there is an anomaly, with no frames recorded between R62836 and R73380, around 10000 frames. I'd like to find some numbers in this gap. I wondered if they'd been produced, then sent overseas to commonwealth forces. My searches are mainly USA and Europe, so they might not turn up frames in other countries. The only place I could think of was India. I contacted a BSA parabike owning friend out there, but his bikes weren't in this sequence, and he had no other information. Being late production, I also wondered if they had gone into War Reserve stock. A problem remaining to be solved.

BSA marked frame wingnuts were used for a very short time, first recorded at R21622, and last recorded at R22712. By R22973 they were back to standard.

Items that are not directly attached to the frame, and colours can be more difficult to record, since they could be changed in service.

The tommy bar for the handle bar bolt is welded direct to the bolt until at least R4154, and seems to ave changed to the standard type by R6312 (a twin tube).

The frames seem to have been Green from the start, to at least R10779, a single tube. The first Brown frame I have recorded is my own T13439 (still the only T prefix I've found, another mystery), the last R16894. The first Green recorded after that is R17598.

The undercoat almost throughout production seems to have been a black enamel paint. Some frames it is difficult to tell if this was the case, and one late frame is red.

The pedal arms were reinforced with bosses for the pedals are first recorded at R22973, the last of the unreinforced recorded being R22666.

There is also some esoteric stuff to do with serial number sizes and fonts.... (-:

I hope this was of interest. I hope to complete the actual table shortly.

Best Regards,

Adrian
 
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