Can someone help nailing down a year for this BSA??

[37ccmflyte]

A super cheap BSA came up and I could not resist grabbing it as it looked quite original... I am having trouble nailing down a date for it... can anyone help?
It is a single speed coaster brake, does not appear to have had a front brake? Has 28 inch Westwood rims.... seems original apart from the missing seat, painted (badly) rims and a rusty carrier on the back.... but I really don't know what I am looking at.... help! It has a "NEW EADIE" rear hub... and the frame number is "K13539"

 

[Goldenrod]

Nice pinstriping. You grabbed good.

 

[Brian R.]

I briefly owned - almost - the same bike. Mine had a 3-speed S-A and chrome fenders, but other than that, it was the same. I was able to date it to c.1956 from a decal and the stamp on the S-A hub. The bike had a decal boasting about winning a race (I forget which one), which after looking it up found that they had last won in 1953. This meant the bike couldn't be earlier than '54. I think I settled on 1956 because I found the same bike in an image search online and he listed it as a 1956 - also likely because of the SA hub stamp. I'm sorry my memory isn't more clear. Here is what mine looked like:

Hope that helps.

 

[37ccmflyte]

I briefly owned - almost - the same bike. Mine had a 3-speed S-A and chrome fenders, but other than that, it was the same. I was able to date it to c.1956 from a decal and the stamp on the S-A hub. The bike had a decal boasting about winning a race (I forget which one), which after looking it up found that they had last won in 1953. This meant the bike couldn't be earlier than '54. I think I settled on 1956 because I found the same bike in an image search online and he listed it as a 1956 - also likely because of the SA hub stamp. I'm sorry my memory isn't more clear. Here is what mine looked like:
Hope that helps.

Thanks, that does help. Yours was the Sports model with the welded seat stay and rim brakes, where as mine is the cheap single speed coaster brake workman's commuter bike, but the race decal, head badge and forks are the same, so I am also picking date of 1954-7. The last of the true BSA built bikes before they were sold to Raleigh in 1957.

 

[Brian R.]

I looked it up: the race was the 1953 Tour of Britain, won by Gordon Thomas on a BSA. When I first posted I thought that would help in case your race decal was illegible, but couldn't remember the race.

 

[37ccmflyte]

I looked it up: the race was the 1953 Tour of Britain, won by Gordon Thomas on a BSA. When I first posted I thought that would help in case your race decal was illegible, but couldn't remember the race.
View attachment 1147037

Great, thanks!!!

 

[37ccmflyte]

This is the very first bike I have owned that was older and still had its original finishes mostly intact. I plan to preserve it as best I can. I will hunt up the correct seat. I already have a better front wheel ( the rims on the bike have have some paint brushed on in the past). So I will hunt for a good matching condition Westwood rim or complete wheel for the rear, and remove the ugly rusty carrier. I can see myself doing a heap of reading about the preservation process! Another good learning curve.