WWII BSA Paratrooper Bike...Just Brought it Home!

[ricobike]

Yes, frame and fork appear to be all that was original to the bike is right. I thought there were a few other parts that might be, but research said no. Still, I'm happy to have it!! Pretty cool bike...

Everybody that knows me knows I like a good folding bike. And I like to customize stuff for my riding style. If I had a bike like yours my wheels would be spinnin'. Have fun with it.

 

[HARPO]

@ricobike Thanks. Oh, and I have three Raleigh Twenty's...

 

[cyclingday]

Congrats!
It looks like it was set up pretty good for riding, so unless you’re a historian trying to recreate operation Overlord, I’d just tune it up the way it is, and enjoy having a unique bike down at the local coffee shop.

 

[HARPO]

Congrats!
It looks like it was set up pretty good for riding, so unless you’re a historian trying to recreate operation Overlord, I’d just tune it up the way it is, and enjoy having a unique bike down at the local coffee shop.

Thanks!
And No, I won't be doing a restoration on this one. This will wind up being more of a conversation piece when I get it done and back on the road.

I'm going to go through my Raleigh parts bins and try and keep the bike as English as I can, starting with the handlebars and neck. I'll work my way through it a bit at a time!

 

[Mercian]

Hi,

It's wartime, probably 1943 (the vast majority are). As you've guessed, other than the frame, light bracket, and possibly chain and bearings, the rest is replaced, but they seem to have done a good job of it.

The frame number is on one of the rear dropouts, and will probably start with an R, which would confirm wartime, not postwar.

And $80 is a good price. I've been trying to set one of these frames up in a similar way, it's not so easy or cheap. (-:

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[HARPO]

@Mercian Hi Adrian

I just checked, and yes, you are correct! There is a letter "R", followed by a few numbers. This makes me happy at least knowing that this bike possibly went to War.

I'll be keeping this one, possibly repainting at some point, but trying to keep it as English as possible to preserve some Heritage.

Thank you so much for the info! Greatly appreciated!

Fred

 

[HARPO]

@Mercian Here's the Serial Number, with the letter "R" showing War bike.

Somewhere I saw you had posted the number of these made. Could you let me know? Thanks!!!

 

[Mercian]

Hi @HARPO

There's very little known in detail about the production numbers of these bikes. It is possible that the first frame was R1, although the earliest survivor I know of is R923. These bikes are a little different to yours in that they have a dual down tube with the tube for the saddle stem welded to it at the top. Very roughly the first 10,000 bikes are like this. However it was a weak design, many of these when found have welded repairs on the tubes at the bottom where they have broken away from the bb.

Most are like yours, with a single down tube, and the saddle stem fits inside it. frame numbers are known into the high 70,000's so a reasonable guess is that there are around 10,000 dual tubes bikes, mainly made at the end of 1942, and 70,000 single tube bikes, mainly made in 1943.If anyone has more or better information on that, I'd love to discuss it.

Your bike is R51144, which is 'mid production'.

I own 3 now, one of which T13439 is odd, because it's the only T prefix yet found. I think I can guess why, but no one truly knows.

BSA Parabike with odd T frame number | Military Bicycles

Dear All, I'm just starting on my third Parabike restoration, using a frame I bought from Chris earlier in the year. By the way, Chris's packing of bicycles for shipping is second to none, I can highly recommend the sales experience (-...

thecabe.com

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[comet]

I think that the bike is lucky. The clean up and service you do to bikes is always amazing. I can't wait to see the results.

 

[HARPO]

@Mercian @comet

I dismantled the bike, and it's just going to be to much of a project to take on.

It looks like it has been painted a couple of times, and really needs to be stripped down and redone. Plus, all the components are not what I had hoped for.

So...I think I'm going to sell the frameset with the crank and chain to hopefully someone who will give it the love it should have.