Hitchcocks Forum

I've just spotted this on the Danish version of sale and mart... around £1600.oo, a BSA C11 from 1954...





Any opinions?

I don't know anything helpful on the technical side, and will leave that to the Beeza guys, but just looking at the picture, it's beautiful.



If possible test ride it?


Maybe point the headlamp up a little more, poor bike looks like its sad to be sold!

Wow a blast from the past, my first road going bike was the 56 C12 which had the twin shocks.

Slow and low, straight through exhaust with a lovely bark and a sweet motor that withstood the abuse really well..

Fond memories..

Hi EXILE------------ what a lovely looking bit 'o kit !! And at a good price too------Here's a view from the other side( from Google) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

----------- you could use this one to ride into town and collect the spares for the Enfield--------then vice verca, ad infinitum !!

Doesn't always work that way Alan, we have a member here who has spent at my guess $40,000 over the last 7/8 years on 5 Enfields and he still has to travel by train because none of them are running. He has a Flea, Ensign, 06 Bullet, Super Meteor and an Apache

I rode my Dad's 1953 C11 extensively from 1961 until about 1966. This was a 1953 4 speed plunger model very like Alan R's pic but in the maroon of the Danish frame & forks. The alternator fitted for 1954 as on the Danish one (a 3 speed) took away the bugbear of the dynamo being buried behind the engine where the primary chaincase prevented easy access to the brushes. My sister's boyfriend also ran a 54 C11G for several years. Generally both bikes ran well but with the occasional niggle such as broken kickstarter spring. The frame is flexible compared to the Bullet's and will need constant attention to the engine & gearbox fixing studs. Also avoid over-greasing the hubs – grease nipples provided but with felt seals you can soon grease the brake linings as well. Both bikes pictured on this posting have the early brake which is either 4 or 4½ inch – either way it's a candidate for nomination as a worse brake than an Enfield 6 inch as discussed in the later post on the half width front hub. To digress further but to pick up on a discussion posted a year or two back, an effective degreasing treatment for brake shoes is to boil them with a washing detergent. Not quite as effective as heating crankcases in the oven as a means of promoting marital harmony but definitely on the same level.

IN the !70s, mate had a 2nd hand C11, myself don't think its worth the effort, at the time had a Matchless 250

So there we go!



A pretty bike, with flexible frame that will allow the engine and gearbox mounting bolts to slide out sideways as you corner!



Maybe "An unstable mate for Thumper" would be more correct?



There again, there must be some positive stories about these bikes?

First bike i rode was an Ariel Colt 200, a badge engineered C12. It was on some waste ground near my grandparents in Sheffield. I later bought a new Honda C114 50cc after selling my pushbike and Dad acting as guarantor on the HP.
My mate could pass me on the colt on the flat, but I could leave him uphill.
He once stripped the gearbox in their living room, and not being able to find the "hole" to get a shaft back in, his dad said "put some hair round it, you'll find it"!
Those were the days!