c1923 BSA Colonial S25 Motorcycle

Description

One of the great marques, BSA actually began as a gun trades union in 1854, when 14 Birmingham gunsmiths grouped to sell arms for the Crimean War effort. In 1861 they decided to form a public company, signed the papers in 1862, and found a site on Small Heath for their factory, opening in 1863.BSA started building bicycles in the 1880s and bicycle components, and followed with motorized bicycles in 1903. In 1907, BSA acquired parts maker Eadie Manufacturing (created by Albert Eadie, general manager of Royal Enfield). They made their first own real motorcycle in 1910, a 499cc side-valve. Model H and Model K were their pre-war singles.Production ceased during WW1 while they pursued their traditional manufacturing, making guns, but returned quickly after the war, making their first V-twins in 1919. In the early 1920s, they acquired an engineer and designer from Daimler called Harold Briggs who designed new sporting machines for them, including their popular 493cc ohv Sloper of 1928. In the 1930s, the company boasted that one in four motorcycles on the roads in the UK was a BSA.