It's a TriBSA 750 Cafe Racer.
The Triumph 650cc engine was overhead valve and easier to tune, so this one was bored out to 750cc, some skimming of the head to raise the compression ratio, coupled to a BSA Gold Star RRT2 gearbox with very close ratios, first was good for 70 mph. This was then mounted in a BSA duplex-cradle frame—much stiffer than the Triumph equivalent.
Clip-on handlebars on the front forks, rear-sets to move the footpegs and controls further back. Then custom tanks and other bits.
No good off-tarmac but great on Moroccan roads. I was riding it in Morocco in August 1972 when there was an assasination attempt on King Hassan II. The security forces, unbeknown to me, were on top alert, and I was doing about 80 mph on a beautiful blacktop when I saw a roadblock ahead. Came to a skidding stop just inches from the stingers (US: stop sticks).
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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)
Last edited by Tim Cullis; 7 Sep 2014 at 09:35.
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