Author Topic: BSA B31 1957  (Read 2687 times)

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Cardiboy1

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BSA B31 1957
« on: 06 May, 2017, 17:29:43 »
Still looking for  PWN 361 , black, sold in Cardiff 1970 to a young Rolls Royce apprentice from Bristol. I would like to have the bike again for a re-run of my 1968 tour of Norway. Is it in any collection or shed or garage you know of? Please help!!!

Editor

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #1 on: 06 May, 2017, 18:16:10 »
I just checked the DVLA system and they dont show a record of that number for a BSA. Its therefore likely that if the bike is still in existence the original number may have been sold as a cherished plate or a subsequent owner lost the log books etc. As such it will have an age related number which makes it difficult to identify. The only hope is that the present owner knows the original number and he gets your request.
Chris

Cardiboy1

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #2 on: 08 May, 2017, 12:50:39 »
Many thanks to all of you for looking at this, and to you Ed for your reply.
Some time ago I was in correspondence with DVLA, who were very helpful. PWN 361 (-originally a Swansea number for those who don't recognise -WN). Eventually, they revealed they had never had this reg on their records which started around 1975 and told me to try Glamorgan's records department, etc. This I did, but without success. I even tried writing to the Rolls Royce pensioners association! That apprentice is probably one of them now, if he'd stayed with the company. No luck. If the bike still exists in any form, it's either dissolved into rust or its component parts, or indulging in wishful thinking it's buried in some barn or shed or garage somewhere, forlorn and forgotten.
Still it was worth a try and I gave it a good go! So my black B31 went off the road sometime in that relatively short period between 1970 and 1975. That's a shame because it was in very good condition when sold. It had flat handlebars, a Britax crashbar, a Craven rear carrier and a Gold Star replica silencer. Although only a cooking B31, its exhaust noise still did that 'whiffle' on the over-run!

STAR TWIN

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #3 on: 08 May, 2017, 14:39:17 »
Dreadful things happen to cherished bikes once sold. My first B31 was sold to a friend - cheap as a favour - and 2 weeks later it was needlessly destroyed. He thrashed it mercilessly on full retard until it seized. He then sold it to a scrapyard. It was a good bike too...
At least I now have another B31. 

Cardiboy1

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #4 on: 09 May, 2017, 10:56:43 »
Oh dear- what a fate!
Of more general interest to your readers:-
My 1968 tour of Norway started in Aberystwyth, used the Harwich - Kristiansand ferry route (long since extinct, like ALL direct ferry routes from Blighty to that beautiful country), and took in Arendal, Setesdal, Haukelifjell, Odda, Bergen, Hardangerfjord (Rosendal), Haugesund, Stavanger, Flekkefjord and back to Arendal before returning the same way to West Wales. A total distance of around 1350 miles.
I was 18 and did the run alone.
The weather was good after an initial dousing in a rainstorm in the Welsh mountains after leaving home in Aber at about 10pm. I was in Harwich by about 6am the next morning.
The B31 ran without a hitch, used no oil, and never took more than two kicks to start up.
It was well laden with all my  camping gear and luggage.
It putted along cruising at about 50-60mph.
At that time it was returning about 80-90mpg on 2 star petrol.
Does anyone do runs like that anymore on older bikes, or are all long distance motorcyclists riding Pan Europeans, BMWs etc.? They don't know they're born!
However, I will admit that nowadays, modern traffic speed and density and the size and ubiquity of large goods vehicles, if I were to repeat the run, I'd prefer to be doing it on something more powerful that a B31! Perhaps still a bike of the period, but an A10 or A65 !   

STAR TWIN

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #5 on: 11 May, 2017, 06:37:18 »
Perhaps not so far these days, but I do put in 200-400 mile days on my BSAs regularly (B31, A7, A10). I don't have a modern bike and the BSAs do all I require.

TTJOHN

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #6 on: 11 May, 2017, 08:49:15 »
The last long tour I took was from Kent to Arras France then on to Borken Germany = Grabow East Germany- up to Albertslund Denmark- then on to Molndal Sweden back into Esburg Denmark to catch the overnight boat to Harwich bfore returning home to Kent total about 2500 miles, on my 1957 G9 Matchless, loaded to the gunals. I would like to do it again but I think that the age thing will not allow me to that sort of mileage again but I strongly recomend it to you younger generation just so that you can experience a different style of living.

TTJohn 8)

Cardiboy1

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #7 on: 11 May, 2017, 17:24:39 »
TT John, well done! But you didn't say how old you were when you did it! My partner thinks I'd manage the riding bit OK but says at 68 I might find small-tent camping a bit painful.
In 1968 I stayed with friends in both Arendal and Bergen, but that is no longer possible so that's two more camping spells to consider.
Since 2015 the Harwich - Esbjerg ferry has gone the way of the Norway ones, or I would definitely be using that route.
I'm still thinking of doing the run...

Cardiboy1

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Re: BSA B31 1957
« Reply #8 on: 11 May, 2017, 17:27:26 »
TT John, BTW I've just realised you posted about the Lincolnshire Wolds Run a while back. I would have come to see you on that had I known- I live in Lincoln.