Hi all, I am in NZ I have just bought a decrepid 28' BSA to eventually do up. As a kid, my 1st bike was a second-hand 3/4 frame 26' BSA Starflyer which is still the best present I ever had.

Roller Skates WW1 MILITARY HIRE VIDEOS MAGAZINE: RideVintage.com FACEBOOK SOLD COLIN'S NEW BOOK! VINTAGE BIKES FOR SALE 12 RARE AMERICAN BICYCLES FOR SALE. Return to Content. BSA frame serial numbers dating. © 2017 The Online Bicycle Museum. All Rights Reserved. Vintage BSA Motorcycle Engine & Frame Serial Numbers Decoding.

At age 11 I broke the rear axle, so bought a spare from my local bike shop and pulled apart the SA 3 speed hub. Ball bearings everywhere, but I got it all back together again and it worked for years until I cracked the frame at the head tube because I was a large 70 kg teenager! I also owned a.308 BSA Majestic Featherweight rifle for a while. Anyway, I bought this bicycle, which I guess is about 1920.

It has a DreiGang Torpedo toptube shifter which is broken, and an unusual hub which I assume is the same brand. It has a 40 spoke rear wheel and 32 spoke front wheel.

Both rims are rusted through so they have to go. I dont know whether the hub is usuable or worn. The hub has a coaster brake and 2 oil filler thingies, both with their little lids still attached. The frame serial number is 5765, only 4 digits, but I cannot find out anything about early BSA serial numbers.

The mudguards are different - the front semi-circular section with a red pinstripe, the rear a more flattened section, plain black. At first I thought the handle bar to be a later type, but it is quite old with the same diameter throughout. I thought about converting to modern 700 wheels and a Shimano Nexus 8 speed hub, but this is a bit 'off' really. So, can anyone help me date this bike, offer suggestions for doing it up or otherwise?

I think it is too rusty to use unrestored, and will probably paint it black and get some new BSA transfers. Where the Hell can I get 40 hole and 32 hole 28' rims from? All help appreciated, Al, NZ. Jeeze mate you got a real mission there,it sure must be a labour of love for you,I spose first things first-strip it apart then re-evaluate,I would get frame blasted then prob powdercoated,try to locate a donor bike if poss,esp for the wheels,(you,d be suprised what you can find at the local tip)dont forget the usual stuff--clean-lube -grease-wax-polish etc etc, and rem-abcd bay can be your friend! Good luck, thats my 2 cents worth, there,s many expert ppl in here that will help you I wish you all the best!

The older Fichtel & Sachs 'torpedo' three speed hubs were well regarded and the older ones were generally considered indestructible. If that's what you have (as seems likely), you should probably keep it.

But you could sell it on ebay. I don't know if the early ones have a date code, but the later ones certainly did; so you may find the bike's date through that route. There are good internet sources on these hubs, by the way; but I always have trouble finding them since they are in German.

Here's a couple: You can even get replacement parts: What size are the wheels? 28' is not specific enough; read. I have found 40-hole new-old-stock Dunlop-style 28' rims, in Auckland, NZ. No 32 hole rims though. I have managed to find a good contact in Germany via German-language websites who is a guru on old bikes and may be able to help identify the Dreigang Torpedo hub (via the velo-classic site recommended by rhm in the post above - thanks).

I just sent an email in English to what looked like the 'send message' link on the website, and I struck it lucky. I will probably get around the 32-spoke problem by having the 32 spoke old front hub laced up to a 40 rim, with care taken to miss out 8 spokes in a symmetrical manner.

Any thoughts about this? I think it will be fine. When I clean the rear hub I will take some decent photos and hopefully find some serial numbers/dates stamped on the hub casing.

Here are a couple of shots of the Hub cleaned up. It reads 38 P '3 Speed' Torpedo System Sachs D.R.P. Made in Germany I can't disassemble it yet. On the coaster brake side (lever to stay is removed) there is a large cone which is also like half of a dog clutch, which I removed and replaced. Iside, there is a large race of ball-bearings, which unlike Sturmeys, are held in a cage and don't fall out all over the floor.

On the sprocket side, I can't get it undone yet - lack of cycle tools. It is unusual - the sprocket, well-worn, looks thick at its inner diameter and I don't think will be replaceable unless I can get parts from Germany. It does not have a large wire clip holding the sprocket on: the outer ring with the square notch appears to retain it. It doesn't have a thread so I think the key is to undo the inner cone. If my local bike shop can undo it, I will find out. I have the beast mostly apart.

The cone unthreads in a normal direction (anti-C/wise), the the sprocket/outer toothed assembly ('annulus' in epicyclic jargon) comes off and the notched lock-ring unwinds with an opposite thread. The sprocket has three lugs, same inner diameter as a modern Sachs one (in NZ these hubs are used by posties because of the drum brakes), but the catch is, the old sprocket lugs are square-edged, not semi-circles like a modern Sachs, or Sturmey, etc. So I have to ask my very helpful German contact, who has already located a new-old-stock lever for the broken shifter, if he can find an appropriate sprocket.

The modern round-lugged version fits like a glove but has play in rotation, so will flog itself if used in pedalling/braking pics to follow for those other anoraks who may be interested.

Photo by Gary Phelps 1933 Indian Four Claimed power: 30hp (est.) Top speed: 75mph (est.) Engine: 1,266cc (77.21ci) air-cooled inline four Weight: 495lb (225kg) Fuel capacity: 4.6gal (17.4ltr) Price then: $395 Price now: $20,000 - $60,000 In the early days of cars, the Ford Model T was appreciated as an economical workhorse, a simple automobile with a basic four-cylinder engine. Certainly there were bigger and more powerful engines in far sexier cars, such as the impressive V-12 in the 1916 Packard Twin Six. Dlc Going East Keygen Crack. The situation was much the same with classic American motorcycle manufacturers. Stout and sturdy single- and twin-cylinder engines in numerous makes of two wheelers could be likened to Ford’s humble four-banger. However, while the four was at the bottom of the ladder in the land of automobiles, a four-cylinder engine in a motorcycle was the pinnacle of power in the late teens — and for the two decades that followed. A four-cylinder motorcycle like Gary Phelps' 1933 Indian Four was a luxury item for a private owner, as they were usually much more expensive than their single- and twin-cylinder counterparts. Generally, only the wealthy or police forces — where the machines were lauded for their power and ease of handling — were readily able to afford and operate four-cylinder bikes.

There were other builders of four-cylinder bikes around the world, although not all had their cylinders inline. Britain’s Ariel made a square four, while Brough Superior constructed an experimental “stacked” flat-four (it had pairs of opposed cylinders, one on top of the other) and Matchless a V-four. Other fours included the Vauxhall inline four, the Wilkinson inline four and the Wooler flat four.

Of all the British concerns, only Ariel’s Square Four (built from 1931 to 1959) had any real success. On the Continent, FN and Nimbus sold inline fours, as well.

The Indian Four was built by the Springfield, Mass., company from 1927 to 1942. The example we’re featuring is a 1933 Indian Four, commonly known as a Model 403, and it currently resides with Gary Phelps in Ventura, Calif. Tracing the roots of the Indian Four reveals ties to two earlier American builders of four-cylinder motorcycles — Henderson and Ace.

The Henderson Four In 1911, designer William G. Henderson built an inline four-cylinder motorcycle and marketed the machine together with his brother Tom. Will was the engineering guru, while Tom had a mind for the financial side of the operation. In 1917, the Hendersons sold the business to bicycle magnate Ignaz Schwinn. Four-cylinder Hendersons continued to be built under Schwinn until 1931, when Schwinn abruptly pulled the plug on all motorcycle production to focus solely on bicycles. Meanwhile, the Henderson brothers worked with Schwinn for roughly two years before embarking on the design and production of another four-cylinder machine, which they marketed under the brand name Ace. As Jerry Hatfield explains in his Illustrated Indian Motorcycle Buyer’s Guide, Will and Tom managed the Ace company from 1919 until 1922, the year Will died in a crash while test-riding the new Sporting Solo Ace model.

Will’s death marked the beginning of the end for Ace. Although the brand was sold twice in the mid-1920s and attempts were made to turn a profit, in 1927 Indian purchased the rights to the Ace name and the tooling for the four-cylinder motorcycle.

Under Indian’s ownership, the four became simply the Indian Ace. According to noted motorcycle historian Harry Sucher in his book Inside American Motorcycling, “[In 1927] at Indian, the Indian Ace was being face lifted in consultation with Arthur Lemon, with improvements to the original 1919 Ace engine and an integration of its cycle parts with the current Scout as a rationalization of production.” Lemon was an engineer who worked with Will at Henderson, and who came to Ace in 1923, eventually moving over to Indian.

A 1927 Ace brochure clearly indicates the Indian Motorcycle Company was “The New Home of the Ace.” It also lists 18 improvements to the four-cylinder machine, such as a new force-fed oil system to ensure better engine lubrication, new alloy pistons, a three-bearing camshaft and new foot control pedals. The tank, fenders, engine and fork of the Ace were finished in “Rolls-Royce” blue, complete with a gold stripe. For 1928, the Indian Ace was finished in the well-known Indian red paint, but no more significant changes were made until 1929, when the Ace name was dropped and the machine became simply the Model 401 Indian Four.

Indian now used their leaf spring fork, but kept the Ace-designed single front downtube frame for most of the year before introducing a new double downtube chassis in the Model 402. The 402 featured a new five-bearing engine, an improvement over the Ace’s three-bearing unit. Casio Fx 7000g Manual Español more.

With the exception of a new rear brake in 1931, all late 1929 to 1931 Fours are similar in specification, according to author Hatfield. In 1932, the Model 403 Indian debuted. The height of the frame at the neck had been changed. The chassis became taller, a longer front fork was added, and the gas tank was removed from between the upper frame rails and replaced with a saddle-tank design. Where the pre-1932 Fours look lean, lithe and compact, these updated machines have a spindly, almost leggy appearance about them. Minor changes were made from 1932 to 1934, and Gary’s Model 403 falls right in the middle year.

Indian made only 1,667 motorcycles in 1933, an all-time low production number for the company. Priced at $395 at the height of the Depression, the Four was a luxury very few could afford. Details of the Indian Four Indian’s 1933 sales brochure boasted: “For smoothness, extreme flexibility and all-around excellence of performance, there is no equal to the 1933 Indian Four. This Aristocrat of motorcycles emerges from the Indian plant with many improvements and new features.” Those modifications included a revised intake manifold, wider fins on the cylinders, new pistons, and altered first and second gear transmission ratios, allowing for quicker starts. Interestingly, the factory literature contains some confusing technical references.

In the Model 403 descriptive paragraph in the 1933 sales brochure, the 403 is noted as having magneto ignition with an Auto-Lite generator as standard equipment, or battery ignition with an Auto-Lite distributor “in a unit with the generator” as an option. On the very next page under model specifications, it states just the reverse. Authority Hatfield says battery ignition was standard and magneto was optional. All the internal components of Indian’s four-cylinder engine, including the five main bearing crank, camshaft, clutch and transmission gears are tucked into the upper crankcase. The crank, cam, magneto and oil pump gears are located at the front of the unit and are covered by a pressed metal plate. The bottom half of the engine is a finned alloy casting that bolts to the upper case — similar to an automotive oil pan — but it does not provide any structural rigidity to the engine.

The four cylinders are separate, but the “F” cylinder head is a single unit with inlet over exhaust valve arrangement. Indian switched the valve arrangement to exhaust over inlet in the 1936 and 1937 Fours, which led to the term “Upside Down Four.” The upside down design was not popular with fans of the Four, but Indian kept the pattern for two years. In 1938, Indian redesigned the engine, and one of the changes was casting the cylinders in pairs.

“The result was a considerable improvement, and the entire motorcycle was a classic,” writes Hatfield, adding, “Yet hindsight tells us that in either 1936 or 1938 Indian would have been wiser to have canceled the Four and spent the engineering time and money on a new overhead-valve twin to go head-to-head with the Harley-Davidson 61 OHV.” Harley-Davidson was of course Indian’s major competition in the U.S., and Indian would ultimately lose the race to Harley, ceasing motorcycle production entirely in 1953. Indian made its last significant changes to the 1940 model, when the company added fully skirted front and rear fenders. In 1941, Indian also made available a small wheel and fat tire combination. Indian halted Four production in 1942, and although the company experimented with four-cylinder designs during the war years and immediately afterwards, a production Four was never again offered. Gary’s Indian Four Gary Phelps’ dad, Bud, bought our feature Model 403 in 1991 as part of a two-bike package deal that included the Four and a 1921 Indian Power Plus. Bud enjoyed riding the Four, but eventually he traded it to David Hansen, owner of The Shop in Ventura, Calif., for a. The Indian Four, however, never left Gary’s garage.

Gary and David have a unique ownership arrangement; David owns the motorcycle but doesn’t have to store it, and Gary is allowed to wrench, ride and essentially do with it as he pleases — except sell it, of course. As purchased, the Indian Four had long ago been painted yellow over the original black with absolutely no preparation, and the paint covered everything, from the frame to the distributor to many of the nuts and bolts.

The machine had matching numbers, with DCC 140 on the engine and 433 140 on the frame, making it an early 1933 model, as Indian started serial numbers at 101. The Four ran very well when purchased, and over time Gary and Bud corrected various flaws in the bike. When the engine came out to get a new clutch, they restored the frame and other components, spraying them black. The last vestiges of yellow paint finally yielded earlier this year, when Gary swapped the butchered original rear hub with a much better replacement item, and cadmium plated a few remaining fasteners and pieces, such as the rear brake rod, clutch rod and generator bracket. Gary fires up the Four once or twice a month, taking two kicks to prime and one to fire, and then enjoys a 10 to 20-mile ride. At idle, the motorcycle rocks gently back and forth, and blipping the throttle produces a pronounced side-to-side motion. But once underway, Gary says the ride is one of the smoothest he’s ever experienced.

That’s an essential part of the charm of Indian’s inline four, in its day quite a luxury item. Unlike the humble Model T automobile, which provided only the bare essentials of transportation, the Indian Four supplied its owner smooth, luxurious power, the kind associated with the finest motorcars. And that’s fitting, of course, because it was truly one of the finest luxury motorcycles of its — or any — time.

MC Info Resources •. 8/21/2013 10:46:51 AM My uncle had two of the Indian 4's, a Scout and a Chief with a side car during his riding years. I saw one photo before he died, of his mother screaming in his 'elevated' side car. He said she never forgave him for that scary ride and never set foot in the car again. He worked in a defense plant in Terre Haute Indiana during the war, and he, along with many of his buddies at the plant, would take off towards Indianapolis after their Midnight shift ended. As the sun came up they headed back to Terre Haute for a little rest and a new day.

His riding days ended when he had to 'lay down' the Scout at speed losing a large part of his right heel and ankle in the process. He loved telling stories about his riding days every time I rolled up on my HD or the Norton 850. Motorcycle Classics is America's premier magazine for collectors and enthusiasts, dreamers and restorers, newcomers and life long motorheads who love the sound and the beauty of classic bikes. Every issue delivers exciting and evocative articles and photographs of the most brilliant, unusual and popular motorcycles ever made! Save Even More Money with our RALLY-RATE plan!

Pay now with a credit card and take advantage of our RALLY-RATE automatic renewal savings plan. You save an additional $4.95 and get 6 issues of Motorcycle Classics for only $24.95 (USA only). Or, Bill Me Later and I'll pay just $29.95 for a one year subscription!