1949 BSA C11 – $8,200 ono

1949 BSA C11 for sale

SELLER SAYS: Excellent condition. Rebuilt including new tyres, new clutch, clutch bearings and clutch plate, new battery, new rear sprocket and wheel bearings, side and centre-stand plus more. Comes with some spares and parts book. Has been totally rewired. Looks and runs excellent. Won’t disappoint. Contact Glenn on 0438 862 277 (Mullaloo, Perth WA).

EDITOR TERLICK SAYS: Motorcycles of today are amazing pieces of technology, aren’t they? Their performance, their economy, their reliability – just incredible. And yet, it’s hard to imagine any of today’s bikes — even low-stress little commuters that people ride to work — still doing the business 75 years from now. But that’s what we have here. A bike that has survived the years, lots of them, and is still capable of taking you to work or down the shops more than three-quarters of a century after it rolled out of the BSA factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. Reliable as an axe and built with old-tech that was designed to last forever and a day, I guess it’s no surprise that there are still plenty of post-war (and more than a few pre-war) BSAs rolling around the streets of the world. The C11 was typical of its era – a dependable 250cc commuter bike built to do its job without fuss. Apparently Steve McQueen rode a C11 for some time, a fact that immediately gives the bike some style cred. But styling was a secondary consideration in the post-war era, a fact which generated bikes that had a form dictated entirely by function. Fast-forward more than 75 years and the styling is captivating. The speedo looks like an antique watch because, frankly, that’s what it is. The bike would look right at home in a museum, gathering dust and cobwebs. What a delight that it’s doing no such thing!