1971 RICKMAN METISSE WESLAKE 500cc BSA B44, rare & fast, CA road title!

Nice original patina! 1971 RICKMAN METISSE WESLAKE 500cc BSA B44 Frame number: 1934 Engine number: 98246 As Tom White writes on motocrossactionmag.com: By the late 1950s Englishmen Don and Derek Rickman had become world-class motocross riders and with good design and fabrication skills knew they could build something better. They soon introduced their Rickman Metisse (metisse is French for mongrel) chassis kit for British four-stroke engines. The Metisse pioneered such ideas as oil in the frame fiberglass bodywork narrow chassis width and nickel-plated Reynolds 530 tubing. The Rickman’s marketing plan was simple. The brothers would race the bikes on Sunday and sell them on Monday. After a winning weekend the public would literally line up to buy the Rickman machines. Possibly the ultimate Rickman Metisse was the Mark IV Weslake BSA B44 powered machine. The BSA powerplant was small originally starting out as a 250cc single-cylinder but would prove both powerful and reliable especially when the Weslake 500cc top-end was added. Top of the line chassis components like Ceriani forks and Girling shocks were used and lightweight Akront alloy rims completed the package. Rickmans weren’t just kit bikes. They were great bikes. The bike offered was found languishing in a private collection for many years. Properly stored in a dry environment with fluids drained it took very little to resurrect this rather special machine. The usual re-commissioning of brakes suspension carburetion and spark by a local marque expert was all it took. The engine has great compression starts and runs easily. The bike is fast and handles well. The previous owner built the bike up to be a fun road-going machine with the addition of a rare Flanders headlight and a taillight which has since been removed. It also sports a twin leading shoe front brake and a 19” wheel. The bike comes with a clean clear California road title! This is a great opportunity to acquire a rare and fantastic icon of the dirt in road-going trim!

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