BSA GP Victor vintage pre 65 classic motocross B44

Description

For sale  BSA GP VICTOR Engine and frame number are the same as left Factory.

Frame B44 128 Engine B44 161

not to be confused with the victor 441 road bike or victor enduro these motorcycle. where British built competition scrambler  built in 1966 and 1967. they were factory replicas of a machine used by Jeff Smith to win the World 500cc Moto-Cross Championship in 1964 and 1965.

In all only 468 GPs were built over the period summer 1965 to autumn 1966. Over a third of the bikes went to continental Europe and about a hundred to the Americas. The GP victor register has list of surviving bikes?ˆ™.

http://www. gpvictor. com/the-register. html

This bike has been modified with a nickel plated frame now painted black; it is believed to have been built by Ken Sprayson. The bike was supplied to Comerfords and road registered in October 1965. The bike has a larger oil tank fitted  which was a trade mark of Jock Wilson who worked at comerfords at that time I believe the bike could have had some competition department use  and was then supplied to comerfords to use by their trials team. Trials in 1965 where more like enduro events today.

The bike has a had an engine rebuild with many new parts including piston and rings new cam fowlers and cam. the head has been gas fowled and the valve train gear lightened.

Also fitted. with. arzocchi yokes . P forks. Cz type front wheel from Terry Weedy. New headstock bearings. Brand new Electrex competition Ignition fitted . tyres . Wheels rebuilt with new spokes. new exhaust. seat cover cables etc. . Going well has had 30 minute running from rebuild. Buyer collects I now live in Cavan Ireland but can leave the bike at Spence Racing in Belfast for collection.

information from the Web.

1966

B44 VICTOR GRAND PRIX

B44

101

B44

101

441

B44 VICTOR ENDURO

B44E

101

B44E

101

441

B44 VICTOR ROADSTER

B44R

101

B44R

101

441

Model

Engine prefix

Engine sequence

Frame prefix

Frame sequence

CC

 

The above list shows bikes released to the public in 1966 note that the list starts at engine number 101. The first B44 bike manufactured in 1965 was the GP Victor 101 which BSA used this bike for shows. to promote the GP Victor to public. The GP victors where to be released to the Public in January 1966. Bike 101 was fitted with a number of engines to show new updates the last engine being being an enduro engine.  B44. prefix followed by number GP Victor. B44E . A  enduro bikes. B44R. S. . SS. are road bikes. Many of the enduro bikes were and have been converted to scrambles bikes.

Some of the 1965 production bikes where used for shows or by the competition department to modify for their factory team. The production Grand Prix was a snap shot of a works bike. It's a pretty accurate copy; it lacks some of the weight saving parts the works bikes used and has things like standard wheel rims - the works bikes used ones made in high tensile steel. And the motors weren't gas flowed and tweaked. Smith seems disappointed that in late '65 he only got top ten finishes on a production GP in world championship events (having already secured the championship).

1965 BSA management had told Smith to ride production bike to help promote sales of the GP Victor to be realised in 1966. Such achievements tell you that not only was Smith a great rider but that the GP Victor machine wasn't far off a works bike - Smith's major complaint was the weight.

 Agreed. there are many myths. That's why I wrote to Sprayson for some first-hand information. In his letter to me in March 2010 he said that he made 6 to 8 frames. each one an improvement on the last with Brian Martins (BSA Management) requirement that the look should not deviate significantly from the production Victor. He sent me a picture of the last frame he made for Smith. (last Photo)which to all intent and purpose is a B50mx. This rather implies that Smith didn't ride production Victors after '65 but BSA wanted it to look like he was. . Ken Sprayson was contacted in 1965 to build the frames and was instructed to keep them as close to the original production frames as possible.

 

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