Special Victims Unit

I can still remember opening my copy of Motor Cycle News and seeing BSA’s announcement of their motorcycle range for 1966. I was fifteen, motorcycle crazy and a big fan of motocross, which was then called “scrambles.” Jeff Smith had just won his second successive world championship on the 440cc BSA Victor, and to cash in on its investment, BSA introduced a road-going version of the Victor for 1966. It was chunky, aggressive and had a shiny, yellow-painted alloy gas tank. I wanted one so badly I could scream.

It was another ten years before I owned one. By the time I turned 16 and got my bike license, the girls I was interested in preferred scooters to motorcycles, so that’s what I rode. And then the advantages of four wheels for cherchez la femme became apparent, so I traded my Vespa for a 1955 flathead Ford. But my lusting for a BSA Victor never completely went away.
It wasn’t long before I was back into bikes, and after a couple of years commuting on a Honda 125, I decided it was time to move up, and found a used 1969 BSA Victor. Actually riding the BSA after my little Honda was a major disappointment. Where the Honda was slick, sophisticated and easy to ride, the Beezer was stark, clunky and ornery. I pretty much only had to look at the Honda and it would start, while I sweated away trying to kick the BSA into life. The Honda ran like a Swiss watch; the BSA shuddered and misfired. Its favorite trick was stalling at traffic signals just as the light turned green. Trying to kick it back into life from the saddle often resulted in little more than an angry contusion on the back of my thigh from the thoughtlessly located oil filler tube....

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