BSAs success in 2 stroke engines is a very small chapter in their overall history and really started in the late 1920s when they decided to manufacture their first 2 stroke motorcycle designated the A28. As a new model it was quite clear that the head designers must have been out to lunch that day and left the job to the office junior as the resulting Model A28-A29 and A30 would have to be one of the most strangest designs ever. Conventionality went right out the window and everything was challenged from the gearbox design, to the clutch postion, to a completely bolt together frame. The more popular Bantam was to follow in 1949 but even though it was a success it wasn’t really BSAs design, and then history was to haunt BSA again with the 70cc Dandy from the late 1950s. This would have to be yet another engineering blunder that BSA would struggle to call a success having to split the engine from the gearbox to adjust the ignition points was not one of their glowing ideas, nor was the forward facing carburettor that would suck in water when raining, and lets not mention the 2 speed preselect gearbox that operates with springs sometimes (oh no personal flashbacks here of Dandy Disasters!).
So what was different with the A29 models? First the A29 Standard was a 2 speed with no front brake and either a hand or foot gear change, the A29 Deluxe was a 3 speed with a front brake and hand change only. There was the flexibility that would have been present with a bolt up frame, and then the designers decided that instead of having the clutch on the input to the gearbox they would put it on the output drive sprocket to the rear wheel. This means that all the gearbox gears, both on the 2 speed and 3 speed models are constantly being driven making smooth gear changes interesting and possibly slow. But then again motorcycle design in the late 1920s was still on an upward spiral and anything was a go, so why not try it? Other manufacturers could only laugh!
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Have a look and see what you think of the A29 Standard and A29 Deluxe. Would you want to own one?
It is 36 pages so click on the front cover below to see the complete manual.
As a 3.62M PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it.
