General Comments

71 BSA Victor 500-Trail (B-50T) discussion forum:


General Comments

General Comments 
Peter Hoffman said 2004-11-18 07:09 
 
The BSA B-50T is a bike that instills a love/hate relationship in the owner. I bought mine as my first bike in 1973 when I was 16 and a junior in high school. I sold it after graduation in the summer of 1975 to buy an RD-350 and regretted it immediately. It took a couple of years of bugging the new owner but I was able to eventually buy it back and I still have it today! I have owned the same bike about 28 out of 31 years... (although it is a basket case right now awaiting a restoration).

For me, starting a B-50T always ranged from difficult to impossible. If it was cold then I had a chance. If it was warm or hot the best thing to do was to find something else to do until it was cold.

Anyway, to start one carefully push the kickstarter through until it comes up on compression. Push a little further and right after top dead center it will feel as if the kicker has "fallen into a notch". Stop right there and let the kicker return to the top!

Then tickle the carb until a dribble of gas runs out. KEEPING THE THROTTLE CLOSED jump up until your leg is straight (but not locked unless you want to maybe break it if you get a kickback!) and kick on the starter with all your weight. At the time I weighed about 130 so that wasn´t saying a whole lot!

If you open the throttle while kicking it is likely to kick you back. I used to wear paratrooper boots since they had thicker soles and a steel shank. Kickbacks permanently creased the sole of my right boot!

IF it starts RESIST the temptation to twist the throttle until it is actually idling, or has at least continued to run for about five seconds. Once it has settled down to a steady thump-thump you can risk touching the throttle. The longer you can hold off, the greater your chance it won´t cough and die when the throttle is opened.

Once it is running it is a BLAST to ride! It makes a magnificent noise and yanking the throttle open can result in a real kick in the pants if done at just the right moment. The handling is generally good and the ground clearance is excellent.

Just remember, it is a pretty heavy bike so you have to plan ahead and use the throttle carefully to power through and over things.

I´d like to hear from from any other B-50T owners out there so please feel free to write to me. My address is obscured here to foil spammer´s address harvesting robots but I hope you will figure it out. My address is at PeterHoltHoffman(_a_t_)yahoo.com.
 
 
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