BSA Firebird Scrambler
Last original street scrambler from BSA
May/June, 2006
By Robert Smith
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Conceived in 1968 as a dual-sport scrambler, the Firebird had morphed into a standard road bike by 1970. It was dropped from BSA's lineup in 1972.
Photo by Robert Smith
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Years produced: 1968-71
Total production: Unknown
Claimed power: 52hp @ 7,000rpm
Top speed: 105mph (est.)
Engine type: 654cc air-cooled parallel twin
Weight (dry): 185kg (408lb)
Price Then: $1,440
Price Now: $3,500-$5,500
MPG: 35-45
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Dual-sport bikes are hardly new. By some accounts, BSA launched the category in 1965 with its offroad-styled 500cc A50 Wasp and 650cc A65 Hornet. Three years later, the company introduced the Firebird Scrambler, its latest — and arguably best — variation on the theme. Trouble is, they forgot to market it, and the Firebird stalled.
Every old motorcycle has some history: sometimes it’s benign, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the story is written in service notes, title documents and repair bills. Sometimes it’s oral, passed on from owner to owner — although many sellers seem to prefer saying as little as possible!
Then there are the stories told in the metal: the patina of worn paint from leathers rubbing on a gas tank; rounded-off nuts attacked by mis-sized wrenches; telltale boogers of silicone oozing from a hastily fitted primary cover. All these speak to the past indignities suffered by our old iron.
Humble beginnings
Take Gary Carpenter’s 1970 BSA, for example. (I should confess up front that I’m part of its history, because I sold it to him.) I first saw the bike advertised in the local newspaper as a 1969 BSA Lightning “basket case.” Checking the bike’s serial numbers, I could tell it was a 1970 model but with a 1972 engine in place.
The original engine was also part of the package, and a quick look at the pieces told the story. Punched in the back of the crankcase and primary was a three-finger-sized hole, certainly the result of a snapped drive chain. Likely, then, the old Beezer hadn’t enjoyed the most fastidious maintenance program. A good sprinkling of rust told of lengthy outside storage, and the paint told another tale: The original white headlight ears had been brushed black to tie in with the hand-painted Lightning gas tank.
So there was the probable story: A broken chain had trashed the engine, and the previous owner had bought a 1972 Lightning parts bike and swapped out the engine. The twist in the tale? He must have fitted the Lightning’s gas tank, too, because the frame number prefix revealed the bike’s true personality — A65FS — the designation for a Firebird Scrambler.
Birth of the ‘Bird
The A65 designation means the Forgotten Firebird was built around BSA’s unit-construction twin-cylinder 650cc engine introduced in 1962. The engine’s “square” dimensions of 75mm bore and 74mm stroke were housed in smooth, rounded casings soon to become known as the “power egg.” BSA steadily increased the performance of the new 650 from around 34hp to a claimed 52hp in the twin-carburetor Lightning Clubman of 1966. A new, finned rocker cover was introduced in 1967, and this essentially became the Firebird’s power plant.
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