Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Bsa bulletin board A50/A65 Frame Number Pad

When was the raised number pad added to the motor mount on the A50/A65 frame, or was it there from the start?

Thanks
Randy

1967,

Prior to that it was stamped in the same place but not on a raised flat pad (1966 Only I think) then prior to that it was on the headstock I believe.

pad added for the 1969 production year .
at the same time as the ... 2 letter system , for month and year
in this example
1st. C is march
2nd. C is 69

the lower example is a 68 ..
A65L is a lightning
last letter after A65L , the B ... is for 1968

The question was "When was the raised number pad added to the motor mount on the A50/A65 frame".

i read the question twice to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong ., looks like I needed to read it a 3rd time .

yes 67 , what Allan said .

a 66 frame ( last year without a "year letter" ) and no pad

not a great pic of a 67 ( with frame pad )

Slightly better picture of a 67 frame pad
top line reads A65TA ... the last "A" ( after the T ) is for 67
i believe the first use of a year stamp "the A" , coincides with the introduction of the frame pad

My A65 has a really early frame from a 1962 A65 Star, the frame number is stamped on the head-stock and uses a full loop rear frame member.

The parts list for 1962 to 1965 shows frames with the full loop, whereas the 1966 and onward parts list shows only frames with a part loop.

It looks like 1965 to 1966 was a cross over year to the new frame, but whether or not the head-stock frame stamping stopped in 1965 and moved to using the later pad in 1966 together with the part loop frame is anyone's guess.

Would be good to find someone with a 1965 or earlier frame to confirm where their frame stamping s are.

My 65 has the open rear loop and it doesn't have the pad (and an a50 number)

I'm told a late 65 due to a crossover on the Monoblocs. The same veteran of years of britbike said the central winged fuel cap was changed for 1 year only to open towards the rubber plug in the tank where earlier it hit and damaged the paint then moved to the right in 66

So it looks like the frame stamping on the head-stock started in 1962 until the crossover year in 1965. In 1966 there was a new rounded pad next to the left-hand front engine mount and in 1967 this changed again by using a flat face pad in the same location.

Thank you for the help. The reason I asked is I was looking at a frame the other day and it had the number stamped on the engine mount without the pad like on a 66 but had an A in the number like a 67. The number was barely readable but looked original. serial was in the 1600s so not likely an early 67.

1600 is an early model year number. In '67 frame numbers went into the 18,000's.

1967 was the first year of the "A,B,C,..." year listing with the serial number.
BSA was the first to use it, Triumph adopted it the next year, 1968.

Indeed, 65 models were still on the headstock, 66 was on the front lug but 67 had the raised pad as highlighted in Quintens post.

The open/closed loop frames were both in use at the same time at one point. Like the longer and shorter swing arms, the open loop frames were known as the sports frames, lightnings had this frame for example as did other variants in the sports class. Later the closed loop frame stopped appearing in production, along with it ceased the “late A10 style” front and rear brake with cross over shaft, the huge side covers and as far as I know the dropped yoke setup stopped being part of production except on the clubman models (where they were likely using parts up), as went the deep valance mudguards and everything which resembled the early Star and (Thunderbolt Rocket or) Rocket modes (model name depending on where on the globe you are).