bsa starfire anybody had one ?

When you pull them apart the starfire engines are quite a nice bit of kit. The problem was they didn't like to be laboured and would knock the big ends out. They also suffered from abuse and neglect by spotty teenagers.

Liz Gill enjoying hers back in the day

lizzieonherStarfire_zpsf39226e2.jpg


You'd be better off buying a b44
 
If I were you…….:rob

…..I'd find a 441 Victor and run that instead. A good big 'un is always better than a good little 'un.

I ran a 69 Cheyne Victor for a few years. Very satisfying…when it ran.

That's it on my avatar. Along with me and a dislocated shoulder:blast. Don't ask!

Fluff.

Agreed. My first bike was a C15, and a few years later I had a B44 (441cc). The B44 had the distinct advantage (at a time when a lot of folk were riding RD250s, X7s, etc) of looking almost identical to the B25. Traffic light GPs were always entertaining. :D

Unfortunate end to the B44; one night it was stolen from Morningside (the posh part of Edinburgh), and I never saw it again. I doubt that the C15 would have ever been stolen...
 
The Triumph version of the Starfire is a real hoot. Really strong engine and sounds great. Maybe they're all different, but mine is just how I expected it to be.

Had a great run this morning and I forgot just how many folks stop and stare as you ride past

Changing gear (r/h side) has not been the issue I expected, but I'm still trying to teach my brain how to use the rear brake properly. No indicators, no mirrors (took them off) means you know that you're riding a motorcycle. :thumb
014.JPG
 
that looks like a zenith camera he has there on his back

Zenith EM2 , what a great camera for working out aperture and shutter speed. Yup I had one at the same time I had my LC 350 , both great pieces of classic engineering!
Steve
 
Star fire tanks were fiberglass and will be eaten by modern fuels, so sealing or metal replacement tank will be required


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My memories of a mate with a Starfire, bought new on the drip, is of an almost unbelievable lack of reliability - always the engine. OK he rode it hard, but boy did he regret not getting a CB72 - he couldn't get a decent trade-in on the BSA anywhere, such was their reputation. Sad, as his previous C15 was fine other than that annoying whine, but then we were witnessing the steady demise of the Brtish Motorcycle Industry.

I ran an AJS Model 14 CSR at the time - a few quirks but way better in every way. I even went two up touring to France on it - coincided with the Sorbonne riots.

I also had access to my Dad's BMW R26 - not quick, but classy for pottering around. Sadly I blew up his Greeves 2T, several times, & we ended up sticking a T90 engine in it which, along with a few Silverstone adornments, made a very quick little special, built on a shoestring. It's still out there somewhere, on SORN for the last couple of years.

Sorry OP, I digress - suggest you forget the Starfire, or Baracuda or Triumph derivatives. How about a nice Triumph twenty-one 350 - my 1965 model was a really sweet little bike & it was oiltight. Way cheaper now, although not as pretty as the 500 Daytona others have suggested.
 
My memories of a mate with a Starfire, bought new on the drip, is of an almost unbelievable lack of reliability - always the engine. OK he rode it hard, but boy did he regret not getting a CB72 - he couldn't get a decent trade-in on the BSA anywhere, such was their reputation. Sad, as his previous C15 was fine other than that annoying whine, but then we were witnessing the steady demise of the Brtish Motorcycle Industry.

I ran an AJS Model 14 CSR at the time - a few quirks but way better in every way. I even went two up touring to France on it - coincided with the Sorbonne riots.

I also had access to my Dad's BMW R26 - not quick, but classy for pottering around. Sadly I blew up his Greeves 2T, several times, & we ended up sticking a T90 engine in it which, along with a few Silverstone adornments, made a very quick little special, built on a shoestring. It's still out there somewhere, on SORN for the last couple of years.

Sorry OP, I digress - suggest you forget the Starfire, or Baracuda or Triumph derivatives. How about a nice Triumph twenty-one 350 - my 1965 model was a really sweet little bike & it was oiltight. Way cheaper now, although not as pretty as the 500 Daytona others have suggested.

I had a Gold Star B25 Bsa , Triumph also used the same 250 engine, i knocked the big end out of it. Had a Triumph 500 Daytona, a sweet peach of an engine, until it dropped a valve, i had a Bsa A 7, the kickstart snapped off in Matlock Bath one Sunday, then it completely shat itself on the way home , by snapping the crank. My Norton comando grenaded itself so badly, it separated the barrel's from the crankcases. Can you see a pattern emerging. Saying that, i still love Brit bikes because they get under your skin that way. All the best with your choice. :beerjug:
 
Shed n Buried had a Starfire in powder blue. It looked a nice bike in a plain 1960s sort of way.
 


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