Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127740
BSA methanol conversion guardians of the "true faith" as something of a cheat. Not everyone is a devout follower of the Metisse faith, thankfully. There is always some individual who likes to' pit himself against the odds and get a lellS-favored mount into the thick of the action. One such gent is Alan Walker, and Walker has a penchant for the BSA single, once the standard-bearer for the sadly defunct Birmingham factory. Jeff Smith, of course, won two (Left) With the exception of the slightly longer suspension travel flttad to the machine on the right, the atock appearance of Alan Walker's BSA B50 motocrossars give little warning of the extra horsepower lurking Inside their methanol-burnlng englnas. (Below) A closer look reveals soma of W8Iker's handiwork. Note the twln-plug cylinder head which produces an ample amount of anergy to light the alcoholic Intake charge. The basepl8te separating the barrel from the cases provides extra clearance for an italian-made platon with a allghtly Iowar wrist-pin location. • • By John Dickinson he Classic racing scene in Britain is supremely healthy in all areas of motorcycle sport. There has been a period of sustained growth in virtually all disciplines road racing, trials and scrambling, and although the growth aspect is now leveling off, none of the ground gained is being lost as a newly converted hard core of enthusiasts keeps the old wheels turning. Classic motocross (scrambles) and road racing have, of course, seen a rash of "replica" machines flooding the marketplace, and thus the paddock. Hence, instead of a full lineup of genuine old war-horses, you are much more likely to be watching a grid full of 1995 model ureplicas." The thing to have in pre-'61 scrambling is, of course, a Metisse. This chassis was, as everyone knows, the brainchild of Don and Derek Rickman, and although they themselves no longer manufacture the fabled frames, just about everyone else with access to an armful of steel tubes, a pipe-bender and welding gear does! And into the 1995 Metisse chassis is fitted either a G85CS Matchless motor (getting rare now) or, more probably, a Triumph twin - the bigger the capacity, the better. In the good-old days, a 500cc engine was the norm. These days a 650 - or even 750 - is the answer. And an increasingly popular option is to install an ex-speedway or grass-track Jawa motor - seen by T (Left) The transmission reveels no clue to the fact that It Is a th..... speed. Walker ssys that with the motor's available spread of power,low gear Is not n~. World Championships on BSAs - in 1964 and '65 - but outside the top echelon of the sport- i.e., at the clubman level - the Beesas were often overshadowed by other marques such as Metisse, CZ and even Greeves - that valiant but tiny British factory. Strangely, BSAs probably enjoyed more success in the '70s after they evolved into CCMs. But Walker's interest is with genuine, unit-construction BSAs. He is not worried about capacity - 250, 350, 440 or 500 - it is all the same to this tuner, but he does have a penchant for a particular fuel: methanol. So what about these engines? "I am happy to build gasoline or methanol motors," Walker said. "(But) the beauty of methanol is that it produces a dramatic increase in power