Classicrendezvous turned up when I was searching for information on the BSA Tour of Britain Sports. CR has two pages that look to be the same as those in the 1958 BSA catalogue.
As veteran British cyclists will know, there were several makes of colourful factory-built lightweights around in the budget market at that time, such as Raleigh, Phillips, and Dawes. The ToB seemed a good choice because of its smart black and ivory livery, and reasonable specification. Anyway, my first bike had been an unidentified used BSA , but okay. It had a blue frame with grey panels, white fenders, steel centrepull brakes, 26x 1 1/4in wheels, and a BSA 3 speed hub gear, if there is an expert here who could name it.
Although by '58 the ToB was technically a Raleigh, it would have been pleasant to think of it being built a few miles up the road by BSA at Small Heath, and not in foreign Nottingham. As recorded by CR, Raleigh took over BSA bicycles in 1957, so that was that.
In its early years my ToB had its Cyclo Benelux mk7 gear, BSA pedals and the heavy but magnificent 'garter reflector' replaced by me for more serviceable items. Alloy wheels, pedals, and rear mech are fitted just now, but the original elegant wheels - Dunlop hp rims, Resilion hubs, are still around. So is the clunky (but effective) Benelux super 60 gear.Changing the 2 1/2in GB extension for a 4in one seemed a good idea at the time. There might be some pictures here, if the link works:
http://www.flickr.com/
Apologies for not putting the chrome wheels and gear back on for the pictures.
Colouring of the bike on the catalogue cover is more accurate than on the inside page. For those with an old dial-up connection, beware the 2mb+ size of the original photo. The map is curious. It seems to be Ordnance Survey 1 inch to the Mile sheet 60, Popular (4th) Series, from the 1930s. But it has the postwar National Grid at one kilometer intervals, a feature added to the New Popular (6th) Series, and the map runs East into the sheet 61 area. What I'm more certain about is that I have ridden my machine right across the fine stretch of country shown. The pictures were taken at the spot covered by the map being shared by the movie stars on the hill!
Only other versions of the ToB that I have seen were a blue one in a shop window early 1958, new but rather dated in style - clearly a thoroughbred BSA, and a orange-red more recent one years later which looked otherwise.
Hope this interests somebody. Sorry it's rather long. BTW I have circa 1958 catalogues for Raleigh, Dawes, and Phillips. Also, Dawes 1970 and 1981.
Richard Coy Powys Wales
Costly dial-up internet connection. No pictures except by arrangement, please.