Welcome.
Benvenuto.
Bienvenido.
Bienvenue.
To BSA "Otter".Com...
The "BSA Otter", 2025 News page.
And Best Wishes for the New year from the BSA Otter team...
03/01/2025...
I hope 2025 is a better year for me... having seemingly lost most of 2024 to my illnes has not helped with any progress of the bike builds at the workshop, and being thirty miles from me, and me struggling to drive does not help...
But enough of me moaning we will have a new page for that coming up, we will call it "The Moaning Line" then you can all join in...
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After a mainly BSA year last year with a bit of Sun thrown in, the same again this year with several new BSA models coming to light...and write ups on theses too...
Brother Rich is working when he has time on the BSA Catalina Goldie 350 but he has his health problems too, and the bike will now not be ready for Telford show...
I will be doing more with the cycling side of the family, and filming events... Son Ross and his son (my Grandson) George are now well into Mountain Bike trail riding, and Lee will join in with some of the Meteor Works gravel bikes I am sure... I said to young George it is good training for when he wants to take the step up to the trials bikes...
I hope more of the young generation are thinking the same...
I will be doing a page on the Classic Trials Sidecar scene on the sixties when I have time, with some live input I hope.
So lets look forward with a positive eye on 2025...
11/06/2025...
First of the new Faber Mk 4 frames from Howard this year with modified swinging arm box for better footrest position, and engine mountings wider for adjustment... will be on their Faber Page...
Photo Courtesy Faber Frames...2025...
07/06/2025...
Check out the Britannia Motorcycles BSA frame conversion page if you want a bargin BSA B25 trials bike with little use...and its in the UK. on ebay.
04/06/2025...
Offroad Archive...
Video Credited...
Over the coming months we will be taking a look at many of the photos and articles in the "Offroad Review Series"
And the later unpublished photos from the ...
"Offroad Archive"...All thanks to Deryk Wylde.
Take a look at the Classic Offroad Review page for a start of format...
02/06/2025...
A message from Deryk Wylde...
Today I have had a discussion with my very good friend Charlie Prescott - I have arranged to send the rest of my Offroad Archive and the supporting copies of the magazines and books that I created back in the day to him so that he can add far more detail to his Offroad Archive page on his website at www.bsaotter.com.
I have security copies of the entire archive which are going to Richard Percival as guardian, so that we can ensure that my entire archive remains solely in the control of John Moffat, Charlie Prescott and Richard Percival - and will always be available for enthusiasts FREE OF ALL CHARGES.
Enjoy . . . . . . . .Charlie> So watch the Offroad Archive pages in the coming days for New Content...I will let you know when this is added to the pages... Most Justyn Norek trials test pages have been updated this wekend... for you...
17/04/2025...
Just reflecting on what I have helped to achieve with my life...
Well this was one, helping to give Honda the best advert they ever had for their two (and even three) wheeled bikes...
Keep doing what you do best Guys...teaching the World...
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14/04/2025...
Free-Bee for you if you own a bike (Cycle)...
Courtesy Lee Prescott...Meteor-Works...
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09/05/2025...
Dan Shorey (Banbury Dan) 1938-2025...
Photo Courtesy ttracepics.com...
Come on kid we’r late…
With a knock on the door at the farm house, or later a ring on the bell at the bungalow… as the door was opened after clearing his throat a few times as he did, the first words from Dan would be “come on kid we’r late”. Another cold frosty and snow covered early morning as most days in the winters were in the sixties and after climbing into the Morris 1000 pick up Dan would have a quick swig of his warm orange juice and pop a couple of the vitamin tablets he lived on and off we would pop…
The heater was always flat out but did little good, with it still dark Dan would start the long days of the journeys to National trials already upsetting on coming motorists. He had this bad habit of never dipping his headlights, no-mater how many flashes he got. I would be concentrating on trying to keep down my toast and tea, as I always have suffered badly with travel sickness and the last thing we wanted to travel with my window wound down, but it did happen. Dan always wore smart trousers tucked into his wooly grey socks and a buttoned up shirt and usually wearing a Triumph neck tie but always a tie of some sort, I remember Ron Langston was always the same wearing a smart neck tie. Duffle coats with the toggles were the fashion for over coats… and under our Barbour or Belstaff jackets we always wore crisp small white towels around our necks. And the flat caps with the studded peak open. I must say Dan and I clicked first time out as a trials riding crew, and we seemed to know exactly where we needed to be positioned on the plot with out any words being said… and we both put 100% effort into our riding and with out any practice apart from the trials we competed in, and this was only six months in a year because of the road-racing season… The journeys home were always cold and sometimes very interesting if snow had fallen during the day Dan just used the road as another section and many times we had the back hanging out and drifting… No matter how we had performed during the trial there was never any words of dissatisfaction as we had alway tried our best and we did not blame each other for any mistakes as like I said we always tried our best. Arriving back at the farm Dan would pop in to say hello to the family and always decline mothers offer of any food, except for the fish and chips that Dan used to eat in the garage on a Wednesday evening I never did see him eat a lot…
On the rare occasion I went with Dan to visit his gramp in Great Bourton he did always buy some Banbury Cakes for him and did eat one of those.
After Dan had finished racing and life had moved on we got back together with me helping on his new passion in life his steam showman's engine, on which I welded the rubber tyre sections to the wheels and other jobs you do with fairground stuff, as Dan had also bought a Gavioli fairground organ and spent a fortune repairing it, he then fitted this in to one of the trucks he bought from the Miller family in Bristol… I was building truck based horse boxes at the time and bought a couple of trucks that Dan or Jimmy Miller owned for the chassis that I needed… So Dan and I kept bumping into each other over the years long after the trials and racing period of the sixties. I sent him an invite to the Classic Trials Show we put on in 2010 and Dan and wife Yvonne came along for a look… The last time we worked together was trying to remove a drawbar hitch on Ron Langston's box trailer at the Colmore Revisitment to try and get the 350 Ariel out of the front door of the trailer, as Ron had forgotten the keys to the back lock…I will always remember Dan as the humble Star that he was, and his only fault, was said to be the way he firmly kept his wallet in his pocket..RIP mate…you will always be missed, but remembered as a Star…
06/05/2025...
1945-2025...
The Prescott Family...
Proud to be from Banbury North Oxfordshire UK...
05/05/2025...
Photo Courtesy REH forks...
Scottish Pre65 winners ...
1st James Noble 2nd Gary MacDonald 3rd Dan Clark...
Well done Chaps...
28/04/2025...
An interview with the man who will be taking over this web site BSA Otter one of these days... and he is an interesting chap but I would say that...
Vid Courtesy Lee Prescott...
21/04/2025...
I'am Back...
After a long time of trying to get over missing my very good friend Ted...RIP...
And have given motorcycles a rest, for a re-think ...got a bit into another form of transport with a lot of history from my town...... here's a clue...
Made In Banbury...Oxforshire...
My family were all French-Polishers and I was told that grand father also helped with graining on paint for narrowboat cabins this is where father learnt the skill, so I thought I should do some work to be able to pass this skill on while I have time...so watch for a few different pages...
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30/03/2025
Edward (Ted) Freeman...1937-2025...
Ted…
About ten or so days ago, I lost a life long friend, and one of three mentors that got me into motorcycles, and more so the trials game that I took too from day one… Ted was also a rider with the skills that I was told to copy… and I tried my very best to do so… especially on our Sunday morning practice sessions at the farm…As you may know if you read these pages, Ted was also a collector of BSA factory trials bikes with history…he like me did not want to see British trials bike history disappear…Luckily his sons will carry this goal forward. His other passion in life was his steam engines that he also put in the same dedication… A friend I will always miss and can no longer tap into his vast array of knowledge…There will be a page dedicated to Ted later…
The funeral details are below…If you would like to attend…
Funeral for Ted...
Funeral Service is at Banbury Crematorium on Thursday 17th April 2025 at 12pm
17th April 2025 at 12:00 pm
Banbury Crematorium
Southam Rd
Banbury
OX16 1ST…
Funeral Reception...
Banbury Cricket Club…
The Pavilion
Whitepost Road
Bodicote,
Banbury,
Oxon.
OX15 4BN
________
12/03/2025...
With the loss of a keyboard and other IT problems it has been a job to work on the web site for the last three weeks... but we are back... and a new page for you, Bonkeys Bantam. Four Stud fork page updated, and Home James, and more ... lets hope nothing else breaks...
22/02/2025...
Just a new start into tomorrows future of being the Best...
Fast Forward next to the Wind tunnel test...
I did like those Chocalate bars...
New "BSA B25 engine for trials" Page coming soon...
18/02/2025...
Best Trials Video ever...But I would Say that...
Watch It...
17/02/2025...
Mike Waller video on the "A B44 trials bike build" page, you will like it...
14/02/2025...
Page Updated ...Home James...
10/02/2025...
Delays in posting has been down te vermin? well not quite but mice the keyboard type... trying to be green like we are told we all should be, I have been using battery powered mice (mouse times two) well like the battery car versions, both of my mice have died... but the Apple computor I have wont let me use a USB version because there is not a spare port, and using an adapter crashes the program, so where do we go from here... I have sent a mail to Elon to see if he can come up with an answer... So watch this space... More tomorrow...
PS, BSA Catalina nearly done, page coming...
25/01/2025...
New Page on ...A Tigress tale...enjoy...
22/01/2025...
A New Page coming on this little Gem of a bike and a Super Story...
Photo Courtesy Graziano Candidori...©...
22/01/2025...
The Comerfords Cub's page has been updated with the corrected information following contact with the man that built them Colin Morgan... Thank you Colin again ... and more later...
19/01/2025...
Well I am Back (Just) you know me if it is there to be caught, I catch it...Had a head cold on top of everything else that also closed my eyes, hence being absent...But have managed to update a load of pages...and more this week, and I will list them...Good one coming up on the Bantam Red T1 and T2 page...Saying that I bought a BSA Bantam rear hub...
Photo Courtesy Otterman...
Well checking through ebay as you do, I spied this said to be front Triumph Cub hub from Greystones, and thought that is a rear BSA Bantam hub, and it even said it had one broken bolt £25... I will have that I thought peering through me bad eyes, I hit the button...the next morning I had an email from Greystones saying it looked like they had made a mistake did I want a front hub..."No the one you have in the photo" I said. so they wrapped it up and sent it...Thank's Greystones Triumph Cub...
So to get something done this year I spent a couple or three hours in the cold shed at home drilling out the broken bolt and with out drilling right through as this weakens the hubs as you know, (if you read the Hubs page)...Also tapped it 7/32" x 26tpi...So what shall I use this for?..
05/01/2025...
Good days progress...
Photo Courtesy Event Design and Build...
Rich has had a good day on the "Catalina" despite his bad back...
Both guards now fitted, and the new engine and gearbox plates, and also the gearbox is now in, and front forks finished, and the bars look right too... I have loads of informatiom and photos for this build, and there will be more until the bike is finished... So I think I will do a New page on the BSA "Catalina" 350 Gold Star...
Photo Courtesy Event Design and Build...
The BSA Catalina 350 Goldie...
Most of the parts are now at the workshop, and Rich is building it up, all the chrome was re-done last year and if you remember I rebuilt the wheels up, they have now gone off to have the tyres fitted... we now have a pair of the correct EMGO 23-92400 handlebars for the bike and the missing rear mudguard stay brackets both sorced from our friends at Classic Bike Parts Redditch...
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