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HISTORY BSA was founded in 1861 in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham , England by fourteen gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, who had together supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War . The company branched out as the gun trade declined; in the 1880s the company began to manufacture Bicycle s and in 1903 the company's first experimental Motorcycle was constructed. Their first prototype automobile was produced in 1907 and the next year the company sold 150 automobiles. By 1909 they were offering a number of motorcycles for sale and in 1910 BSA purchased the British Daimler Company for its automobile engines. World War One During World War I , the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced Rifle s and Lewis Gun s, but also Shells , motorcycles and other vehicles for the struggle. In 1920, it bought the assets of a short-lived plane builder Airco . In the 1930's the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use - it had been stored at company expense since the end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty. World War Two By World War II , BSA had 67 factories and was well positioned to meet the demand for Gun s and Ammunition . BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles and half a million Browning Machine Gun s. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. BSA supplied 126,000 M20 motorcycles to the armed forces, from 1937 (and later until 1950) plus military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle. At the same time, the Daimler concern was producing armoured cars. Post war Post-war, BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world. The company made automobiles in 1907 to 1915, 1921 to 1926, 1932 to 1939, and 1960. The . The Group continued to expand and acquire throughout the 1950s but by 1965 competition from Japan (in the shape of companies like Honda ) and Germany was eroding BSA's market share. Some poor marketing decisions and expensive projects contributed to substantial losses. By 1972 BSA was so moribund that it was absorbed into Manganese Bronze in a rescue plan initiated by the Department of Industry and many of the acquisitions were separated or sold. The motorcycle business was hard hit - plans to rescue and combine Norton, BSA and Triumph failed in the face of worker resistance and Norton's and BSA's factories were shut down, while Triumph staggered on to fail four years later. Only the limited NVT Motorcycles survived. Enjoying the rights to the BSA marque, it was bought-out by the management and renamed the BSA Company. The BSA cycle arm was sold off to Raleigh in 1957. Bicycles under the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles Of India . The production of guns bearing the BSA name continued. In 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and are still based in Small Heath in Birmingham. In 1991, the BSA (motorcycle) Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd., to form a new BSA Group, largely producing spare parts for existing motorcycles. In December 1994, Colquhoun and Jackson's BSA Group was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group. The new company, based in Southampton , has a large spares business and has produced a number of limited-edition, retro-styled motorcycles. PRODUCTS Motorcycles Pre World War II
:as the WD M20 the motorcycle of the British Army in WW2 Post World War II
Cars Car timeline
Military vehicles
Military equipment
Air Rifles
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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