The BSA Road Rocket was a 1950s

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

parallel twin A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. Straight-twin engines are primarily used in motorcycles; ot ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

Bert Hopwood Herbert Hopwood (1908 – 17 October 1996) was a British motorcycle designer. He was, at least, partly responsible for some of the most influential designs for the British motorcycle industry and worked for Ariel, Norton, BSA and Triumph. M ...

and produced by

Birmingham Small Arms Company The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand tool, hand, po ...

(BSA) at Small Heath,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. Developed from the A10 Golden Flash it was the first sports bike in the BSA A10 series. The A10 had a reputation for reliability but was struggling to compete against the

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

engines and the

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

Featherbed frame The featherbed frame was a motorcycle frame invented by the McCandless brothers and offered to the British Norton motorcycle company to improve the performance of their racing motorcycles in 1950. It was considered revolutionary at the time,"'' ...

s. Advertised by BSA in 1956 as 'undoubtedly the world's greatest motor cycle' the Road Rocket was discontinued in 1958 when it was replaced by the

BSA Super Rocket The BSA Super Rocket was a air-cooled parallel twin motorcycle produced by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) at Small Heath, Birmingham introduced in 1957. It was an improved sports bike member of the BSA A10 series of motorcycles which was ...

Development

Launched as the top of BSA's range in 1954 the BSA Road Rocket was the first A10 engine with an alloy cylinder head. Unlike the Golden Flash, the inlet manifold was separate from the cylinder head enabling twin carburettors to be fitted if required. It had a single

Amal TT AMAL was a British engineering company servicing the motorcycle and other light-engineering motor industries between 1927 and 1993 New "thick flange" cylinders were introduced: the bottom flange was increased from for improved rigidity and reliability. The big-end size was increased from 1.48" to 1.68". It had high compression pistons and a higher lift camshaft with the 356 "sports" profile. These engine modifications raised the power output to and a top speed of . The model was launched with chrome mudguards and stays and a half-chrome petrol tank. A

tachometer A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrated anal ...

was an optional extra. In 1957 an improved clutch was introduced, using 4 springs instead of six and improved friction material.

Development

See also

References

Further reading