Classic Bike Guide - Real rides, real riders

A perfect combination

One winter, I slid off my T’bird, on ice. Saddlebags and wide bars took most of the damage but it was time for a combo. We scoured the mags and found a BSA Golden Flash with Watsonian Monaco, in Devon. The bike looked tidy and original and even had a handlebar fairing and screen. My wife and I, plus the dog, boarded a train to Teignmouth. We paid up and rode it the 280 miles home. It never missed a beat, up steep hills without recourse to down changes and it hadn’t even used any oil! It trundled along, fully loaded at 55mph, effortlessly. In July we took it on a run from Aberystwyth to Lowestoft, around 800 miles round trip. On the way we met up with friends on their British bikes, but this time the combo shook a few parts off, notably the oil feed bolt to the rockers! This being rather important, we walked more than a mile up and down the road looking for it – all the while it was sitting behind the plug waiting to be found. After our long weekend, the combo took us home with no trouble, as such we are very pleased with our 1958 BSA Golden Flash Combo.

Alan and Jean Mumbray and Lady the dog
Borth, Wales