The BSA Lightning Clubman was a 650cc British

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, cruisin ...

made by

BSA BSA may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Basketball South Africa * Bearing Specialists Association * Belarusian Socialist Assembly * Bibliographical Society of America * Birmingham Small Arms Company, UK manufacturer of firearms and vehic ...

at their factory in

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 We ...

between 1964 and 1965. Finished in gold and black the Lightning Clubman is now a highly sought after classic motorcycle. Due to the very limited production numbers replicas are created by enthusiasts from the

BSA Lightning The BSA Lightning is a British BSA 650 cc-class motorcycle made in Birmingham between 1965 and 1972. Development The BSA Lightning was designed as the all-round sports machine of the 1960s,''Motorcycle Sport'', June 1969, p.226 ''BSA Lig ...

. The equivalent 500cc version was called Cyclone.

Development

The BSA Lightning Clubman was developed from the BSA Lightning and designed as a Production racing motorcycle, with a special gold and black paint scheme, 'drop handlebars', rearset footrests, a cranked kick-start, twin carburettors, 'siamese' two into one exhaust system (with a less restrictive silencer), a single seat and close-ratio gears fitted as standard. With a top speed (in the right conditions) of 120 mph, it competed against the

Triumph Bonneville The Triumph Bonneville is a standard motorcycle featuring a parallel-twin four-stroke engine and manufactured in three generations over three separate production runs. The first two generations, by the defunct Triumph Engineering in Meriden, W ...

as the top bikes of the 1960s. Launched in September 1964, the Lightning Clubman was only in production until October 1965, resulting in a limited production run of 200 machines, so original Clubman models are highly sought after. The

BSA Spitfire The BSA Spitfire is a high-performance BSA motorcycle made from 1966 to 1968 with model designations of MkII, MkIII and MkIV. Announced at the Brighton motorcycle show held during September 1965, it was based on the earlier BSA Lightning with ...

replaced the Lightning Clubman as BSA's highest-performance machine in 1966.

Racing success

World motorcycle champion

Mike Hailwood Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood, (2 April 1940 – 23 March 1981) was a British professional motorcycle racer and racing driver. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest racers of all time. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycl ...

won the 1965 Hutchinson 100 Production race at the

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

racecourse on a BSA Lightning Clubman in heavy rain, beating the Triumph racing team's Bonnevilles. The 'Hutch' was the main production race of the season, so it was very important to manufacturers to establish the racing credentials of their latest range. Triumph Bonnevilles were ridden by World Champion

Phil Read Phillip William Read, (1 January 1939 – 6 October 2022) was an English professional motorcycle racer. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from 1961 to 1976. Read is notable for being the first competitor to win world championshi ...

and Triumph employee/works rider

Percy Tait Percy Tait (9 October 1929 – 17 November 2019) was an English professional motorcycle road racer and senior road tester for Triumph motorcycles, where he was estimated to have covered over a million miles of road testing. He later became a ...

. BSA Lightning Clubmans were ridden by

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

champion Hailwood (with a large number 1 on the fairing) and factory rider Tony Smith. Conditions were poor and Smith was out of the race at slippery Stowe Corner. With little regard for the rain Hailwood was achieving laps of 83 mph to establish his winning lead.

References

{{BSA motorcycles, state=collapsed

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

Motorcycles introduced in 1964