The BSA Lightning Clubman was a 650cc British motorcycle made by BSA at their factory in Birmingham 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 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 replaced the Lightning Clubman as BSA's highest-performance machine in 1966.

Racing success

World motorcycle champion Mike Hailwood 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 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 f ...

. 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 Motorcycles introduced in 1964