Description
BSA 1935 595cc OHV M 35-11 “Sloper” combination frame # 131 engine # E11 134
Presented in august 1926 for the 1927 season, the sloper set the BSA company on the road to market domination and success.
It was brilliant designer Harold Briggs, brought in from the Daimler car company, who designed the machine around a sporty and reliable 493cc ohv (80×98) engine which inclined forward in the frame. Some typical car practice features Briggs used in his design were sump lubrication (the crankcase was extended to form an oil reservoir holding 3 pints) and return springs within the pushrod tubes to keep the valve gear in constant touch with the cam profiles, giving exceptionally quiet operation.
The Sloper soon got a reputation as a sporting but quiet motorcycle, a real trendsetter.
Apart from the OHV models two side valve slopers were marketed, a 493cc model and a 557cc model, which grew to 595cc after some years.
From model year 1933 the 493cc OHV was no longer available, a 595cc machine with bore x stroke of 85x105mm took its place and this was no longer marketed as a sports mount; a capacity “which gives that little extra power that will be appreciated particularly for sidecar work” as the catalogue put it.
The slopers were catalogued for two more years but they didn’t appear anymore in the 1936 catalogue.
There’s an interesting article by Jamie Dee on the Sloper history in “Old Bike” 4, winter 1992/1993.
The machine we present was first registered in March 1935 and is fitted with a Watsonian sidecar on a rare “Quick Fit” chassis which can be removed and refitted in a few minutes.
She has been restored by the former owner in the nineties and has proven her reliability on many rallies and events.
She comes with full electric lighting, hand change 4-speed gearbox, Smiths speedometer and tank top instrument panel with amp and oil pressure gauges, light switch and inspection light.