Editing Birmingham Small Arms Company (section)

====BSA cycles====
BSA produced the first Sunbeam bicycle catalogue in 1949 and produced its own '4 Star' [[derailleur gear]] with an associated [[Freehub|splined cassette hub]] and 4 sprocket cassette.<ref>BSA Cycles Ltd, 1951 ''Bicycle Replacement Parts, BSA, Sunbeam, New Hudson'' Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd, no ISBN</ref> This design was different from the 1930s Bayliss Wiley cassette hub which had a threaded sprocket carrier.  BSA bought New Hudson motorcycle and bicycle business in 1950 and followed this up in 1951 with the purchase of [[Triumph Engineering Co Ltd|Triumph Motorcycles]] which brought [[Jack Sangster]] onto the BSA board. The effect of this acquisition was to make BSA into the largest producer of motorcycles in the world at that time.

1952 saw BSA establish a Professional Cycling Team. [[Bob Maitland]] a successful amateur cyclist and the highest placed British finisher in the 1948 Olympic Games road race and now an independent rider in the BSA team was a BSA employee working in the design office as a draughtsman. It was Bob Maitland who was responsible for the design of post war BSA range of lightweight sports bicycles based on his knowledge of cycling.<ref name="Godwin" /> Bob Maitland also made some of the components used on the bicycles of the professional team which were not standard production machines. In the 1952 [[Tour of Britain]] Road Race run between Friday 22 August and Saturday 6 September, involving 14 individual stages and covering a total race distance of 1,470 miles, the BSA team of Bob Maitland, "Tiny" Thomas, Pete Proctor, Alf Newman and Stan Jones won the overall team race and Pete Proctor "King of the Mountains" classification. The riders also enjoyed success on the individual stages of the race. The team competed in four further events, 14 September Tour of the Chilterns, 1st "Tiny" Thomas and Team Prize, 21 September Weston-Super-Mare Grand Prix, Team Prize, 28 September Staffordshire Grand Prix, 1st Bob Maitland and Team Prize, 5 October Tour Revenge Race, Dublin, 1st "Tiny" Thomas and Team prize.<ref>BSA Cycles Ltd, ''The Story of How BSA Won The "Daily Express" TOUR OF BRITAIN TEAM PRIZE and "The King of the Mountains"'', Birmingham Small Arms (1952), no ISBN</ref>

In 1953 BSA withdrew motorcycle production from BSA Cycles Ltd, the company it had established in 1919, by creating BSA Motorcycles Ltd.

In 1953 the BSA Professional Cycling Team was managed by [[Syd Cozens]].  Successes were 5/6 April Bournemouth Two Day Road Race, 1st Bob Maitland, 12 April Dover to London 63 Miles Road Race, 1st Stan Jones, 31 May Langsett 90 Miles Road Race, 1st Bob Maitland and "King of the Mountains", 7 June Tour of the Wrekin, 1st Bob Maitland, 12 July Severn Valley 100 Miles Road Race, 1st "Tiny" Thomas, 19 July Jackson Trophy, Newcastle, Team Prize, 9 August Les Adams Memorial 80 Miles Road Race, 1st Alf Newman, Team Prize, "King of the Mountains" Arthur Ilsley, 30 August Weston-Super-Mare 100 Miles Grand Prix, 1st Bob Maitland, Team Prize.  The team also competed in the 1,624-mile, 12 stage, 1953 Tour of Britain Road Race.  The 1953 line up had changed as Arthur Ilsley replaced Pete Proctor in the team. "Tiny" Thomas won the overall individual classification, the Team were runners-up in the team competition and Arthur Ilsley was 3rd in the "King of the Mountains" competition.  Bob Maitland also had notable success by winning the Independent National Championship.<ref>BSA Cycles Ltd, ''1st BSA Wins "Daily Express" Tour of Britain'', Birmingham Small Arms, (November 1953), no ISBN</ref>

1954 saw the introduction of the BSA Quick Release 3 Speed hub gear.  It was a split axle three speed gear intended for use with bicycles equipped with oil bath chainguards.  The original BSA 3 speed hub gear had been made under licence from the Three-Speed Gear Syndicate since 1907.  The design was later to be classified as the [[Sturmey-Archer]] 'Type X', but all BSA hub gear production ceased in 1955<ref>Hadland, Tony ''The Sturmey-Archer Story'', privately published, (1987), {{ISBN|0-9507431-2-7}}</ref>
[[File:1955 Daimler DK 400 'Golden Zebra' Coupé p1.JPG|thumb|Lady Docker's 1955 Golden Zebra<br />Daimler coupé]]