Cheney BSA B44

There is little doubt BSA were riding high in 1966 as their top man Jeff Smith – along with Brian Martin – had patiently developed the unit single engine into a world championship winning item… Smith lifted the 500cc MX world crown in 1964… and then did it again in 1965! The future for the scrambles world looked rosy.

There were, of course, those pesky two strokes causing upset and supposedly they were much lighter than the four strokes… however BSA themselves were tackling this in their own inimitable style with fancy metals and ultra lightweight machines for the works bikes that would never be offered to the public. There were people like Eric Cheney, a former top MXer who was now producing frame kits and reworking engines, which gave the private owner a chance to do well and, even better, his four