The question of what happened to bikes post war is puzzling me a bit and comments on this would be welcome from those 'in the know'...
It seems a large number of bikes were disposed of very quickly after hostilities were ended and were therefore 'out of the system' from that point onwards.
Of the remainder some, at least, were selected for a rebuild programme, to constitute the post war 'active' motorcycle fleet. From the usual dates on 'rebuild plates' fitted to these machines it appears this work was carried out from the early 50's through to the mid to late 50's. It could be assumed all the machines involved in this programme were refinished in post war 'bronze green' and had post war registration plates fitted along with the rebuild plate that recorded the work.
Possibly, however, there were machines which were not a part of this programme and not part of the 'active' fleet, but intended for war reserve. These would have gone into storage but presumably still have been allocated a post war registration..after all the C number system was no longer active (or was it?) and every vehicle had to have an identification number for the 'Key card system'.
Would these machines have gone into storage as war reserve in their wartime markings and finishes?..It is questionable whether machines intended for reserve would have been completely rebuilt first because of the expense and numbers involved...and rebuild plates are by no means a universal fitment on old M20s today.
Or did the rebuild programme include the 'active fleet' and the war reserve?...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

maybe adding to the confusion i have never seen or heard of ww2 bikes of any make being used in the korean war even though a friend of mine was into the korean war and had lots of litriture about it

Ian/
There was certainly a lot of the bikes sold off after the war but even before they were sold off they actually went to a storage (veh depot) area & were re-furbished if necessary the paint work was just slapped over, with red lead & that orange stuff, when sold they were disposed of in waggons sometimes we would put up to two dozen old bikes in the back of Leyland hippo's etc, someone would bid on a lot for a waggon then find when they got home they had a load of bikes in the back. This was in the early sixties but some M20s Matchless's & Triumphs were in service with various forces till late sixties, the markings on the bikes in service after the war usually had the units markings, div signs with the div number. I think if I remember correctly Shorcliffe & Folkestone area was 220 on the blue & yellow background with the viking ship opposite, service corps, 18 coy Fremington North Devon was 303 on Blue & Yellow,with a Dolphin around a sword opposite.
Hope this helps witth your enquiry.

Regards John

Hi Ian

Here are some statistics.

In the BSA M20 key cards there are (aprox) 17,048 machines out of a rumoured 126,000 BSAs made during the war. It would appear that this set of cards is incomplete however as Rogers bike and possibly mine have numbers from a different missing series.

Of the (aprox) 17,048, (aprox) 6,422 have rebuild serials beginning 14... or 60..., but not all rebuilt bikes were given new serials so its possible that all machines not disposed of prior to the new registration issue were rebuilt.

The few machines I have seen in "original paint" not counting early BEF survivors have generally been in matt paint from what I remember.

I have a suspicion that the new registration system was introduced so that all WD vehicles could once again bear a road tax disc and conform to the then current road traffic acts?

Also as part of the rebuild such luxurys as dipping headlights and tail lights large enough so that other people could actually see them where fitted, again as part of a legal requirement.

Work continues on the keycards and one day I will be able to tell you how many machines from these cards were in Malta, Cyprus, Cyrenaica, Tunisia, Long Kesh, Singapore, Aden, East Africa, Malaya ect ect.

Rob.

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Rob.
WD vehicles did not have road road tax discs, all they had was a log book system, every time you took out a vehicle on the road you had to fill in the log book with destination & then get it signed by the MTO or platoon sargent.

Hey John, when I first got my G3L the tax disc holder had a lot of old discs in it. At the bottom was an exemption disc with "on his majesty's service" with a box in the middle marked" vehicle registration or WD serial number" with the "C" number in it, and another box for the vehicle make. When I can remember which safe place I put it, I'll scan it and post a pic.
Cheers, Mick.

email (option): mick@motorbikemike.org.uk

Here's an interesting site by a bloke who makes repro tax discs, including the war time exempt discs. He has a section on history. www.poplargreg.com/

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com