Hey, I have a BSA WM20 1939, frame number wm20 7104. This bike was registreded first time in 1945 in Norway. But i dont now the history betwin 1939 - 1945. Is it anyone who could help me?

Tank you for a very good webside!

Morten Dokka
Gudalsveien 3, 9350 Sjovegan
North Norway

email (option): morten.dokka@folkebladet.no

Hi Morten,

Your bike left the factory 16-10-1939 and went to the Minitery of Defense in Dublin.

Here a photo of what it more or less looked like when new.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Thank you!
Morten

email (option): morten.dokka@folkebladet.no

hi morten,
the contract that your bike came from was as henk says from 1939, however...this contract was supplied over the next two years and yours was probably delivered to dublin in about late '42.
the registration books for these still exist, and are in the pearse st library in dublin.
my bike, from the same contract was delivered in jan '42 and is earlier in the frame/ engine sequence.

regards, chris

email (option): chris.astinbarker@btinternet.com

But the mystery is how it became to be registered in Norway in 1945, so soon after the end of hostilities

I wonder if it ever made it to Ireland at all chris, I suspect it was instead delivered to the British MOD who as part of getting things back to normal in Norway, supplied it in turn to the newly reformed Norwegian government

Knowing the mentality of the "free state " army, they would never sell equipment even abroad, they would cut it up rather than have someone get use out of it

In fact it's still the same I think

:-D

An interesting history this bike I suspect !!

Best regards

Jo'b

email (option): Jonnyob1@googlemail.com

hiya jon,,would toddy fancy a trip up to have a look in the register ? it'l be a while before i get there , or maybe mick or rod walsh are up for it ? like you, i cant see how one from that contract could escape so quickly, unless it got cancelled ? with the emergency over, perhaps the Óglaigh na hÉireann had no need for it ?

email (option): chris.astinbarker@btinternet.com

In may 1945 when the the norwegian king came home it was several warbikes (BSA, Ariel) from england in the street of Oslo. Was my bike one of this????

email (option): morten.dokka@folkebladet.no

Wouldn't that be a nice thing to find out, nice piece of history. Are there photo from that event?

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Hi, I don't know how to post pictures but if you google "Kong Haakon 1945", it returns quite a few pictures with WD bikes...

Tom (in Norway)

could it also have been impressed for service with the BEF, and ended up in Norway thanks to the German Army tidying up after Dunkirk ?
Regards Gary

I don't have WM20 records as high as 7000 so I can't comment on the specifics but the earlier ledgers generally show if a machine was diverted to another customer. However, it could have been overlooked. There may also have been an inadvertent duplicate.

If it is ex-British Army then there is a greater chance that it was part of the British forces sent to Norway in 1940. There are certainly Nortons surviving there in locations which point to having been abandoned locally. That this one was registered soon after the war suggests that it had probably been in hiding rather than just arrived.

The British forces entering Norway in 1945 are unlikely to have had machines as old as five years and the majortity supplied to Norway afterwards seem to have been late model Nortons and Ariels.

Does this one have matching numbers ? I'd say that it would warrant careful paint removal to see if there is any trace of markings underneath.

It's an odd one this.

Chris's bike an earlier serial number was delivered to Ireland 1941/42, so how could this machine have got to Norway during this time, unless the Wehrmacht were a secret customer of BSA !!

I think Rik documentation is the answer as you highlighted, duplication or human error, all too easy. But as the mission to norway was a hastily organised affair & largely seaborne, you'd wonder if any bikes were sent as support vehicles

It's an interesting one eh !

Job

email (option): Jonnyob1@googlemail.com

Yes, mye bike have matching numbers.In 1988 when i bought the bike is was paint red and have a NSU front forks. But under the tank i found british warcolour, same as several other erly wm20.


Morten

email (option): morten.dokka@folkebladet.no

email (option): morten.dokka@folkebladet.no

Curiouser and curiouser...

Your location in Sjovegan where there were British units prior to the Narvik battles would point in the direction of a British abandoned machine.

Was it hidden until 1944 and then brought back out ? Can the authorities give you details of the first keeper ? Was it an individual or something official ?

Have you identified which model the NSU forks came from ?

I've checked the bikes registered in Dublin for this bike and it does not come up in the ledgers from 1939 to 1947.
Irish army WM20 bikes are in the range WM20.2000's, WM20.3000's, WM20.4000's, WM20.5000's, and then WM20.106000's, WM20.107000's, WM20.108000's and possibly higher but I have only checked up to 1947.

So if looks like this bike may have been allocated to Ireland but was sent to Norway with the BEF instead and maybe used by the Germans or hidden away till after the war.
I wonder did the Irish government pay for it, we want it back. I think I can feel a European court case coming on.

email (option): mickwalsh57@gmail.com

Watch up mick, the Irish government might just owe the Norwegians a few quid these days

:-D

Jo'b

email (option): Jonnyob1@googlemail.com

If it had NSU forks fitted the Germans might have been involved...if so they will owe the Irish some money as well..and of course BSA had all the money..where did that go?...Ian

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

I think that the answer involves a gold plated Daimler...