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There are a couple of BSA 441 Shooting Stars for sale here.
Does anybody know -
Difference between a Shooting Star and a Victor?
Difference between the round barrel and square barrel engines?
And how bad is that single leading shoe front brake?

The coolest road-bike I have ever owned was a 441 that was stripped-down and built for the street, torque-monster extrordinaire and so light on the top end that it kept speeds down!

Victors were more "scrambler" styled, round vs sguare does not really matter (the round barrel indicates an earlier machine).

HEED THIS WARNING!!!
441's LOVE to kick back, always wear real shoes when starting one and DO NOT let off the kickstater before the bike is running!!! (ask me how I know!).

The front brake is really not an issue because the bikes are so light.

Vince

I think one of those Aussies has one.
Sibbo?

Always a favorite:

dougie wrote:I think one of those Aussies has one.
Sibbo?

No not me but I'm embarrassed toi admit that I once bought a B40 new !

Such a beauty! That peanut tank can't be beat. I wanted one so bad when they were new issue. But they are lousy at being a motorcycle unfortunately. Good now for a collector, not good as a tool.

I've been riding this thing for 12 years. It's so much better than than that old Beezer it's not even funny.

It's got 75,000 klms and I haven't had to repair anything on the engine....I put a new plug in once a year change oil, brake pads, chains and sprockets, then run the shit out of it on the roughest logging roads for days on end. That 441 would last me a couple of weeks.

Yep, agreed. I had a mid 70s XT 500 once, a great bike on the dirt except for the vibes at 3000 rpm . The only 500 I could imagine taking on some of the tracks I used . Imagine running out of traction half way up a STEEP yellow clay track, spinning serious knobbies then being able to spin the thing around and ride it away down hill.
A brilliant bike !

Zombie Master wrote:Such a beauty! That peanut tank can't be beat. I wanted one so bad when they were new issue. But they are lousy at being a motorcycle unfortunately. Good now for a collector, not good as a tool.

As you say, the 441 fails as a motorcycle, but, to be fair, the Kawi fails as art. Few manage to exceed at both.

Major Softie wrote:

Zombie Master wrote:Such a beauty! That peanut tank can't be beat. I wanted one so bad when they were new issue. But they are lousy at being a motorcycle unfortunately. Good now for a collector, not good as a tool.

As you say, the 441 fails as a motorcycle, but, to be fair, the Kawi fails as art. Few manage to exceed at both.

Kawi? Are you being obtuse?

Sibbo wrote:Yep, agreed. I had a mid 70s XT 500 once, a great bike on the dirt except for the vibes at 3000 rpm . The only 500 I could imagine taking on some of the tracks I used . Imagine running out of traction half way up a STEEP yellow clay track, spinning serious knobbies then being able to spin the thing around and ride it away down hill.
A brilliant bike !

I had a 1980 XT500 that I loved. But it was stolen. Yamaha won the first PD races with the old XT and it was nearly stock! The XT600 is a big improvement over the 500. Four valve head, dual exhaust ports, dual carbs, disc brakes front and rear, the Hy Vo cam chain lowers maintenance a great deal. Still that BSA aluminum peanut tank is really something....that will leak!