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A bike called Hurricane (by Ian Falloon, Feb 2022) ![]() Vetter's Triumph X75 Hurricane started out as a BSA
and has a troubled history
Nowadays the factory
custom is taken for granted as an integral part of
mainstream motorcycling.
Harley-Davidson has almost made it an art form, and
nearly all other
manufacturers have followed suit. Yet it was BSA that
pioneered this now
successful concept, with Craig Vetter’s strikingly
styled X75 Hurricane of
1973. Not only was the X75
the world’s first factory custom, it also influenced
later mainstream
motorcycle design. The Hurricane grew out
of the lukewarm response to the original BSA Rocket
Three in America. This was
considered ugly and overweight, and in 1969 BSA in the
US approached a young
designer and fibreglass manufacturer Craig Vetter to
produce a prototype custom
Rocket Three. There was already a
growing interest in customised machines among young
American motorcyclists and
the directors of BSA in the US wanted something that
evoked the lean
US-specification Triumph Bonnevilles of the mid-1960s.
Vetter’s own philosophy
was to contrast the age-old traditions of the British
motorcycle industry with
the American underground youth culture. Vetter set to work on
a stock 750cc BSA Rocket Three, creating a single
curvaceous moulded fuel tank,
seat and side panels. Although the 67x70mm
three-cylinder engine was standard,
Vetter modified the cylinder head by enlarging the fin
area. This was done
purely for aesthetic reasons, as were the black
painted cylinder barrels. With three 27mm Amal
concentric carburetors the power was 58 horsepower at
7250 rpm. The distinctive
triple silencers exiting on the right were derived
from those of the Team BSA
flat tracker. These may have worked well on left turn
ovals but they severely
limited right side ground clearance. Going for a lean look,
Vetter installed separate instruments and a
traditional chromed headlamp. The
gaitered forks also made way for cleaner Ceriani-style
units, although these
were later lengthened 50mm by Pete Coleman at BSA in
the UK. Painting the prototype
in Camaro Hugger Red, Vetter had this up and running
by September 1969. Considering the
precarious financial state of the BSA company at that
time it was surprising
that BSA executives approved a limited production run
of the Vetter Rocket
during 1971 to test the market. Vetter hadn’t even
visited England at that stage and the transition from
prototype to production
machine required the one-piece tank and seat to be
modified to incorporate a
steel fuel cell within the fibreglass. What didn’t
change was the tank shape,
and the tiny nine litre fuel capacity. As the BSA
engine was hardly noted for
fuel frugality, the Hurricane was definitely not
designed for long distance
touring. ------------------------------------------------- Produced by AllMoto abn 61 400 694 722 |
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