it’s not that rare so that a custom build has some story behind it. Sometimes a donor bike has a unique history, or it’s possible that its parts were obtained from an unlikely source. But it’s not every day we find a craftsman who built both the machine and the story behind it.
Meet Thorsten Schlesinger, the British makeshift builder you see here. Nicknamed ‘Ms Rosi Nante’, it’s a great example of a classic TriBSA—a Triumph engine in a BSA chassis.
Thorsten got the idea for Rosi when he came across the remains of a 1949 BSA A7. He blew up the frame vehicle, then finished it in the same olive green color as World War bicycles. Monday. Looking at the military-inspired frame sparked creativity in Thorsten, and it wasn’t long before he was creating an entire universe for his future work.
Think of this TriBSA as how fans of WWII fiction meet two-wheeled cosplay. In 1945, the Second World War had just ended. A soldier in the US Navy is finally home, but he can’t leave his trusted BSA abroad.
He managed to bribe his crew manager with a few bottles of brandy, and a spot for his battle-worn bicycle was secured on the next flight home. In typical boomer style, he wasted no time getting married (to a woman named Rosi) and starting a family as soon as he got home.
Years passed, and BSA was left in the garage behind his Ford Falcon, until the kids were grown up and out of the house. By 1965, our veteran found himself with an empty nest and nothing but time in his hands. So, naturally, he went back to focusing on rebuilding his old warhorse, working on it in the evenings with the help of friends.
In fact, Thorsten is a product designer – but he is a history buff. “For me, stories around a bicycle are a self-made rule,” he said. “They make the whole thing more interesting for me.”
With that storyline in mind, Thorsten built Ms Rosi as the underdog on what a veteran’s hot BSA construction from the mid-60s would look like. Looking through the bike, you’ll realize his imagination and attention to detail have created one of the most realistic time capsules on two wheels you could ask for.
For starters, Thorsten imagined this alter ego might take his twin out racing for the weekend, be it dirt roads or salt yards. So the old 500 cc twin was replaced with the classic Triumph 650 mill – a popular choice for racers of the era. Thorsten has increased capacity to 750 cc.
A larger oil pump has been fitted for reliability and an Amal carburetor has been added to help Ms Rosi breathe properly. Thorsten has also crafted a set of straight tubes from stainless steel, a nod to the tumultuous and tumultuous days before words like ‘EPA’ and ’emissions standard’ popped into anyone’s mind. . It can be said that you will hear Rosi coming before you see her.
The front end uses a beam fork from a 1938 Velocette, apparently a reference to the BSA M20s that served in World War II. The beam looks great, but Thorsten says it’s too flimsy to handle the extra power of the large twin engines. To this end, he and a friend replaced all the original tubes with thicker steel and reinforced welds, keeping the original shape but making the bike safer and easier to ride. drive much more.
Matching the light, sporty character of the movement—and its story—is a host of other details. The fuel tank is the American standard Triumph, thinned by Thorsten. Then there’s the Brooks saddle, Lucas headlights and hemp-wrapped grips.
But it’s the really small details that sell it. Take the fuel tank decals for example—all three are genuine NOS stickers from the 1960s, including the vintage Triumph Tiger logo and authentic Ed Roth/Rat Fink flying skull. Thorsten even went so far as to trace a vintage Shell Oil service sticker from the time, now located on the back of the bike’s oil tank.
The time capsule theme continues with Smith’s speedometer over time, carefully tracked by Thorsten with the KPH index, in service of the bike’s imaginary European origins. The watch sits on a custom stand, painted to match the olive green bezel and looks like it was pulled straight from the cockpit of a WWII fighter jet.
Although Thorsten spent most of the four years getting Rosi right, he wasted no time getting it on the street once it came together. To celebrate its completion, Thorsten rode it all the way from Bremen, Germany, to the coast of France—a round trip of more than 1,000 miles.
He did it wearing a leather suit he sewed himself, with an authentic World War II rain suit in his luggage, just in case.
We can’t say we’re surprised, given Thorsten’s uncompromising commitment to the character. After all, it’s small details like this that make any work of fiction believable.
Thorsten Schlesinger | Photos and construction information provided by Sven Wedemeyer / Stil’s wheel
