Bsa - possibly

[Duggee]

Evening all, I usually stick to the mtb section, but I've been hankering after something more road suitable for trips to the shops etc. I picked this up, In my defence, it was local, and I felt sorry for it as its in quite a state. It has a Bsa badge on the front but I'm not convinced, anybody got any ideas? I'm leanings towards 80's catalogue special. It has five glorious speeds and 27 inch wheels.

Some things I've noticed on initial inspection:
The seat clamp is backwards
Mudguard eyelet on the rear dropouts looks strange
The chairing is insanely close to the frame
It looks like it's been painted by hand, with a brush. Possibly by Stevie Wonder.

My plan at the moment is a full strip down and rebuild, then full length mudguards.

 

[chickendrumsticks]

Does it have a frame number?

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Never seen any of those fittings, drop outs or stays on a BSA frame, that said who knows? I think you are right in thinking it isn't one though.

 

[Duggee]

Does it have a frame number?

Looks like there might be one buried under the paint of the bb shell - I'll try some gentle sandpaper to try and make it out

 

[Duggee]

The frame number is on the top of the seat tube, and from what I can make out says gb 541, with the gb in a weird lower case font

 

[Duggee]

There's a hole in the down tube, just this side. I feel like there shouldn't be, but it does look properly done. Not sure what's would go here though?