The World’s Greatest Motorcycle Tour (Part 1)

25,000 miles round the world on B.S.A.s 

The most spectacular and longest running promotion ever staged by a motorcycle manufacturer.

By Ashley Blair

Part 1: England to New Zealand

Between 1926 and 1928 two intrepid Englishmen travelled through 25 countries and covered 25,000 miles on B.S.A. motorcycles. They endured a heatwave while ploughing through sand and rock roads in Portugal, they were arrested, shot at and imprisoned in Serbia, and they were the first to cross the Sinai Desert in sidecars. They had several brushes with customs officers who took the piled arms logo literally and thought the two were arms dealers or even gun runners. Although the Nullarbor Plain in Australia was a severe test it was a mere prelude to their crossing of the Andes. They were the first to cross from Valparaiso to Mendoza with motor vehicles.

Bertram Hall Cathrick, just over six feet tall, was 26 born on 27April 1901 in Durham County and educated at Ellsmer College. Well travelled, he had worked in South Africa and in Malaya on a rubber plantation before returning to England to be a salesman for B.S.A. He was a very experienced motorcyclist who had competed in reliability trials and had won a first in the Scottish Six Day Trial. He was an accomplished after dinner speaker. His companion was John Castley, born in Staffordshire and educated at Whitgift, Croydon. He was slightly more retiring than Cathrick but had a fund of knowledge and was also an experienced and enthusiastic motorcyclist. He was sub-editor of The Motor Cycle, known as "The Blue 'Un." He sent regular ripping yarns back to the magazine which were published each month. His extensive coverage of the expedition in The Motor Cycle totalled 117 pages and was published every month from 19 August 1926 to 29 November 1928.

In the 1920s, B.S.A.’s chief salesman Joe Bryan, with strong backing from the  managing director Commander Godfrey Herbert, organised a series of spectacular stunts to promote the Small Heath machines. The round the world tour was by far the most ambitious and was helped by Commander Herbert’s connections in the oil industry, by motoring organisations, by the government and the Foreign Office. It was a joint venture with the British Trade Commission and the Foreign Office, with full support from the Automobile Association, to prove the reliability of British motorcycles, to promote the industry, and to find new markets. It provided enormous publicity for B.S.A. and for their motorcycles.

One of the outfits used on the tour. By permission of Mortons Media Group Ltd.

The tour used specially prepared Colonial versions of the Model G 986cc Vee-Twin, B.S.A.’s top of the range motorcycle. These machines had huge torque at low engine speeds and refinements such as alloy chain cases. Modifications included gauze canister air filters, wheels with 8 gauge spokes, strengthened front forks, plate steel guards under the crank cases and a plunger operated pump to oil the rear chain. The sidecars were specially constructed by B.S.A. with hefty tube frames supporting plywood boxes covered in steel. Five gallon tanks attached to the back of the sidecars together with the motorcycle fuel tanks and additional cans gave a range of 350 miles. The gear that they carried in the side cars included a tent with folding poles, cooking equipment, stove, a first aid outfit, four blankets, two large suitcases each containing one dress suit, one lounge suit, one set of riding gear, flannel trousers and underclothing, two cameras, a 32.40 repeating rifle, an axe, a shovel, two air beds, a typewriter, rubber coats and boots, leather coats and a fire extinguisher. That is just the personal gear not counting all the spares for the motorcycles. It is not surprising that each machine weighed half a ton without the rider. The pair were farewelled by a large crowd from the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall on a fine and sunny Monday 30August 1926.

The route and times had been meticulously planned so they would meet up with agents and potential clients along the way. They arrived at Dieppe where a zealous customs officer began prizing the lid off Cathrick’s sidecar after he spotted the piled arms logo. A trade delegate was able to smooth things over by insisting that they were not carrying arms although they did, in fact, have a rifle and ammunition inside a sidecar lid. They passed through Paris to the Autodrome de Montlhéry in time to see an ohv Chater-Lea reach over 100mph on a timed run.

They were ushered into Spain by an escort of Spanish motorcyclists and at most stages of the journey there were locals to escort them and show them the way. When approaching one of their destinations they were amazed to see a rocket fired into the air. This was the signal for them to be stopped beside the road and offered a bottle and two glasses. A cloud of dust and loud roar announced the arrival of an escort mounted on B.S.A.s. While in Spain they were spectators at a bull fight where a number of horses and six bulls were slaughtered. On a more sinister note they heard whispers of the coming civil war. They spent a day working on their machines in Madrid. In Portugal the roads were so bad that it was impossible to see or even breathe when travelling closer than a quarter of a mile from the vehicle ahead and they only averaged 10 mph. Apart from frequent punctures, which were regarded in those days as a normal part of motorcycling when away from main centres, the only problem had been the loss of a U bolt from Cathrick’s sidecar. In Italy they were fascinated at the sight of fascist Blackshirts on the march.

After 4,000 miles they arrived in Prague to the most lavish reception yet. The B.S.A. agent took them for a drive round the city while the agency mechanics stripped the Model G engines, decoked them and replaced anything that looked even slightly worn. Castley’s said in his report on Budapest and the Danube, “The mighty river was like a polished scimitar, thrusting into the heart of the capital clothed in the copper foliage of autumn.” An innocent packet of Eno’s fruit salts caused yet more trouble with customs officers in Czechoslovakia who were on the look out for cocaine. It was only after the riders had swallowed a large number of the tablets that customs officers were convinced the content of the packet was harmless.

It was when approaching Belgrade in Serbia and trying to find a place to cross the Danube that they had their most alarming incident. Castley had taken a photo of a railway bridge but just as they were about to move on a guard armed with a rifle and bayonet rushed up to them. Cathrick, as a typical Englishman, tried talking about the weather but the guard ignored this, loaded a cartridge into his rifle and took aim. Another guard arrived and the pair were marched along the railway line for six miles to a small town and an officer who confiscated the camera and accused the pair of being spies. When the officer asked if all bridges in England had armed guards Cathrick and Castley ignored the seriousness of their situation and fell about laughing. Two plain clothes policemen arrived and wanted to see their papers which of course were back with their motorcycles.

They were put in a taxi and taken back to their machines. On the way the taxi went past a guard post without stopping and the sentry promptly fired several shots at the taxi. After showing their papers they expected to be sent on their way but instead they were taken to a police station where, after a long bout of questioning, they were ordered into a cell. However, luck was finally with them as later that night a large group from the Belgrade Motor Club, who had been waiting to welcome them, arrived and had them released. The most galling part of the whole incident was that postcards, with photographs of the same bridge that Castley had photographed, could be seen in a shop window close to the gaol, selling for the equivalent of one penny! In Nish a spring in Castley’s sidecar gave way and they had it repaired in a sewing machine workshop. The Motor Cycle announced their arrival in Constantinople on 14 April 1927.

The Turkish authorities did not want the pair anywhere near the east bank of the Bospherous where new fortifications were being erected so they had to travel inland by train for 50 miles. Christmas 1926 was spent in Jaffa. During their two week stay the Department of Overseas Trade saw to all their needs while the B.S.A. agent gave the machines and sidecars a complete overhaul.  They were rather disappointed with Nazareth and Jerusalem both because of the murky mist in the valleys and because of the widespread evidence of commercialism. Back at Aleppo, where the planned Berlin to Baghdad railway ended, Cathrick and Castley had made an unplanned decision to cross the Sinai Desert to Suez. 

After stocking up on extra water and bully beef they were able to follow a group of army officers in Ford trucks across the desert. They carried a twenty yard roll of wire netting which they laid down to cross over stretches of soft sand. The trip took three and a half days with much of the time spent repairing punctures. In several places they came across the remains of wire netting roads that had been used by troops in the 1914 – 1918 war. B. H. Cathrick and J. P. Castley are recognized as the first to cross the Sinai Desert with sidecars.

In Cairo they were present when a shipment of one hundred brand new B.S.A. motorcycles was landed at the wharf. Fame was now beginning to catch up with them for when Castley visited the Cairo branch of Barclays Bank with a letter of credit he was ushered into an excited manager’s office and shown the latest issue of The Motor Cycle with the centre spread of their world tour. It took an hour of polite conversation before the money was eventually handed over. While they were in Cairo a telegram arrived from B.S.A. cancelling the proposed run to the Sudan as it was not commercially worthwhile and instead advising them to go back to Port Said and embark for Bombay.

Outside the BSA agent's in Bombay. Photo BSA Owners Club

The piled arms insignia was responsible for another customs incident when it was again thought they were arms dealers. Castley wrote that, “India is too vast for a human brain to comprehend. The best that a bird of passage can do is watch, to ask and to listen.”  They passed though Agra, saw the Taj Mahal, and rode up into the Himalayas where they were glad of woolly jumpers and leather coats. After 1,800 miles they reached Calcutta where they sailed for Rangoon. There they had a narrow escape from a major fire and were able to assist in rescuing furniture, including a piano, from a burning house. On the ride down to Singapore they visited British outposts where they played tennis and watched polo matches. Near Penang they met up with colleagues of Cathrick from his plantation days and one of these friends, on a Norton, escorted them south. On the 20th April 1927 they were “at home” at the Cycle and Carriage Co., Goodwood Hall, Singapore where all B.S.A. enthusiasts were invited to meet them. The business meetings in Singapore, the wining, the dining, as well as the riding, had left them exhausted and they were glad to get a steamer to Java where they saw some of the most spectacular scenery encountered on the trip so far.

Castley and Cathrick in Bombay. Photo BSA Owners Club

Soon after arriving in Freemantle the B.S.A. agents in Perth gave the machines an overhaul and they began their 900 mile battle with the sand, mud and potholes of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. The trip almost ended just before Gawler, on the run to Adelaide. This is Castley’s account of the event: “It was dark and my light refused even to glimmer, so I followed Cathrick. Not grasping the meaning of a frantic swerve and shout from him I crashed, blind and groping into the ancestor of all pot-holes. My engine stopped in the general cataclysm which followed, and when I tried to restart, such gruesome groanings and gratings were wrung from the engine or gearbox. I almost sat and wept to think that we should have to leave one of the machines beside the road so near to the end of a great run. Cathrick was made of sterner stuff. He started the engine, engaged a gear and rode off, shouting to me to bring his outfit on. The saddle pillar had broken on his machine, and I had to sit on an entirely unsprung saddle – on such a road!

Crossing Australia. Photo BSA Owners Club

They were given a civic reception by the mayor of Geelong and another civic reception when they reached Adelaide on 14June 1927. They were welcomed in Melbourne on Friday 27 June by Mr H. L. Setchell, the British Trade Commissioner in Victoria.   Their comment about Australia and Australians, to the Melbourne Argus reporter was that, “Australia is a very, very, big country. We have found that Australians are big in the work they put into their jobs, big in their generosity and hospitality, and big in their love for the mother country.” They thought that Melbourne, out of all the cities they had visited, most resembled London. After touring Tasmania for seven days and attending a reception given by the Governor, Sir James O’Grady, the tourists returned to Melbourne and rode on to Sydney.  They arrived in Sydney on Friday 22 July and were given a civic reception by the Lord Mayor at the Town Hall. As well as civic dignitaries there were the directors of B.S.A. New South Wales, the Assistant British Trade Commissioner, and representatives from Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd, Vacuum Oil Company, the Motor Traders Association of NSW, and the Sydney Motor and Bicycle Club. The Prime Minister put his launch at the tourist’s disposal for a jaunt around the harbour. On Wednesday 29 July1927 they left Sydney on the S.S. Marama for Wellington.

Special thanks for research assistance to:

Annice Collett, Vintage Motor Cycle Club, UK.

Doug Moncur and Margaret Avard, Australian National University.

Gillian Tasker and staff, Alexander Heritage and Research Library, Wanganui.

Glenis Needham, Hamilton City Libraries.

Jane Skayman, Mortons Media Group Ltd.

John Cochrane, New Zealand BSA Motorcycle Owners’ Club.

Mike Gooch, Puke Ariki and District Libraries, New Plymouth.

Papers Past, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/,

Robert Cochrane, New Zealand BSA Motorcycle Owners’ Club.

Staff of National Library Reading Room, Wellington.

Tony Rippin, South Canterbury Museum.

Steve Foden, BSA Owners Club, UK.

Part 2 of The World’s Greatest Motorcycle Tour will cover the first part of Cathrick and Castley’s tour of New Zealand.