It?s not uncommon for a custom build to have a few stories behind it. Sometimes a donor bike has a unique history, or maybe its parts are pulled from an unlikely source. But it?s not every day we find a builder who fabricates both the machine and the story behind it.
Meet Thorsten Schlesinger, the builder of the British hodgepodge you see here. Nicknamed ‘Ms Rosi Nante,’ it’s a stunning example of a classic TriBSA?a Triumph engine in a BSA frame.

Thorsten got the idea for Ms Rosi when he happened upon the remains of a 1949 BSA A7. He had the frame media blasted, then finished in olive green like the WWII bikes of the era. Looking at the military-inspired frame got Thorsten?s creative juices flowing, and before long he had created an entire universe for his build-to-be. Think of this TriBSA as WWII fan fiction meets two-wheeled cosplay. The year is 1945, and the Second World War has just ended. A soldier in the US Navy is finally headed home, but he just can?t bring himself to leave his trusty BSA sitting overseas.

He manages to bribe the loadmaster of his aircrew with a few bottles of brandy, and a spot for the battle-worn bike is secured on the next flight home. In typical boomer fashion, he wastes no time getting married (to a woman named Rosi) and starting a family once he gets home.
The years march on, and the BSA sits neglected in the garage behind his Ford Falcon, until the children are grown up and out of the house. Come 1965, our veteran find...