I think Rockford was an importer for Bridgestone. The Bridgestones were very advanced for the time. Rotary valves I believe, and there is a famous series about Gordon Jennings using the BS 350 GTO to run 149 mph at Daytona. HE published a series of articles about the effort, and even included the porting specs and pipe dimensions, if I recall correctly. Cycle was a great magazine.
An interesting story about Bridgestone, they made tires and motorcycles, and Honda told them, "you can supply us with your tires, but you cannot supply us with tires and sell motorcycles." Bridgestone decided to continue in the tire market, and surrendered their slim market share of the motorcycle market.
The American business agents for Bridgestone also warned them about their tank badge, "BS" initials.
Back when I was 16, I lusted after a BS 175 Hurricane Twin, you could also get it as a high-pipe scrambler. I never got one, but about 1973 I got a Kawasaki 500 triple for a road bike, which was the bane of any Harley I ran across. My roommate had a brand-new 1000 CC Sportster, and he never could beat me.
Buy the bike if you can get it cheaply, keep it until someone wants it as a memory of their youth.
