A Gold Star for effort
Half a century after disappearing from dealers, one of biking’s most famous names is set to return with an audacious retro
A nglo-indian collaboration in bike manufacture continues to surprise. Here’s the latest – a very convincing 650, shown for the first time at Motorcycle Live, Birmingham, that relaunches the BSA brand back into the global market (in which it was once the biggest player) after 50 years absence. The bike’s looks are inspired by the Gold Star model from which it also gets its name, but underneath the retro look is a modern, liquid-cooled, four-valve single that features an up to the minute Dellorto fuelling system, Continental ABS and Brembo brakes. Claimed power output is a steady, but A2 licence and Euro 5 compatible, 45bhp which should give a top speed of fractionally over 100mph.
‘We started off being very clear that we were designing a BSA,’ company director Ashish Joshi told Bike, ‘and that led us to the decision that we were designing a Gold Star, and to the point that it needed to be a single.’
This is no pipe dream. Backed by the world’s biggest tractor manufacturer, India’s Mahindra Group, production is expected to start in January, with bikes scheduled to arrive in UK dealers in March. Other markets will follow. The BSA brand is now owned by Classic Legends, itself 60% owned by Mahindra. They have already relaunched Jawa in India, making a retro 300cc single, but this project was led from BSA’S design centre in Coventry with engineering expertise provided by Ricardo and styling work carried out by Redline Studios in Leicester. Maybe the biggest surprise is the plan to make the bike in the UK. ‘We want to put a factory into the West Midlands, it’s important to have the connection and legacy, but Covid has prevented it at the moment,’ says Joshi. Initially there will be just two models, the base version (right) and a high spec Legacy Edition with chrome mudguards and engine highlights, plus silver paint like the Clubman’s Goldies of the late 1950s (above). Expect a scrambler version inspired by BSA’S Catalina models to be along soon, while BSA’S UK government assisted electric model development continues alongside. Classic Legends director Anupam Thareja believes that the BSA brand can happily include both power sources: ‘If putting a smile on your face is a key part of the BSA brand promise, then we can do that with electric too. If BSA hadn’t stopped in 1973 then they would have been making electric bikes now.’ Pre-production bikes appear to have quality paint and chrome finishes. The exhaust is finished in brushed stainless steel while wheel rims are aluminium. Mudguards, headlamp and fork shrowds are made of metal. Traditional looking analogue instruments hide modern workings.
Pricing is expected to be on par with Royal Enfield’s 650cc twins, so expect the base version to be £5500 with the Legacy version slightly more.
‘This is no pipe dream. Backed by the world’s biggest tractor manufacturer, production starts in January’