BSA B50 GOLD STAR
The latterday Goldie, launched 50 years ago, to much derision
‘ The British Are Coming’ proclaimed the first page of an eight-page colour pull-out advertising section in the American magazine Cycle World of January 1971 to promote what BSA dubbed ‘The World’s First 500cc Trail Bikes’. The advertising came at a time, 50 years ago, when the press was awash with rumours of BSA’S demise. In fact, throughout the first six months of Motor Cycle News’ 1971 issues here in the UK, there was story after story of mounting debts and boardroom struggles; this was set against exciting news of BSA’S racing success at Daytona, the Match Races and John Cooper’s exploits, not to mention their formidable presence in motocross with the B50 singles. For motorcycle enthusiasts, it was an onslaught of mixed messages; the negatives were hard to believe, as the company seemed to be riding high on such racing success and have such a broad range of machines on offer.
BSA’S tasty catalogue that year included the 750cc Rocket 3, along with 650cc twins and 250 singles – plus this new range of new trail bikes, which was, of course, based on the B50 and very much trading on its off-road racing successes (or, more specifically, John Banks’ motocross championship victories). As the ad blurb pointed out, Banks had twice won Britain’s national motocross championship riding a BSA, and helped the company to develop the features of these bikes. BSA’S copywriters either forgot (or didn’t have the space) to credit the exploits of Jeff Smith, Keith Hickman, Dave Nichol, Vic Eastwood et al; these guys had raced unit-construction works BSA singles and helped in a lengthy B50 gestation period that progressed from the 350cc B40 to the B44 (441cc) and finally into the fearsome, full-on 500cc beast of the B50 motocrosser...
BSA’S ad waxed lyrical: ‘We took 500cc of British muscle, harnessed in a four-stroke single-cylinder engine [84mm bore x 90mm stroke]. We teamed it with a new, lightweight racing frame – a frame that contains and cools the engine oil and eliminates the tank. We then added new telescopic front forks to help keep you in control on any terrain; threeway adjustable Girling shocks, double-shoe brakes, to name just a few of the features that makes these 1971 trail bikes Britain’s best. (In fact, the worse the trails get, the better you like BSA).’
With the selling point of the new B50 range based on its new oil-carrying frame – the same design as employed on the new BSA and Triumph 650cc twins – BSA came up with three different B50 models. There was the roadster-based Gold Star 500-SS, the Victor 500-Trail with high-level mudguards and trials tyres, and the out-and-out production motocrosser, the Victor 500-MX – the closest thing that Joe Public could get to Banks’ works bike.
Many BSA enthusiasts at the time cringed at BSA’S adoption of the Gold Star name for the road bike (which was
essentially the Victor trail with K70 road tyres) and were especially critical of its quirky off-road style, huge black ‘shoebox’ silencer, grey-painted frame and weedy-looking eight-inch single-leading-shoe front brake (the Trail and MX B50s had six-inchers), funky ‘instantly detachable’ electrics box mounted between the downtube and cylinder, and its compact unit-construction engine. Compare it to the iconic DBD34, which had real presence thanks to its bulky but beautifully-styled pre-unit engine architecture, swept-back pipe and silencer (with that glorious twitter on the over-run), pinstriped chrome tank, Smiths Chronometric speedo and matching rev-counter, and they probably had a point. But times had moved on and the new-age Goldie was at least a lean, mean, lithe machine with go-anywhere potential.
The punchy four-speed Gold Star and Victor Trail models produced 34bhp at 6200rpm and 28ftlb of torque at 5000rpm, although the Gold Star was slightly heavier at 310lb (140kg) to the Victor Trail’s 298lb (135kg). With no road-going gubbins required, the stripped-back Victor MX weighed only 240lb (108kg) and it’s race-bred engine produced 38bhp at 6200rpm and 35ftlb of torque at 5000rpm.
Sadly, the end really was nigh, and when BSA was closed in 1972, the final B50 motocrossers coming off the production line were rebadged as Triumphs until Bsa-triumph was taken over by Norton Villiers as part of a government-led rescue operation. The entire company was rebadged as Norton Villiers Triumph and the BSA name, once the flag bearer of the British Motorcycle industry, sold off.