Ahead of its public unveiling at the Motorcycle Live Show in England, the revived BSA brand shows off the brand new 650 Gold Star
BSA Is Back!
It's been a long time since British motorcycle manufacturers hogged the headlines so comprehensively, but in the space of a couple of weeks, we've had big news from not one but three of the oldest names in global motorcycling, never mind in England!
Triumph goes from strength to strength with an ever-increasingly diverse line-up of models, not to mention producing its one millionth bike just the other day.
Norton has come out of the stocks like the thoroughbred it once was, with the V4SV superbike and the V4CR naked sports bike.
Now, it's the turn of returnee BSA to unveil its first new model in who knows how many decades. It wasn't a secret - we published spy shots here and knew it was going to be presented to the public at the forthcoming Motorcycle Live show in the UK this month - but it's reveal at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham ahead of that event has taken everyone by surprise.
Carrying the evocative Gold Star name, the new machine was designed in the UK and built in India and is powered by a 650cc water-cooled single-cylinder engine, producing 45bhp and 40.5lb.ft of torque.
BSA has opted for the full, nostalgic, retro look, with the new bike almost undistinguishable from the last Goldie of the 1960s. It's interesting that, out of the three British manufacturers now in existence, BSA have gone directly for the heritage button, whereas Triumph started with modern bikes and only later moved into the modern classic line and Norton has firmly pinned its colours to the modern look.
The new Gold Star is completely traditional in appearance, with a round headlight, twin analogue clocks, twin seat, spoked rims and a teardrop-shape tank. Oh, and don't forget the lashings of chrome.
As you'd expect, there are disc brakes front and back with ABS but don't expect there to be too much more in the way of electronics. Not that they're needed anyway, with such a meagre power output.
Opting for a large-capacity single is a different approach: even long-time rival Royal Enfield has moved to a 650cc parallel twin engine. But, if we go on appearance, the two brands will be going head-to-head in the market.
And what a market! BSA's arrival means there are now four venerable and iconic British motorcycle brands battling it out for sales supremacy once again. Of course, BSA is not trying to emulate Triumph, with its range of thoroughly modern bikes and neither is it going the high-end route of Norton so it's unlikely that any of them will take sales off each other. Royal Enfield is a different matter and is likely to be BSA's toughest competitor.
We think it's just brilliant that the motorcycle market is buoyant enough to support new brands being introduced, no matter their country of origin. Just imagine if some American entrepreneur could be persuaded to bring back the Flying Merkel or the Thor: now wouldn't that be something? How cool would it be to step into a bar and tell someone you've just arrived on your Flying Merkel!
No prices announced as yet but we should be seeing BSA back in the showrooms in early 2022. As to what models will come from BSA next, well, we'll just have to wait and see. What would you like to see? Personally, I'd love to see a stripped down mud-plugging scrambler or vintage-style trials bike, a direction that no-one has seen fit to explore yet.