BSA Gold Star 650 | Launch and First look
History and Heritage
The Birmingham Small Arms Company - or BSA - as we popularly know it, is certainly a name that brings back a rush of nostalgia for anyone who's followed motorcycles in the last century. Originally manufacturing arms and ammunition, it set up its motorcycle division in 1903 with its first motorcycle following in 1910.
Around the time of WW II, the company had gone on to produce 1,26,334 motorcycles for the war - all of them, the M20s. By the 1950s, BSA had grown to become the largest motorcycle manufacturing company in the world. At one point, one in every four motorcycles was a BSA. That legacy was also carried on into the world of racing, with BSA machines garnering several speed records to its credit.
The magic was not to last sadly and by the late 60s / early 70s, the brand was on the brink of bankruptcy with formal closure sometime in 1973. The legacy they left behind however was undoubtable, and one that the Mahindra-backed Classic Legends is looking to resurrect and capitalise on with its 2016 acquisition of the brand along with other classics like the Jawa and Yezdi.
Classic Legends has already launched the resurrected Gold Star 650 in international markets a little over a year ago. However, some legal issues around the use of the BSA name in India meant that its journey from Birmingham to Bharat just took a little bit longer to complete, with the launch finally happening on 15th August this week.
Mr. Anand Mahindra was himself present on the occasion and highlighted the significance of the acquisition of the brand by Classic Legends. From being the one that nearly got away, to closing the deal in 48 hours made for an interesting tidbit for the attendees. Also speaking about the bike were two veterans of British motorcycling - former racer and journalist Alan Cathcart and the Museum Director of the world-renowned National Motorcycle Museum, James Hewing. Last but not the least of course, were the trio who are the face of Classic Legends, Anupam Thareja, Boman Irani and Ashish Singh Joshi along with the key development team who were involved in resurrecting the model in its present-day avatar.
The Gold Star 650
The selected steed for reintroducing this erstwhile legend is the single-cylinder Gold Star 650, which will take the fight to its closest competitor, the parallel twin-powered Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. While resurrecting the Gold Star 650, the clear intent was to lean back to its heritage and ensure that they deliver a “ton-up” motorcycle - i.e. one that can tip over beyond 163 km/h (100 mph) in keeping with the legendary twin gold stars that the model won back in its racing days.
The bike has been designed by a British-led team of Redline Studios with engineering by Ricardo and engine expertise from the Technical University of Graz, heavily repurposing a Rotax engine (historically a Euro 2 compliant engine) to bring together this single-cylinder 650 to life. If your riding pedigree goes back long enough, you might recall a certain BMW Fundoro 650 that was launched in the late 90s sporting that very Rotax engine.
Technical Specs
Coming to the bike itself, it is touted as the largest single-cylinder bike in India, although I reckon that mantle technically belongs to the recently launched Ducati Hypermotard 698 Mono. The bike sports Brembo twin-piston floating callipers in the front and single-piston floating callipers at the rear, both with dual-channel ABS. It has aluminium excel rims and the same Pirelli Sports tyres that can be found on the international offering.
The 652 cc liquid-cooled engine pushes out 55Nm torque and 45.6 PS, figures that hover around the same zip code as the Interceptor 650, being a smidgeon down on power from the latter and a hint up on the torque. It is claimed that about 60% of the torque is made as low down as 2000 RPM so expect the bike to deliver decent power from the word go with excellent low end tractability. Power and torque delivery is also claimed to be very linear so it should be interesting as to what kind of riding experience the Gold Star delivers compared to its immediate competitor. The weight of the bike too is around 213 kg so it is in the same ballpark as the Interceptor so we could expect performance to be comparable.
Design
The bike’s appeal lies in its simplicity and as true to its classic design heritage as is practicable. There is the obvious visual departure of being liquid-cooled and sporting a radiator but these should be acceptable compromises in delivering a classic look in a practical, modern day package. There are distinct brand and badging touches like the arms on the side panel and classically designed fuel lid and the BSA moniker embossed at the back of the seat. The bike overall nails its classic proportions and looks really well and hopefully, the actual riding experience will also live through the promise.
The bike stands at an extremely accessible 780 mm of seat height, which should make the bike fairly unintimidating for newer riders as well as older folks who may want to get back into riding attracted by the air of nostalgia. The straight seat design offers enough room for even taller riders to find their comfortable seating stance. I saw a number of media persons of different height and build and at least on this brief first look the bike seemed to offer a comfortable seating posture for a wide variety of riders. Again, more on this perhaps when we have the opportunity of an actual test ride.
The fit and finish seemed decent for the most part, although some parts and switchgear did seem of relatively ordinary quality. The overall finish however seemed fine with beautiful aesthetic design touches like the rifles showing on the petrol lid and the side panel, and some unique touches like the dials, which stand at rest at the 1 o'clock position.
Colors and Price
At launch, the bike has been launched in 6 colours - Highland Green, Insignia Red, Midnight Black, Dawn Silver, Shadow Black, and finally a Legacy Edition - Sheen Silver. All models are identically specced with prices (differing only for the colour ways) ranging from Rs. 2.99 lakh to Rs. 3.15 lakh for the first five colours and the Legacy Edition sports a price of Rs. 3.34 lakh. The above prices are stated to be introductory.
Media test rides for the bike are likely to happen sometime next month though and it’s only then that one can form more detailed impressions of how the bike has been built and executed.
At first blush though, it does seem to be a very promising effort indeed and will possibly be the most realistic competitor to the RE Interceptor 650, in terms of style as well as specs, taking of course a slightly different and arguably purist, single-cylinder path (in contrast to the parallel twin from RE).
Mr. Anand Mahindra kicking off proceedings and holding centre stage:
Alan Cathcart and James Hewing speaking about the legacy that is BSA as well as their experience of riding this bike over the course of the last year:
The Insignia Red highlighted from different viewing angles below:
The little details are all over the bike. Note the small BSA lettering on top of the headlight:
The radiator guard departing from the original classic look - function preceding form here:
Single 320mm floating disc, Brembo twin-piston floating calliper with ABS. The spoke wheel design and finish are also lovely:
The heart of the matter - endorsing the decision to go down the single cylinder route staying absolutely true to the classic. The only visual eyesore is the matte silver look which would have looked truer to its classic form in a chrome finish:
Beautiful old-school fuel lid with a lock below it. Unclear in the picture but it sports the arms on the top and the inscription 1903 above it:
The twin-dial instrument console with a rather tiny information display in the middle. The digital information windows on the top of each dial are absolutely tiny. Note the rest position of the needle at the unconventional 1 o'clock position. Might polarise a few but I loved it:
The fairly simple switchgear on either side should be simple to use. The quality seemed just about all right - seemed built to a price:
The Insignia Red in side profile. Visually, the finish of the engine case takes away from the authentic classic look. Other than that though, the profile oozes charm:
The stainless steel single exhaust is neatly finished. While the gap in the rear fender and the tyre seems excessive, this is actually fairly true to the form of the original classic:
Twin shocks and the spoked Pirelli tyres:
Midnight Black in the side profile:
The Legacy edition in silver sheen is on display - the priciest variant of the lot:
While the display bikes were limited to three, all 6 tank colour options were kept on display:
The Real Classics
A launch of a veritable and timeless classic like the BSA would have been incomplete without some of their actual classics to admire. These four timeless beauties had been kept on display even before the event had commenced for the benefit of the journalists and attendees.
BSA Gold Star CB34 500cc single (owned by Reuben Solomon):
BSA Gold Star CB34 500cc single (owned by Shalaila Nullaseth):
BSA Gold Star DB32 350cc single (owned by Shiraz Ginwalla):
In a traditional naked roadster - the BSA Gold Star Clubmans:
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