“It’s all about the character,” one of the designers tells the camera about the new BSA Gold Star soon to be manufactured under the re-born brand name by Mahindra, the giant Indian motor vehicle company.
Taking all sorts of design cues from the past, the British-based team wanted to build a bike that is unmistakably a Gold Star, yet complies with modern requirements. So it’s a liquid-cooled single where the original was air-cooled, there are disc brakes, modern electronics and no end of other technology that didn’t exist in the 1950s — but it’s not there because they wanted to put it there, but rather they were forced to by circumstances.
What the new BSA team wanted to build was “an authentic and reliable BSA riding experience. This modern classic is powered by a 652cc single-cylinder engine — a tribute to the original model”. The motor is styled around pre-unit designs, from a time when the engine (crankshaft, con-rod, piston, cylinder head) was separate from the transmission — when manufacturers started combining it all they were described as “unit construction”.
The tradition goes a lot further than the engine; there are wire wheels and conventional shrouded forks, a chrome front guard and separate analogue instruments. There will be numerous colour schemes, too: Insignia Red, Dawn Silver, Midnight Black, Highland Green and Silver Sheen (Legacy Edition). At this stage we don’t know if these machines will be available in Australia, but we can’t see why not.
SPECIFICATIONS
Engine type: 652cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder, DOHC, 4 valves,
twin spark plugs.
Compression ratio: 11.5:1.
Max torque: 55Nm @ 4000rpm.
Max power: 45hp@6500rpm.
Transmission: 5-speed.
Wet weight: 213kg.
Wheels: 36 wire spoke with alloy rims, Pirelli Sportscomp tyres, front 18 x 2.5”, tyre 100/90-18, rear 17 x 4.25”, tyre 150/70-R17.
Fuel capacity: 12 litres.
Wheelbase: 1425mm.
Seat height: 780mm.
Rake: 26.5°.