The BSA Gold Star: UK-Designed, UK-Built – and You Get What You Pay For

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When Thareja and Joshi – the two main brainpans behind the revival of the BSA Gold Star – made the decision to bring back such an iconic bike, they knew the comeback wasn’t going to take the usual route.

Thareja himself is the mastermind of Classic Legends, the brand responsible for resurrecting BSA as a brand, and Joshi…let’s just say he’s had fingers in the top pots of more than a couple of inspirational marques (Triumph and Royal Enfield being two of them).

BSA'a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.
BSA’a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.

Together, they’re also responsible for the recently revived Czech brand Jawa, as well as its Indian-based counterpart, Yezdi – and now, they’ve sat down at an interview with MCN to chat about the process of breathing life into what was one of the fastest bikes of the 1950’s (via Wikipedia).

BSA'a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.
BSA’a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.

“We were so clear that we were not going to do a badging exercise,” emphasizes Thareja.

“It’s very normal for classic bikes to be revived in various parts of the world. You can do that because you have the money to buy the brand and you have a factory in a cheaper location to put it together.”

“But we came to the UK and built a team here to design the bike…I actually kept everybody in India away from it.”


BSA'a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.
BSA’a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.

The process involved ‘practically moving into the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham,’ as a means of studying the old greats in BSA’s collection, for maximum authenticity.

Thanks to that inspiration, the Gold Star’s genetic makeup shares absolutely no part with any bike in the Classic Legend range – and it’s also the reason why the dynamic duo decided on a single-cylinder for the heart of the beauty.

BSA'a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.
BSA’a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.

“BSA was always about the rider. Initially, in the good old years, it gave you freedom of mobility…after the war it gave people the freedom of happiness and adrenaline and joy.”

“[We could have gone with] two-cylinder, three-cylinder, four-cylinder… faster bike, bigger bike, heavier bike… [but] somewhere in that race of ‘evolution means performance,’ somebody forgot what motorcycling is about.”


Amen to that.

BSA'a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.
BSA’a all-new Gold Star. Media sourced from BSA.

With the final product now announced as starting from £6500 for the basic paint scheme (and hopping upwards of £6800 for the fancier variant, with £7000 for the chrome version), riders countrywide are anticipating the UK drop to dealerships by August of this year.

Order books will open at 9am on Monday, July 18, 2022 at the Lukas Distribution website. Don’t miss out, drop a comment letting us know what you think, and as ever – stay safe on the twisties.

*Media sourced from BSA*​


The post The BSA Gold Star: UK-Designed, UK-Built – and You Get What You Pay For appeared first on webBikeWorld.

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This is a lovely looking bike and im very tempted to make one of these my second bike , my only niggle is it looks a bit low at th rear ? i think i would may be put some longer after market shocks on it .
 
No, they are built in India, for the time being at least.
Well then, that's a bit of a fib. LoL. Not that I have anything against Indian built, but it certainly isn't the first thing that comes to mind when one wants a classic British motorcycle brand. So, it's no different than Enfield or Triumph.
 
Oops, sorry Thailand. Triumph has 3 factories outside of the UK. The question should be which are wholly built in the UK. More to the point classic British brands are mostly built elsewhere.
 
:y23: No problem. We knew what you meant. I think I read somewhere the specials and factory customs are built in England.
A quick Google found me this. ‘The Speed Triples, Tiger Sports, Explorers, Rocket IIIs and Daytonas. The decision of what to build where comes partly from logistics – if the vast majority of the market is Europe or US based, it makes more sense to manufacture in the UK.”

The next time I speak with my contact I will double check this.
 
A quick Google found me this. ‘The Speed Triples, Tiger Sports, Explorers, Rocket IIIs and Daytonas. The decision of what to build where comes partly from logistics – if the vast majority of the market is Europe or US based, it makes more sense to manufacture in the UK.”

The next time I speak with my contact I will double check this.
This is exactly it.
when volume production left the UK, around 3 years ago, we were left with only prototypes and finishing work on TFC’s.
Within the last year, volume production has returned to Hinckley, with bikes for more local markets, giving local production of between 20,000 and 25,000 a year.
i’ve no particular interest in buying any Thai or Indian built bike myself.
 
Keeping local production should be a key factor, not that producing in other localities is not desirable. It is. Makes little sense to ship complete products across the globe. Perhaps Triumph should have more factories in the Americas. Brazil is fine for the southern continent, but either Canada, US or Mexico for more north. Perhaps Canada would be most logical.
 

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