BSA my way
THE STORY SOUNDS FAMILIAR. LIKE SO MANY OF us, Matthew Marsham has always liked bikes – modern, fast ones when he was younger and as he, erm, gained years, the older bikes appealed more. As I went to see the professional painter, mechanic, restorer and talented competitor of American Western horse shows at his workshop, I squeezed by some covered bikes; an immaculate three-cylinder Honda NS400R and a Honda CL350, also immaculate, and oh, a wonderful, restored and modified ‘50s American Ford pick-up truck fitted with a potent V8, with wide arches to cover racing wheels. Naturally.
But to the job in hand. Sitting on the bench is a bike with a BSA DBD engine in, but the body is less instantly recognisable. It’s a BSA Gold Star DBD34, in road trim, but most individual.
“I saw it on the BSA Facebook page for sale,” explains Matthew. “The owner had sadly passed away and his brother-in-law had put it up for sale, but then Covid struck and he took it off as he didn’t want people coming round looking at it. The bike then reappeared later and I messaged him saying that I didn’t even want to see it. I wanted a project and that it
