THE USUAL METHOD OF BRINGING READERS THE initial report of a new bike is from a carefully orchestrated launch, normally somewhere like Spain (bikes are launched in the winter months, in time for the New Year usually, so Spain, for example, offers good connections, empty hotels, great roads and wonderful weather). The route is chosen to show the bike off in its best light, in some good photo locations, and to give test riders the best possible experience to share with you.
The new BSA company hasn’t launched its Gold Star model yet. While it is owned by the enormous Mahindra group, the Coventry-based BSA team is but 20-strong, making the job of getting a new bike from a new manufacturer to market all the harder. There is a road test launch happening as we write this – but we had a brief play first. Very brief…
Goodwood Festival of Speed is what happens when you mix the UK motorshow with a champagne picnic and a hillclimb, all in the grounds of a stately home. Its focus is cars but bikes are increasingly more encouraged, and for your average petrolhead it’s a wonderful weekend. And BSA had its final prototype for Maria and I to ride.
If any bike looks better in the flesh, it’s the new Gold Star. For those living under a rock, it is a 652cc, single-cylinder, water-cooled, five-speed bike with a double seat and looks that mimic the last of the original DBD bikes as close as possible. There is a radiator, a double-thickness down pipe, wider wheels and a disc brake, but there’s also the silver and chromed tank with that red and gold badge, and even a pushrod cover on the engine.
This formula of harking back to times past
