This is the new BSA Gold Star: a thoroughly modern take on a machine dear to many people’s hearts. Maybe grandad, dad or an uncle had one? The legend of the Goldie is such that this one really has a lot to live up to, but can it?
The big thing is: does it look right? Oh, it surely does. From the outside looking in at the rows of bikes lined up at UTAC Millbrook Proving Ground’s launch location, there’s not much wrong with the all-new Goldie, replicating as it does the old DBD34 model from 1956.
The lines are respectfully similar to those of the Golden ‘oldie Goldies’. Squint and you’ll think they’re one and the same. That tear-drop tank, the understated paint, that bold BSA badge and the uncluttered simple lines which are classically clean and representative of (some would say) better times… I think it looks fantastic.
It’s always going to be the motor that dominates the overall plot of such a machine, so first-up, let’s not dwell on the carbuncle of a radiator which is plonked on
