BSA returns with 650cc classic

[spectras only]

Not a DBD34 Goldstar but nice none the less

BSA GOLD STAR (2022 - on) Review

The brits are on the roll with the new Norton as well. As the name suggests, the V4CR uses the 1200cc 72-degree V4 from the V4SV, which produces a whopping 185bhp @ 12,500rpm. Torque is impressive too with 92.5ftlb @ 9000rpm.

Triumph is doing well too.

 

[Rajobigguy]

“A new single cylinder 650 twin” ????

 

[Dan Lorenze]

Great! And yes, Triumph is kicking ass! what a turnaround they have made.

 

[spectras only]

I assume a 650 single being a Gold Star, or 650 Sports Twin? The classic Golden Flash 650 was twin. The Gold Star DB34 was a 500 single.

Wondering if the Matchless mark will return too, I got an original.

 

[Dan Lorenze]

Also, lots of talk about a new CT70 since Honda recently trademarked "ST125".. Hopefully we will see a new CT in the near future in the states. Looks like all the cool old stuff is making a return.

 

[coolchange]

Nice lookin retro style. From the right side it even has a pre unit look to it

 

[Berdes]

Had a 500 single Gold Star. NO electric start. Never let it kick back on ya. Yall'd be sorry.

Not a DBD34 Goldstar but nice none the less

BSA GOLD STAR (2022 - on) Review

The brits are on the roll with the new Norton as well. As the name suggests, the V4CR uses the 1200cc 72-degree V4 from the V4SV, which produces a whopping 185bhp @ 12,500rpm. Torque is impressive too with 92.5ftlb @ 9000rpm.

Triumph is doing well too.

 

[spectras only]

You don't. The article wasn"t proof read, me thinks. I know m/c with one rod and two cylinders though, Austrian 250cc Puch.
Quite few twin cyl single carb bikes were produced.

 

[sirbob]

Are these still being made in the UK? I believe some of those Brit brands are being reproduced in India ??

 

[Taboma]

I think I'd prefer to have my old 71' 750 Lightning back. I'm at that age I wish I'd kept everything and sold nothing.
I enjoyed riding it, can't say I ever enjoyed starting it.

 

[Taboma]

Are these still being made in the UK? I believe some of those Brit brands are being reproduced in India ??

Seems Mahindra owns BSA now. Although my buddy had a Mahindra tractor and loved it.

 

[Dan Lorenze]

I think I'd prefer to have my old 71' 750 Lightning back. I'm at that age I wish I'd kept everything and sold nothing.
I enjoyed riding it, can't say I ever enjoyed starting it.
View attachment 1071919

Beautiful bike, I'd like to own it.. But the cool thing about all these new "Retro" bikes is that they are new and reliable. Nothing like turning the key on a new bike and it always starts and runs perfect. It seems like with all my old bikes I have to get them going lol, it's always something. It's true we never should've sold our old cool stuff.

 

[Taboma]

Beautiful bike, I'd like to own it.. But the cool thing about all these new "Retro" bikes is that they are new and reliable. Nothing like turning the key on a new bike and it always starts and runs perfect. It seems like with all my old bikes I have to get them going lol, it's always something. It's true we never should've sold our old cool stuff.

Oh but wait, aren't we supposed to award "Personality Points" to these vintage machines Like "Damned thing is trying to kill me "

I grew up with 50's and 60's "Muscle Cars", that's what we drove back then. Just driving one to Lake Arrowhead on a hot summer day was an adventure. Air Conditioning, HA HA HA --- You mean, you're lucky if you didn't have to run the heater and have all the windows down to prevent overheating the damned thing.
Yup, that's there's personality.

 

[spectras only]

Are these still being made in the UK? I believe some of those Brit brands are being reproduced in India ??

Since 2002, Triumph has steadily been shifting mass production to the three factories it owns outside of Bangkok, Thailand. The majority of Triumph's mass-production bikes are already made in its Thai factories, which is where the Speed Triple and Tiger 1200 production will move.

TVS-owned Norton open the doors to a new British factory and a bright new future. Norton are back in business with a state-of-the-art, multi-million pound production facility in the Midlands.Nov 12, 2021

The 2022 BSA Gold Star comes retaining much of the original model's classic retro styling. However, it gets a bigger and new 650 cc single-cylinder DOHC engine meant for modern times. As the brand claims, this motorcycle will be designed, developed and manufactured in the UK. Some articles say assebled in the UK. but parts/components made in India?
Note the bolded words, 650CC single.

The Royal Enfields are produced in India

 

[spectras only]

Friend had 3 DBD34 Gold Star Clubmans, sold to a New Zealand collector $2500 apiece in 1990. Shoulda coulda bought them
Roll back to the 70's , Vincents were about 3-4K back then.

 

[sintax]

Beautiful bike, I'd like to own it.. But the cool thing about all these new "Retro" bikes is that they are new and reliable. Nothing like turning the key on a new bike and it always starts and runs perfect. It seems like with all my old bikes I have to get them going lol, it's always something. It's true we never should've sold our old cool stuff.

But honestly I think that’s what I love about them. They have souls and personalities.

Now if you’re willing to put in the time with one, you learn them inside and out, you know what they want before they even tell you.

I finally broke down and bought my first “modern” Harley. It’s a 2008 Electra Ultra Classic. And while it’s a very stout touring bike that’s wildly comfortable it’s just lacking a little something.

My old shovelheads are special, like an old girlfriend or something. I can pull one out, tinker with it and for most stuff, I actually enjoy riding it more.

 

[sintax]

The radiator really kills it for me, the beauty in a classic bike is the clean lines and a well accented air cooled engine.

 

[sirbob]

Since 2002, Triumph has steadily been shifting mass production to the three factories it owns outside of Bangkok, Thailand. The majority of Triumph's mass-production bikes are already made in its Thai factories, which is where the Speed Triple and Tiger 1200 production will move.

TVS-owned Norton open the doors to a new British factory and a bright new future. Norton are back in business with a state-of-the-art, multi-million pound production facility in the Midlands.Nov 12, 2021

The 2022 BSA Gold Star comes retaining much of the original model's classic retro styling. However, it gets a bigger and new 650 cc single-cylinder DOHC engine meant for modern times. As the brand claims, this motorcycle will by designed, developed and manufactured in the UK. Some articles say assebled in the UK. but parts/components made in India?
Note the bolded words, 650CC single.

The Royal Enfields are produced in India

Good info - glad to see them back home. I know so many of the UK brands have been bought up by companies from India (read Land Rover, Royal Enfield etc) I was wondering if this was a real UK rebirth story or another company marketing the brand.

Good for the folks in the UK that will benefit from the jobs and pride of their brand.

 

[DarkJuJu]

That’s pretty cool, I saw this killer unit at the Mint 400 on Thursday

 

[port austin pirate]

Brother has a BSA 441 Victor in his garage that he bought new in the 60s was a pretty good dirt bike at the time, have to ask him when he last started it.

 

[TimeBandit]

Reminds me of when I was young... BSA 650's were nearly free, nobody wanted them, like Austin Healeys.

I took my motorcycle license test on a borrowed Triumph 500 twin, the bearded examiner said "cool bike", I passed no sweat.

 

[spectras only]

Brother has a BSA 441 Victor in his garage that he bought new in the 60s was a pretty good dirt bike at the time, have to ask him when he last started it.

He probably hasn't started it since the last time the kickstart fubard his ankle for a while

It's me with Matchless G45 [ factory racer ] no kickstart, roll starts only.

My 58 Matchless G80s left and 38 Norton ES2 on the right

My Norton when Robert Redford had it. Promo for the movie motorcycling diary and his Sundance catalogue.

 

[spectras only]

Trivia question. What m/c is this? It's a hard one I restored it for a friend when I was still living in the old country. Didn;t do the shitty seat though.

 

[coolchange]

Trivia question. What m/c is this? It's a hard one I restored it for a friend when I was still living in the old country. Didn;t do the shitty seat though.

View attachment 1072118

AJS

 

[rrrr]

Brother has a BSA 441 Victor in his garage that he bought new in the 60s was a pretty good dirt bike at the time, have to ask him when he last started it.

I owned a 441 back in the previous century.

It had to be started carefully, could bite.

 

[spectras only]

Trivia question. What m/c is this? It's a hard one I restored it for a friend when I was still living in the old country. Didn;t do the shitty seat though.

View attachment 1072118

No, it's a 4 stroke 350CC

 

[coolchange]

Ya not ajs. Amal mono block?
Can I change my guess if I keep some letters?
Aprilla

 

[boatnam2]

When i was a little kid, my pops use to ride his BSA on the back tire for blocks, didn't see to much of that back then, my buddies thought he was a real badass, i guess he was looking at what he had to work with. His Smooth style and luck ran out when he looped out on my RM 250 going about 40 quite a few years later, The suzi gave him a nice little back rash, i think that was the end of his wheelie days.

 

[coolchange]

When i was a little kid, my pops use to ride his BSA on the back tire for blocks, didn't see to much of that back then, my buddies thought he was a real badass, i guess he was looking at what he had to work with. His Smooth style and luck ran out when he looped out on my RM 250 going about 40 quite a few years later, The suzi gave him a nice little back rash, i think that was the end of his wheelie days.

Riding wheelies on those old bikes for distance took a lot of finesse and balance not like today with unlimited power on tap. Figures a RM would be the bike to bite him.

 

[spectras only]

Junak 350, Polish manufacturer

 

[coolchange]

Wow never heard of that.

 

[Dettom]

Not a DBD34 Goldstar but nice none the less

BSA GOLD STAR (2022 - on) Review

The brits are on the roll with the new Norton as well. As the name suggests, the V4CR uses the 1200cc 72-degree V4 from the V4SV, which produces a whopping 185bhp @ 12,500rpm. Torque is impressive too with 92.5ftlb @ 9000rpm.

Triumph is doing well too.

The Norton is badass. But good luck finding one in the US..

 

[rrrr]

Riding wheelies on those old bikes for distance took a lot of finesse and balance not like today with unlimited power on tap. Figures a RM would be the bike to bite him.

A friend of mine had a Honda CB350 four, they were released in 1971. The four cylinder CB series lineup included the 350, 450, 550, and 750. The CB750 was released first, in 1969, and it was a game changer.

The CB350 had just 34 horsepower, but it redlined at 10,000 RPM. The cylinders were about the same size as a prescription pill bottle.

My house in Albuquerque backed up to Montgomery Blvd. It's now a divided six lane street, but in 1967, when my Dad bought the house, it was just four lanes. Planners had made provisions for the lane expansion, by making wide islands with curbed perimeters down the center of the street.

They were originally about 30' wide and 8" tall, and filled with dirt to the level of the curbs. The islands filled the center of the road, except for paved openings at cross streets. This configuration would accommodate the addition of two future lanes by removing most of the islands, while leaving a smaller island that contained offset turn lanes at every cross street by reworking the curb perimeter to reshape the island. Got all that?

So my buddy would start on the raised island part, take off and pull a wheelie. The bike was probably going 30 or 35 MPH once he was stabilized.

But what he did next was nuts. When the bike reached the end of the island, he would jump it down to the cross street pass through that was at the same level as the main road. When he crossed the pass through and came to the curb on the next island, he would hit the curb still doing the wheelie, jump the bike up onto the island, and keep going. When the island ended, he would do the jump down and up again. And again.

This went on from the start at a main cross street, Eubank, all the way to the next main cross street, Juan Tabo, passing my house about midway. It was probably 1½ miles. He was doing this at 30-35 MPH, and I never saw him crash. It was crazy.

 

[coolchange]

A friend of mine had a Honda CB350 four, they were released in 1971. The four cylinder CB series lineup included the 350, 450, 550, and 750. The CB750 was released first, in 1969, and it was a game changer.

The CB350 had just 34 horsepower, but it redlined at 10,000 RPM. The cylinders were about the same size as a prescription pill bottle.

My house in Albuquerque backed up to Montgomery Blvd. It's now a divided six lane street, but in 1967, when my Dad bought the house, it was just four lanes. Planners had made provisions for the lane expansion, by making wide islands with curbed perimeters down the center of the street.

They were originally about 30' wide and 8" tall, and filled with dirt to the level of the curbs. The islands filled the center of the road, except for paved openings at cross streets. This configuration would accommodate the addition of two future lanes by removing most of the islands, while leaving a smaller island that contained offset turn lanes at every cross street by reworking the curb perimeter to reshape the island. Got all that?

So my buddy would start on the raised island part, take off and pull a wheelie. The bike was probably going 30 or 35 MPH once he was stabilized.

But what he did next was nuts. When the bike reached the end of the island, he would jump it down to the cross street pass through that was at the same level as the main road. When he crossed the pass through and came to the curb on the next island, he would hit the curb still doing the wheelie, jump the bike up onto the island, and keep going. When the island ended, he would do the jump down and up again. And again.

This went on from the start at a main cross street, Eubank, all the way to the next main cross street, Juan Tabo, passing my house about midway. It was probably 1½ miles. He was doing this at 30-35 MPH, and I never saw him crash. It was crazy.

That’s pretty hardcore on a cb350
Best wheelie I ever did was an accident.
Pismo beach on a 400 Maico. Doin little bs wheelies in second gear. Riding triumph Honda maico 1 down 4 down left shift right shift??? I lost track. Had a decent little wheelie goin, hit shifter instead of brake and grabbed 3rd. Just enough bog to not go over then gassed it. Rode it to the peak then settled down.
All weekend I was the crazy guy grabbing gears in a wheelie on the Maico. Asked to repeat it “na to many cops

 

[rrrr]

The 400 Maicos were one of the best European motocross bikes. I owned one by default in 1979.

I had moved from Albuquerque to Houston the year before, and started a commercial drywall business. The economy was on fire, and in just a year I had expanded to 15 employees. I had been introduced to Mac Haik, a former Houston Oiler, and was building out 400,000 SF of tenant improvements in a low rise office park be owned.

One of my employees, Stewart, was a hard working and talented drywall foreman, really good and fast at framing out leases with the Raco system, which had extruded aluminum top track and door frames. But he was also good at snorting meth. I vacillated about firing him, some weeks he was dependable and did huge amounts of work, then he would disappear on a binge.

One day Stewie approached me with a problem, he was going to lose his mobile home because of missed payments. He wanted me to loan him $1,000, which was about three weeks worth of take home pay. This was obviously a low percentage deal, so I wanted collateral.

It just so happened Stewie had a Maico 400 radial. It was less than six months old, and had never been crashed. I told him I would loan him the money for six months if he gave me possession of the bike and its signed title. He agreed.

Predictably, Stewart used the money to buy meth. He planned to sell it, double his money, rescue his trailer, and have dope left over to snort. Six weeks later, the lender foreclosed on the mobile home and Stewart disappeared. I never saw him again.

I kept the bike for a while. It was brutal, had neck snapping acceleration, and was way too much for my dumb ass. Besides that, there was no place to ride it. Texas is almost all private land. There was a track about 50 miles away, but it charged a pretty steel fee for its use.

I eventually sold the bike and recouped my money.