Update on the new BSA

[Greybeard]

https://www.visordown.com/reviews/first-ride/2022-bsa-gold-star-review

He likes it 👍

[Kickaha]

...  trust the Indians to stuff up a classic.   

At least they have a motorcycle industry

[Greybeard]

I've been viewing and reading reports from journists who've had a chance to get their hands and bums on the new BSA. Most reviews seem to be giving the new bike 9 out of 10. I think you are going to see many of these machines on the road later in the year. If I had the money and room for a second motorcycle, I'd be putting my deposit down.

I'm going to have a hard think about whether I should sell my Plungie to (help to) finance a modern, easy start, lazy riding motorcycle that has a BSA badge. The start price for the new BSA is £6.5k. How much is my bike worth?

Cripes, if all the BSA related stuff was gone from my shed I'd have room for a milling machine 🤔

[Rex]

It all depends on your personal spannering to riding ratio. Some just ride, others like to rebuild bikes and old BSA's gives you the chance to do both to varying degrees.
If I just wanted a bike to ride (and I don't) I'd probably just buy a Honda be and be done with it, but how boring would that be?

[RDfella]

Neil,
the old bikes are way easier to ride than moderns. Low seat, low centre of gravity, no raised hump behind seat making it impossible to cock a leg over etc. The A7's and 10's start real easy too, so unless one has an iffy or new hip no real need for an electric start (the one for the SA won't fit the plunger / rigid).

[Billybream]

Why no centre stand as standard.

[Greybeard]

Why no centre stand as standard.

Oh yes, I hadn't thought about that. "We don't need no stinkin' centre stand!"

[Greybeard]

I have no experience of the RE Interceptor.

I'm 72, still pretty fit but I have cranky leg joints. I don't enjoy working on greasy stuff any more. I ride my bike in a careful way as I don't want to blow up the engine. I quite like the idea of a modern  cruiser and I know how good Honda are, having worked at a Honda workshop in the past. A modern moderately powered motorbike that happens to have a BSA badge sounds quite appealing to me. I could still be a member of the BSAOC.

[Greybeard]

I just wonder, why spend what will be c. £7000 on an Indian made, new, long term untested motorcycle, compared with c. £5000 on a mint 2-3 year old Honda which will probably be a better bike in almost every regard, just for a badge.

Hmm, loyalty to the brand?

But that's just my opinion and obviously you can spend your money on whatever you choose to.

I don't have the money. I'd have to flog my Plungie

Do you get kicked out of the BSAOC if you were previously an owner/member?  Years since I was in it.

No, I don't think they rip your epaulettes off.

[groily]

Well, as long as we remember the mantra 'Two Wheels Good' regardless of other factors, we'll be OK. I don't want a modern much, although I (still) have a now-22-year old XJR Yam. I guess that's 'modern', it is to me anyway. But if anyone wants a new Oilfield or Goldie, that's fine by me. It's a bike, for chrissake.
Emotionally I strongly support anyone trying to scratch a living, in nearaway or in faraway places - like India. Be it making tanks or whole bikes under whatever badge, or any other thing.
People are the same everywhere and they want much the same things. A roof, food, friends, kids, all that. I want them to have them.
I'm happy with the bits they've made for me in faraway places - I couldn't have made them, or I would have! I think the tank I mentioned, 10 years old in the pic here, was exceptionally good for the money. I would never have a word said against it when it was mine, and the new bloke is happy with it too. It's a workhorse, no more no less, so any quirks don't matter.
We have to focus on what really matters, especially in the current topsy-turvy politician-created mess we're in.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
If I win Lotto I'd buy one (and a new Notrun). Would be good to have a bike I didn't have to work on for a few years. The BSA badge would mean it wouldn't be picked on by the others in the stable!
Cheers

[RDfella]

Let us not forget this is neither a BSA nor a Gold Star. Those are simply names given to a modern motorcycle made in India, without any real connection (unlike R Enfield).
I like old motorcycles (not all!) because I can actually touch the parts made in UK in the 50's & 60's. The engineering may not be perfect, but I can actually physically connect with that history.  The Gold Star began - if I recall correctly - with the Empire Star and Brooklands. History indeed.    No comparison whatsoever with something that merely looks vaguely like a GS. They may be fine motorcycles but, in my view, have no place in the classic scene. Fine if you want to own a modern (I have a Firestorm) but let's not fool ourselves into thinking the  'Gold Star' we're discussing has a connection with our classic machines.

[muskrat]

G'day Mitch.
"Crash Test Dummy" is my middle name LOL.
Cheers

[Greybeard]

.... let's not fool ourselves into thinking the  'Gold Star' we're discussing has a connection with our classic machines.

Just a badge

[Greybeard]

33° Centigrade