Update on the new BSA

[CheeserBeezer]

I'm enjoying this healthy debate about the new BSA. Everybody is entitled to spend their money on what they want. For me, buying the new BSA, is like spending an extra £50 on a pair of trainers just for the Nike brand, or paying double for McVities chocolate biscuits when the Tesco ones are fine. I think we (us old folks) are being targeted for our 'silver pound'. Let's face it, the BSA name means nothing to anybody under 55 so I don't suppose anybody under 55 will buy one. So, straight away, Mahindra are targeting a reduced market sector which is why the bikes have to be overpriced. I'm not ruling out buying one, but I'll definitely wait a couple of years, when I'll be 70, and maybe it will suit my needs then, and there will be feedback from existing owners. That's just me being sensible for a change. I'm a bit miffed that the BSAOC has already taken the decision to acknowledge it as I don't think the bike has any connection to BSA other than the name. If the Star magazine gets overloaded with articles about the new 'Gold Star' I will be really hacked off. Is any part of the bike actually manufactured in the UK? As yet, I can't find a place for it in my stable because it cannot replace any of my proper BSA's - I couldn't be riding round on a new BSA kidding myself that I'm riding a classic bike - and I certainly wouldn't swap my Z900RS for it. Nope, not for me.....yet!

[RichardL]

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

Just a badge

This raises a question: Is there a connection between the 2022 Jaguar made by TATA out of Mumbai and the XK120?

Richard L.

[KiwiGF]

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

Just a badge

This raises a question: Is there a connection between the 2022 Jaguar made by TATA out of Mumbai and the XK120?

Richard L.

Or a connection between my 96 Land Rover Discovery (a “BMW”...sort of 😉) and the latest TATA offerings, like the new Defender 😀.

It seems the thing people struggle with is that BSA ceased manufacturing (went bust), which has broken the lineage, but if they hadn’t stopped manufacturing I suspect more people would accept Mahindra’s ownership of the brand, a brand that was owned by BSA before it went bust.

I am not currently in the market for a bike like the BSA but, if I was I would still think of it as a legitimate BSA, but not in the same way as one made in the midlands.

Edit: I just read the “wiki” on the ownership of the BSA brand and BSA’s were made in quite a few guises after the 70’s. Not continuously but not far off. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSA_Company

[Brian]

There is a small detail here that I think needs to be considered when considering weather the new BSA is a real BSA or not and I believe it makes a big difference. As an example when the Indians, currently Eicher Motors Limited, bought Royal Enfield they bought the company, they shifted a lot of the plant and equipment to India and started manufacturing in India. So you can make the argument that the current Royal Enfields are a direct descendant of the original British company. Mahindra did not buy the BSA company or any part of it, they bought the rights to the name. There is absolutely no connection between the new BSA's and the originals. Now if anyone wants to buy one of the new ones thats great but dont for a minute think you are getting a modern version of a BSA, you are buying a modern motorcycle manufactured in India that just happens to have a BSA emblem on the tank. Can you image the outcry if these bikes were painted all black and had Vincent Black Shadow on the tank !

[CheeserBeezer]

There is a small detail here that I think needs to be considered when considering weather the new BSA is a real BSA or not and I believe it makes a big difference. As an example when the Indians, currently Eicher Motors Limited, bought Royal Enfield they bought the company, they shifted a lot of the plant and equipment to India and started manufacturing in India. So you can make the argument that the current Royal Enfields are a direct descendant of the original British company. Mahindra did not buy the BSA company or any part of it, they bought the rights to the name. There is absolutely no connection between the new BSA's and the originals. Now if anyone wants to buy one of the new ones thats great but dont for a minute think you are getting a modern version of a BSA, you are buying a modern motorcycle manufactured in India that just happens to have a BSA emblem on the tank. Can you image the outcry if these bikes were painted all black and had Vincent Black Shadow on the tank !

I totally agree, and your remarks about the Vincent apply to BSA. I feel it is an insult to call the new bike a Gold Star - though BSA committed the same crime themselves back in the day with the B25. We all know what a Gold Star should really look like and, more importantly, ride like. It is an iconic model which cannot have its identity stolen.

[mikeb]

. It is an iconic model which cannot have its identity stolen   

Agree. When triumph released the new 'trident' aka a neutered commuter hack I thought they must be desperately selling whatever little family silver was left in the cupboard. Not a shard of Britannia's spear to be seen or the raw triple to be heard. Given these new BSA's (and lower end triumphs) are all overpriced knockoffs, the lack of badge integrity makes them like cheap amarni handbags.

[KiwiGF]

There is a small detail here that I think needs to be considered when considering weather the new BSA is a real BSA or not and I believe it makes a big difference. As an example when the Indians, currently Eicher Motors Limited, bought Royal Enfield they bought the company, they shifted a lot of the plant and equipment to India and started manufacturing in India. So you can make the argument that the current Royal Enfields are a direct descendant of the original British company. Mahindra did not buy the BSA company or any part of it, they bought the rights to the name. There is absolutely no connection between the new BSA's and the originals. Now if anyone wants to buy one of the new ones thats great but dont for a minute think you are getting a modern version of a BSA, you are buying a modern motorcycle manufactured in India that just happens to have a BSA emblem on the tank. Can you image the outcry if these bikes were painted all black and had Vincent Black Shadow on the tank !

Nit picking but when Royal Enfield went bust they do not appear to have sold the brand name, ultimately the Indian company licensed by the original UK company to make Bullets for sale in India (and which stayed in business after RE went bust) has ended up “owning” the RE brand name “internationally” (after some court cases). It never bought the RE brand as far as I know.

Ultimately I reckon everyone has to make up their own mind in how much loyalty to attach to any brand, the new BSA is just a start to me, a good start but just a start. To me it is important what happens next, and whether the new BSA company develops into a brand I prefer to others. It’s likely to take years for the brand to re-establish itself, so I may never buy one.

Interestingly I have read the target market is not old buggers like the majority on here, but riders in their 40’s so the new BSA company won’t care what older riders think anyway.

If the new 650 Goldstar was reliable, had 60+hp and quality suspension and same price I would look at it very differently!

[mikeb]

If the new 650 Goldstar was reliable, had 60+hp and quality suspension and same price I would look at it very differently

Agree with that too. In the big single category id choose the vitpillen 701

[KiwiGF]

If the new 650 Goldstar was reliable, had 60+hp and quality suspension and same price I would look at it very differently

Agree with that too. In the big single category id choose the vitpillen 701

I had to google vitpilen but that is a really a re-badged KTM 690 (sorry....😏) so I see where you are coming from 😆

The KTM 390 single range has the same hp as the BSA and is considerably cheaper but of course they are NOT retro bikes, so cost less to produce and look VERY different. The KTM 690 single range (costs a lot of $$$, much more than the new BSA) has approaching 75hp and the motor was allegedly designed by an ex-rotax engineer, which (at a stretch) makes me think there will be a BSA Goldstar with more HP released at some point, maybe soon, but that may not fit with the new BSA brand “image”.

You would not be able to stop the muscrats of the world putting a free flowing pipe, hotter cams, rear sets and clip ons on the new goldie of course 😆

[muskrat]

G'day Kiwi.
No I'd leave it std at least till the warranty ran out
Cheers

[KiwiGF]

G'day Kiwi.
No I'd leave it std at least till the warranty ran out
Cheers

Probably wise 😆 maybe the new Gold Star is actually the B33 of the new range, but that is not the best name for a bike so they went with Gold Star maybe there will be a 60hp Gold Star Clubmans

[Rex]

What is all this talk of brand/marque loyalty and lineage?
BSA went tits-up back in 1971 (I believe) and though Mahindra probably view me as the target audience for one of their bikes I wouldn't buy one. I was a kid doing a paper round back then and now I'm retired. Fifty-plus years is a large gap in production, and so I don't get the "that's not a real BSA" comments.
Only the "really old" even remember new BSAs being on sale back then, and there wasn't many of them..
As I recall Hinckley Triumphs faced the same nonsense when they were launched, c/w the same concerns about the TOMCC being swamped etc yet they all seem to get on well enough.
It's just another bike albeit with a familiar badge on the tank. Buy it or don't buy it, it's not that important an issue.
 

[Greybeard]

... It's just another bike albeit with a familiar badge on the tank. Buy it or don't buy it, it's not that important an issue.

Yes, you echo my feelings.

I was very tempted by the Kawasaki W800. I see the new BSA as a similar machine with the bonus of the BSA badge. Whether the BSA will be as reliable as a Kwaker remains to be seen.

[Rex]

My mate had a W800 until recently, when he was tempted by one of those bigger Honda scooter things. Old age again.
The Kawa was a good bike, went well, looked good in black and gold, and very reliable. If the new BSA is as good (and there's no reason why it shouldn't be) it'll be a winner.

[berger]

for looks and reliability just buy the kwack 800 and stick BSA badges on it