Classic Legends’ third iconic yesteryears brand makes it official India debut, nearly 40 years after the company went bust.
Classic Legends’ third iconic yesteryears brand makes it official India debut, nearly 40 years after the company went bust
One in four motorcycles sold ever was a BSA. Yeah, during the mighty days of the British industries, BSA was the most popular motorcycle manufacturer, offering the widest range of motorcycles across cubic capacities. And on the eve of the launch of the revived icon in India as well as its new(-ish) Gold Star 650, we take a small dive into how Birmingham Small Arms transformed from an armament company to producing some of the fastest and the most beautiful motorcycles on Earth.
Like most British brands, BSA also started out as a company that made weapons of warfare. It wasn’t until 1903 that it made its first motorcycle and it took a further seven years for the bike to officially go into production from its Small Heath factory. It was a humble small 3.5 hp model meant to be affordable and accessible to the British workforce. These were further improved upon and put into immediate action in World War 1, where a lot of British army personnel used BSAs in the battlefields.
Post the war, BSA’s popular 493 cc side-valve single-cylinder engine was quite popular at the time. This gave the company officials the impetus to produce a slightly higher performance model. And to distinguish it, a small red-coloured star was affixed to the crankcase. That’s where the famed BSA Star series began. And over the next ten years, the series went from a Blue Star, Silver Star, Empire Star, and then finally the motorcycle that earned BSA all of its plaudits: the Gold Star.
Back in the 1920s, the British Motorcycle Racing Club used to award a gold star badge to anyone who lapped the Brooklands Speedway over 100 miles per hour (162 kmph). For BSA who had no racing pedigree until then, this was the perfect opportunity to wheel out something special. And something special it did.
A special version of the M23 Empire Star was devised. A high compression piston, racing magneto, and a Brooklands fishtail exhaust were some modifications to the mill, which was altered to gulp alcohol fuel. And it was handed over to one of the star racers of those years: Walter Handley.
The bike was entered in a 3-lap race at Brooklands in June 1927. Handley was made to start at the back of the field but that did little to hold him off from achieving victory. His average speed in the race was 104 miles per hour plus, which earned BSA its first gold star badge. And more so, he set the fastest lap in the race of 107 miles per hour, earning another gold star. This was probably the best possible outcome that the company had envisaged, and immediately, work began on a production model of the very same race bike. Thus, the Gold Star name came into existence.
BSA continued to enjoy much success and even after World War 2, it kept its momentum at the top. The Gold Star kept evolving. But BSA knew that in order to succeed, it had to back up the stars with something that was deservingly thrilling as well. Smaller capacity 250 cc C10s to C15s as well as 125 cc two-stroke Bantams began proliferating the market. Since India was also under colonial rule at that time, distribution networks were set up in several prominent Indian cities and the bikes were imported in small numbers. And enthusiasts who didn’t quite have the resources to have a Gold Star in their garage still revelled with having a BSA as their steed.
Britain’s financial crisis in the late 1960s hurt all of its companies, BSA included. Some perished immediately, some fought on for a while. Ultimately, BSA met the same fate, shutting shop in 1971. There were a few not-so-successful revival attempts until 2016. The Mahindra-backed Classic Legends was looking for a British marque in its kitty and who better than BSA.
And now under an Indian ownership, the British raaj’s finest motorcycling brand will make its Indian arrival once again. The first two-wheeler chosen aims to replicate the brand’s success from the 1950s and 1960s, providing a heady yet powerful single-cylinder retro motorcycling experience.
