Words: Abhishek Pandey
When I first rode the BSA Goldstar 650, I was not only impressed by the way the motorcycle managed to catch eyeballs but also by how the single-cylinder retro motorcycle from BSA performed. In urban conditions, the bike felt comfortable, handled nicely, and the engine, despite being a short-stroke motor, performed well even in the lower revs. What I couldn’t test was how it would perform on a track, and honestly, one seldom expects to ride a retro motorcycle on a race track. But I was in for a surprise as Classic Legends, the parent company of BSA, Yezdi and Jawa, invited journalists to experience their motorcycles at the National Automotive Test Tracks (NATRAX) high-speed testing facility, which is a world-class testing and certification facility located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
I was visiting the NATRAX for the first time, which is about an hour and a half from Indore, and the fact that such a facility is situated in my home state was enough to pump my excitement even more. The complete range of motorcycles from Classic Legends was parked right outside the handling track, one of the many testing tracks at the facility. My obvious first choice was the BSA Goldstar 650 as it was the latest offering from the company that I had reviewed, and half an hour of track time was a good opportunity to test the motorcycle to its full potential.
The Goldstar 650 is a comfortable machine which soaks up bumps and undulations with great poise and managed to stay composed in the corners during our review, and this very fact made me curious as to how it would behave when pushed to the limits. I assessed the track on my first two laps, marked the visual pointers and started pushing it. The handling track at NATRAX is a combination of flowing corners, tight turns and long sweeping straights and the 650cc short stroke engine of the BSA, although mated to a classic motorcycle, felt at home. The torquey motor and the precise gearing result in quick triple-digit runs and can maintain decent speeds around the corners without much drama. The fastest I managed to clock before the longest straight merged into a tight right-hand corner was 160kmph.
The capable engine is complemented by a potent chassis and suspension package, which although is fantastic on the road but reaches its limits on the track. The motorcycle feels confident on the straights, but when it comes to the corners, you do feel the need for a slightly stiffer rear suspension, but that does not mean I was limiting myself. The Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp tyres were doing a phenomenal job of gripping the tarmac, and I was scraping the foot pegs at most of the corners. While I was pushing it more and more with every lap, I was struggling with gripping the smooth tank with my thighs courtesy of touring pants, and that was the point when I realised how important a tank grip can be on a retro motorcycle.
As humans, we tend to judge a book by its cover, and I won’t shy away from saying I never thought the BSA Goldstar 650 would be so much fun on the track. Swap the suspension with a stiffer unit, put on a pair of clip on handlebars and you have a retro racer in your hands. Just like that, my thirty minutes with the motorcycle were over, and I had to give way to the next batch of journalists to experience the BSA Goldstar 650 on the track, and it was my turn to move to my next ride, the Yezdi Adventure!
