BSA Gold Star 650: A Thunderbird owner's quick review

It's in many ways a successor to the old 500cc mills, however one must keep in mind that it's not a slow revving single.

BHPian ss11011988 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Went to the Jayanagar showroom for a quick test ride yesterday, and these are my thoughts about the whole process.

Showroom Experience: I reached the showroom by around 5:30 in the evening. There was some crowd in the showroom, but most of them were busy checking out the other bikes in the showroom than the Goldie. I asked for a test ride, and I was immediately handed over the keys to a Shadow Black bike. Contrary to the other manufacturer dealers, the bike had a full tank of fuel, so props to the showroom guys on that. Post the test ride, they gave me a test ride feedback form to capture my thoughts. Though the guys were proactive, the experience needs to be improved. For instance, firstly, there were too many customers and too less staff to cater to the needs of the crowd. Secondly, on enquiring about the fuel tank capacity, especially the useable and reserve measures, they got zoned out and was unable to give me a proper answer. They told me it's 15L when it's actually 12L, if I'm not wrong. I don't blame the sales guys, but come on Classic Legends / Mahindra, if you want customers to shell out 4 something lakhs out of their precious reserves, you sure train the dealership employees to such a level that they can provide a superlative experience to the prospective customers. If the sales guys itself are clueless about the bike, I wonder what the state of the service center guys would be. And oh, the contact number listed in the Google maps goes to a customer support system where nobody picks up. That being said, the gentleman in the showroom was patient enough to listen to my feedback and has even offered me a longer test ride next time I visit the showroom, though I clearly told him that I have no plans of buying a bike immediately.

Test Ride / Bike Experience: The bike looks proper old school and there are no two ways about it.

The bike felt well put together to me at least, and I couldn't find anything concerning during the short stint. Though the bike weights 200kgs, you won't have much trouble dealing with it unless you are on a tricky parking lot or something when compared to an Interceptor 650. What I really missed was the absence of a grab handle below the rear seat or so to assist me in pushing the bike out of the showroom parking lot, however the lower stance of the bike helps in that process. Fired her up, and it took her 10-15 seconds to settle down to her comfortable idling rhythm. It's a big single and it shows. You could see the taillights and all shaking slightly to the rhythm of her big heart much similar to the old Classic 500. Slotted into first and off I went. This is where it moves away from the behavior of the old 500cc mills. This one got dollops of torque, and it comes in waves, right from the word go. Have to say that the BSA got the engine right, at least on this bike. It just surges ahead propelled by all that torque, and I would say much better than the 650 twins in that matter, and it revs up fairly quickly for a single. The engine has a faint, yet noticeable and pleasing turbo whistle like sound when you engage the throttle every time, which makes you engage the throttle more than often. Riding the bike in city is such an experience, you will feel that you are riding something old school yet modern, you will get admiring, second looks all around. I didn't feel much heat emanating from the engine; however, the silencer heats up pretty quickly and it desperately needs a heat shield, unless you want a nasty burn / burned out jeans / charred shoe side during that one time when any of this gets in touch with it. The dials are more of a form over function setup. It looks very retro, very charming, but it won't be of much use to you when you are riding it. For instance, the dial arms will be somewhere in the 5-7'o clock positions when you ride it in the city or so, and you won't be able to see it when you want to have a quick glance at it due to the position of the dials (unless you edge forward and look through). The tiny digital screens are useless for the most part and on a bright sunny day, forget about reading out anything from it, unless you cover it with your hands and peek through. The gear shifts felt smooth, slightly clunky, again reminiscent of an old school single, yet I never ran to a false neutral or so. The braking experience was good, felt it to be predictable. I must confess that I was unable to enquire further on the spoke wheels / tire setup, I might check with them on my next visit. The seat felt alright too, better than the affair in the 650cc offerings from RE.

Overall, I had a nice experience with the bike, and I would say it's tailor made for those people wanting a nice old school, yet fairly modern big single cylinder bike for those weekend / breakfast rides that could double up as a commuter too when they want to take it to the office every now and then. It's in many ways a successor to the old 500cc mills, however one must keep in mind that it's not a slow revving single. Torque heads will absolutely love the bike and will make them grin like Venom behinds their helmets every time they open the throttle. However, as Shumi said in his review on this bike, they are obsessed with the industry leader, and in my view, they need to do over and above in every aspect of the experience to out-maneuver them, and this is where Mahindra really needs to bring their work ethics from the 4-wheeler division to their 2-wheeler division. Because the bike is brilliant; it's the rest of the stuff that sticks out like a sore thumb that needs to be ironed out. Peace.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.