BSA Gold Star
For a brand which ruled in the 1950s, BSA has lain dormant for almost half a century.
Indian automotive giant Mahindra purchased the rights to the classic name a few years back and set about reviving this once great name with a homage to its most famous model – the Gold Star.
The ‘Goldie’ offered weekend warriors a motorbike they could ride to work during the week, before taking on a scramble or club road race at the weekend.
The 2022 BSA Gold Star isn’t, of course, a modern day sports bike, nor a bike which has been designed for competition use, but visually it pays homage to the 30s/40s original. It looks super authentic and the 650cc single cylinder motor provides livelier performance than you might expect. Like the original, it’s good for the fabled ‘ton’ and it also comes with a highly competitive price tag at launch.
Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
It’s been a long, long time since Enfields have been built in Blighty and the brand is now very firmly under Indian ownership, but if you want an authentic modern incarnation of the classic British motorbike you can’t go far wrong with a modern day Royal Enfield.
The single cylinder Himalayan and Scram are unique in the marketplace but a little breathless, while the Meteor 350 twin offers great value for money if not much by way of performance. But for a bit more go, and some real 1960s Brit bike vibe the 650 range really hits the spot.
Air-cooled parallel twins with a keen price tag, we loved the Interceptor 650 when we tested it last year. It seems we weren’t the only ones either, as they’ve sold like hotcakes since coming to the UK in 2018.
Triumph Bonneville T100
If they didn’t invent the modern classic genre with the reborn Bonneville in 2001, Triumph certainly popularised it.
Derivatives like the Scrambler and Thruxton followed and showed that Triumph, and retro, could be cool. In recent years the brand has thoroughly expanded its range with a slew of 900cc and 1200cc models powered by totally modern parallel twin engines.
Our choice is the 900cc Bonneville T100, which offers all of the bigger T120’s style with a more laid back engine and a smaller price tag.
All of the Triumph classic range are fantastic machines, although if there is one criticism it’s that they are just that bit too good! Strip away the Sixties styling and you have some thoroughly modern engineering. That means super smooth engines, slick gearboxes and ultra light clutch actions. If a teeth chattering Brit bike of old is your bag you might be disappointed, but if you want a head-turning modern bike that is low maintenance and easy to ride you won’t go far wrong with one of these.
Norton Commando 961
Norton has seemingly lurched from crisis to crisis since its heydays in the 1950s and ‘60s but even by standards the brand’s stormy past, the 21st century story under the stewardship of Stuart Garner has been particularly troublesome.
The good news though is that, like BSA and Royal Enfield, Norton is now under Indian ownership. TVS took over a few years ago and have invested heavily in the brand and its British facilities. Old school Brit bikes have massive appeal in India, so we can expect the Norton brand to be much revered by the new owners.
They’ve recently relaunched the V4 superbike and next up is this, a reengineered Commando 961.
It’s a classic British roadster which should appeal to the Norton faithful. No word on prices or availability dates yet, but it’s not likely to be at the budget end of the market. It will be one of the most authentic retros on the road today though, and a fitting bridge between the classic Nortons of old and the next generation which is no doubt to follow under TVS management.
Brough Superior Lawrence
When it comes to sheer luxury, Brough Superior gained a reputation as the Rolls Royce of motorcycles during the interwar years.
The company was never restarted after the Second World War, but the legend lived on. Like all of these five classic British motorcycle brands, it was revived. In the case of Brough, the man responsible for the revival was Mark Upham, a Brit who had established a reputation as one of the preeminent experts on the brand.
The first bikes, V-twins built in France at the Voxan factory went on sale for £45,000 in 2016. The S.S.100, named after the most iconic (100mph) model from the original company, was a work of art and a very fine motorcycle.
The latest model is this, the Lawrence. It’s a dual seat model named after Brough Superior’s most famous customer. T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia. He famously owned several Broughs and was fatally injured after crashing one in 1935. Prices are still befitting a ‘Rolls Royce’ brand, coming in at over £60,000, but chances are you won’t see another one at the local bike meet.
