The chance to ride one of the famed sporting singles from Small Heath sends Rod Ker musing into past experiences with the highly-tuned machines.

BSA's Gold Star must rank as one of the top five icons of olde worlde biking. Roaring through the countryside aboard a Clubman's-trim DBD34 with close-ratio RRT2 gearbox, hunched down over the clocks, exhaust bellowing and twittering, is undoubtedly the stuff of classic dreams.

In reality, riding a DBD34 in typical 21st century road conditions would be more of a nightmare than a dream. Unsurprisingly, a motorcycle built expressly for going as fast as possible half-a-century ago is entirely unsuited to traffic-clogged Britain moving at an average speed of 12mph on a good day. Take one 499cc high-compression cylinder, throw in low clip-on handlebars, wild cam timing and an Amal GP carb that doesn't understand the word 'tick-over' and prepare for misery. Even BSA advised that a tuned Goldie wasn't suitable for road use.
This much was proved during my last close encounter with Birmingham's fastest thumper (cue letters from Velo and Norton fans!) It wasn't a particularly joyous occasion, I seem to remember, despite the chance to ride a pair of mint Goldies of the DBD34 single and Rocket twin variety. A rare chance to do a comparison, with Jim Reynolds nominated to pilot the bikes and word processor.

By the time I rattled on the scene in the late afternoon, the testing process had been under way for many hours. In fact, our intrepid team had been toiling away since of dawn, desperately trying to capture photographic proof that two sporty Beesas could move at the same time. As might have been predicted, the 650 twin was quite easy to get on with, starting well and not protesting when required to do umpteen U-turns in a narrow country lane. Meanwhile, the single had been living down to its reputation for porcine behaviour. It needed bump-starting and refused to tick over; the gear ratios and intractable engine made going slowly difficult; the narrow steering lock made turning round difficult; the nose-down riding position made everything else difficult. After hours of effort, everyone involved was injured or exhausted, or both.
So, although your ego might suggest otherwise, for practical purposes one of the less extreme Gold Star singles is really the thing to have. Although the DBD34 Clubman is the coveted one, there are other bikes bearing the same illustrious name, some that might be unrecognisable as such, except to experts. I'm thinking here of the early 350 off-roaders, but let's not forget that BSA also tagged some of the late unit singles as Gold Stars, which is considered sacrilegious to many!
To return to the beginning, the famous badge began life on a tuned M24 Empire Star, one of a new range of singles designed by Val Page for the 1937 season. In June of that year, Walter Handley came out of retirement to race a specially-prepared version at the Brooklands banked oval. He won, receiving the customary Gold Star award for lapping at over 100mph. This success provided the name and inspiration to offer something comparable to the public.
'Bright Throughout: every model in the BSA range is FIRST in its class...' trumpeted the 1938 ads, with justifiable pride. Similar in essence to the Empire Star, the sporty model had a lightened frame, TT carburettor and an all-aluminium engine (losing the iron cylinder head was said to save about 20lb), the gearbox casing being of exotic magnesium alloy. Different specs were available for different purposes. The competition version was popular, but not many people had use for a machine in Brooklands 'track' trim.
Still fewer needed one after 1939. Brooklands closed, never to reopen, and, although BSA planned a 1940 range, the factory soon turned to military contracts. The still-born B29 became the WB30, which eventually spawned the post-war range of big singles, spearheaded by the 348cc B31.
The Goldie line resumed in 1949 with the B32GS, primarily intended for trials and scrambles competition. Apart from extra chrome (a scarce commodity in immediate post-war days), the most obvious difference in this case was the 21in front wheel and knobbly tyres. BSA also had a beady eye on the new ACU Clubman's TT for amateur riders on production machines, so open exhausts and road-size wheels and tyres were on the options list. The 348cc model was soon joined by a 500, which shared nearly everything with its small brother except piston size.
And that was the beginning of a legend. ISDT, scrambles and Clubman's TT wins came thick and fast during the 1950s. Although Gold Stars weren't terribly different from the ordinary B31 and B33, they were initially produced in a special section of the factory to the highest standards, bench-tested for power output, then taken for a thrash on the road, with the best of the lot going to favoured customers.

END OF ONLINE SAMPLE | BACK TO FEATURE INDEX