IF THERE WAS an award for the most widely faked classic motorcycle in the world, then BSA’s Rocket Gold Star would be a strong contender.
BSA only made this beautiful sporting twin in 1962 and 1963, and produced a mere 1584 examples. Yet look around and you will see a lot of Rocket Gold Stars, some honestly labelled as ‘replicas’ and more than a few not!
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The idea for the Rocket Gold Star came from BSA dealer Eddie Dow, an icon of the British motorcycle trade.
Eddie was a BSA Gold Star specialist with a highly successful record of racing the legendary singles, and he also produced his own range of goodies for them.
However, for the man in the street, the smoothness, easy starting and flexibility of a twin appeared attractive compared to the demands of a highly tuned big single.
In its favour, the Gold Star handled sublimely well. Manx Nortons were considered to be the benchmark for fine handling but in many ways the BSA was the sweeter chassis. It’s certainly more forgiving, even on modern tyres.
Read more in the March issue of CBG
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