BSA has offered a preview of its future direction with the unveiling of a new Scrambler, its first motorcycle to be spun off from the revived firm’s Gold Star 650 comeback model.
The mothballed nameplate made a high-profile return to the market this year after being resurrected by Mahindra subsidiary Classic Legends.
Re-emerging some 50 years on from the British-founded company ceasing operations, a modern reboot of the BSA Gold Star 650 was charged with establishing the marque to a contemporary audience.
With bosses intimating at the time that the platform would spawn alternative body styles going forward, the first of these was previewed at Motorcycle Live in the form of a Scrambler.
Based on the same single-cylinder 652cc platform as the Gold Star 650, the Scrambler is for now a concept design study to gauge public reaction before a decision is made on whether it will be put into production.
While demonstrating a more contemporary finish than its sibling, the Scrambler nonetheless still harnesses a multitude of smart, retro-inspired details, from the numbered side plate, beaked nose and flat-seat.
This all rides on fat knobbly Pirelli tyres, wire spoke wheels and high-set suspension, while a reprofiled exhaust represents a visible tweak to the configuration of the engine.
The BSA Scrambler is the first product to emerge from the company’s R&D facility located in the West Midlands, the inaugural step in a commitment made by Mahindra to establish a production base in the UK too.
Describing the Scrambler as having ‘youthful, fresh appeal’, BSA adds that it ‘showcases the customisation capability of BSA’s Gold Star platform and the ability to lend itself to new, purpose-built concepts, while offering a snapshot of what the future could look like’.
For now, BSA bosses are remaining tight-lipped on whether the Scrambler will see a mainstream light of day, but if it does it will have fairly few rivals in its market space to tackle, being larger than the Royal Enfield Scram 411 and smaller than the popular Triumph Scrambler 900
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