BSA recently unveiled its Gold Star motorcycle in the UK. The retro-styled motorcycle with present-day tech gives us a feel of modernization. The BSA Gold Star will be a direct competition to Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 as both bikes have a 650cc engine on offer and come with retro styling.
Let’s have a look at what both the bikes offer.
Engine
The BSA Gold Star has a 652cc single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that puts out 45BHP of power and 55Nm of torque.
On the other side, Royal Enfield Interceptor offers a 648 cc air-cooled, SOHC, fuel-injected, parallel-twin motor producing 47 hp and 52 Nm of torque. By looking at stats, the Interceptor has more power but Gold Star offers more torque. The Gold Star 652cc single-cylinder engine has to prove its worth against the tested and loved Interceptor 650 twin-cylinder motor.
Suspension
Suspension plays a key role. It tells us how good the bike can take a bump or how good the bike feels on long rides. Both the Interceptor and Gold Star offer a similar suspension setup. A 41mm telescopic front fork and a 5 step adjusting twin shocks at the rear.
Transmission
The Royal Enfield offers a 6-speed gearbox on the Interceptor as well as Continental GT 650. Recently unveiled BSA Gold Star offers a 5-speed gearbox unit. With one less gear, the touring capability of the BSA Gold Star will be somewhat compromised against the Interceptor 650.
Brakes
These bikes are powerful machines. So to stop them you need a good set of brakes which both bikes seem to offer. At the front, both bikes offer 320mm disc brakes but the BSA Gold Star gets 255mm while the interceptor gets 240mm disc brakes at the rear. Both bikes offer dual-channel ABS as a standard.
Fuel Tank
Bigger the fuel tank on the motorcycle allows you to get good range from them when you are out on the highway. The Interceptor has 13.7 liters of a fuel tank. The BSA on the other hand offers 12 liters of a fuel tank.
Seat Height
A rider should be comfortable on the bike so when he/she sits on the bike his/her feet should not be tip-top. To be comfortable, seat height plays a key role. The Seat height on Interceptor is 804mm and on Gold Star 780mm. By the numbers, Gold Star would be comfortable for short riders as it has a lower seat height than Interceptor.
Also read: Royal Enfield SG 650 Concept Unveiled At EICMA 2021 – Could Pave The Way For Shotgun 650
BSA Gold Star is yet to be launched in India. So pricing would play a key role. As of now the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 is priced at Rs 2.7 Lakhs ex-showroom.
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The number of transmission gears should not affect a bike’s touring quality. Probably, both bikes have similar top gear ratios. They should both be happy at touring speeds.