BSA Back?

[Shaft]

BSA could be making a comeback

https://www.ft.com/content/76d67754-1ba6-4dbc-ab1e-8da232f47284
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[rpsmith79]

[stinkwheel]

What they should do is design a basic motorbike that is desirable to the motorcycling public and competative with their rivals in both price and performance. They could incorporate new technology and features that were painfully missing from their previous models.

They could take out finance so they can make it on a state of the art production line with computerised just-in-time stock control.

Then in enimitable British fashion, someone could fuck with the prototype so the motor wont fit into the frame without partially dismantling it and instead of checking with anyone, just set the production line going.

They could call it the "Fury".
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Bhud]

https://www.bmf.co.uk/news/show/boost-for-bikes-in-new-government-funding

[DUCAUDI]

So BSA set to make a comeback from an Indian billionaire at around the same time as Indian Enfield go for a burton.

Have I got that right? Enfield are stopping production?
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2023 DucAudi Mehrstraße V4 Hechte Gipfel - "Objectively the best motorcycle ever produced" - "You can have any colour, as long as it's red"
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S

[stinkwheel]

[DUCAUDI]

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2023 DucAudi Mehrstraße V4 Hechte Gipfel - "Objectively the best motorcycle ever produced" - "You can have any colour, as long as it's red"
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S

[DUCAUDI]

Not really a fan of either but would be nice to see BSA back in business. Albeit an Indian reincarnation.
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2023 DucAudi Mehrstraße V4 Hechte Gipfel - "Objectively the best motorcycle ever produced" - "You can have any colour, as long as it's red"
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S

[Robby]

Much like with Enfield and Norton, this is good for the UK.

Back in the day, and I suppose a little bit still today, the big Japanese and Italian manufacturers would do their normal bikes, and the occasional ultra-desirable, expensive, limited production run special to keep people interested. None of us could realistically imagine buying such a machine.

Now the Indian-owned old British brands are doing the same thing, but the limited-run specials are just the UK domestic offerings - all of the Nortons, Enfield twin, and now a BSA electric bike. The stuff sold in bulk in India will be basic bikes at a third of the price, we get to buy their loss leaders.

I am looking forward to a volume manufacturer doing an electric bike.

[DUCAUDI]

[Polarbear]

[Bhud]

I don't think it's good news for anyone. The Mahindra guy is being given taxpayers money to fund a private enterprise, and we all know he isn't going to reinvent the wheel. He's going to open an R&D facility here, but no huge advances on the electric motor or on battery cells will be in the pipeline. I think that would be a very tall order. I find it far more likely that what we can expect is a load of designers coming up with "retro" design concepts around a basic electric motor. Call me cynical, but I think they may as well be fashion designers for a clothing company.

What I would far rather see is investment into researching and developing synthetic clean-burning fuels which can readily be used in normal ICE bikes, without the need for acres upon acres of contaminated land from mining rare earths in the Far East - out of sight but not out of mind. Nor the immense environmental cost of scrapping ICE vehicles (which is bound to happen if they're forced off the road), or of manufacturing and importing electric fuel cells and other components.

I am also perturbed by the fact that BMF, an organisation whose membership comprises mostly owners of ICE bikes, enthuses about this news. Recently, there was news of a courier company in Oxford that had plans to buy an unspecified number of Zero electric bikes (each at £15K-plus) and to hire a team of couriers on £8.70 an hour to ride them. I checked their blog and it seems they are avid advocates of Oxford's new Zero Emissions Zone - i.e. they want to ban ICE bikes from Oxford city centre. And why not, eh. After all, if they're the only ones with electric fleet bikes at their disposal, everyone will have to get their pizzas delivered by them. Good for business. I rather suspect that MAG and BMF have the same sort of plan in mind, being as they're about "powered two-wheelers" and not motorcycles per se. They're rather quiet about pedestrianisation and things like that, aren't they. I think the electric scooterist is probably the "new" customer base.

What I'm getting at is, we're all Indians now. It started with the inner city moped crime wave, which has now spread to all major towns in the country. They ride through red lights, ride on the pavements, etc. and the police don't want to know. That's how it started, and now you see the same thing with electric scooters being ridden in an unlawful manner, in contravention of all rules of traffic. In other words, our roads system is regressing to a lesser regulated and lesser policed state reminiscent of developing countries. A lot of these countries simply leapfrogged an industrial age infrastructure stage. For example, some SE Asian countries that didn't have an expensive potable water mains system in their cities simply omitted it altogether, substituting a cheaper "groundwater" solution, and the people there drink bottled water to this day. In other countries, hotels were developed without an underground waste/sewage system, so a road transport haulage solution (from tanks) was hastily devised. In other countries, there was no countrywide landline telephone network, and they simply went straight to 3G. The list goes on. Now, the tables are turned and our road and traffic systems are being quietly offlined to support the general chaos of low power output low range electric vehicles.

In summary I find that it's unlikely that whatever electric vehicles "BSA" may develop will be aimed at motorcyclists, as such. I think it will be for a different sort of crowd altogether. It's even possible that private ownership of whatever they're selling won't be on the cards, and that they'll simply be electric bicycles owned and leased for hire by local councils, or similar.

[Lone-Wolf]

[stinkwheel]

Remember though, BSA is an armaments manufacturer who branched out into bicycles. Motorcycles came later.

Pretty sure they never stopped making guns.

You could say electric bicycles would be closer to their roots than motorcycles.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[wr6133]

[pepperami]

[Ayrton]

I think it's good that we will see more electric bike manufacturers. Doesn't look like a scam either since they are looking to sell ICE bikes first.

[Robby]

[wr6133]

[Easy-X]

With this just appearing:

Ban on new petrol and diesel cars in UK from 2030 under PM's green plan

And for purely selfish reasons I dug out this earlier article:

Government confirms motorbikes not included in 2035 petrol ban

tl;dr The government was going with 2040 then 2035 in the summer and now considering 2030... for cars and light vans. Apparently 'cos electric motorcycles are a bit crap and there being a lot less ICE bikes than cars the government has taken pity on the market. This sounds suspiciously sensible

Therefore, one might be forgiven for hoping BSA cocks it up royally
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Polarbear]

[DUCAUDI]

[rpsmith79]

[doggone]

Without going all conspiracy I suspect the Lockdowns are trial runs for making most of the population dramatically reduce journeys beyond work or supermarket and back.
So you are being directed think it's not worth spending £50k on an electric car when you won't even be able to go anywhere.

Petrol may well be largely phased out quite quickly but I struggle to see how diesel for tractors trucks and plant like diggers won't be available.
Has to be said electric bikes are already looking like a reasonable option for most of us - if the price comes down - and you have a way to charge at home off street.

The question mark is how those batteries perform when they are getting on for ten years old, and how costly they are to replace assuming it's even possible.

Boris announcement about £4bn to make fossil cars go away by 2030 is a joke when they are spending 100bn on the new train line to go between two shitholes 10 minutes faster than you can now.

[rpsmith79]