Introduction
As eventful a motoring festival as India Bike Week is, the tradition of riding down to Goa to attend it is equally special. The excitement of being a part of this mega motorcycling carnival while coming across fellow riders on the road sporadically, especially if you’re travelling from Mumbai or Pune, is unmatched. Meanwhile, how enjoyable your ride to IBW will be also depends, to some extent, on the kind of motorcycle you’re riding. It was the BSA Goldstar 650 for me this year and touring on it was a bittersweet experience.
Likes
The engine is the strongest suit of the Goldstar 650. Be in the right gear and the motorcycle pulls entertainingly with its tacho-needle sweeping fast to the redline of close to 7,000rpm. It’s punchy and quick anywhere above 3,000rpm. Be it going around serpentine mountain roads or cruising on the highway, you almost never fall short of performance. Interestingly, it’s equally refined and devoid of any serious vibrations. At times, I went a bit generous with the throttle on the ride, crossing 120kmph, but the bike felt calm, except for a negligibly mild buzz on the seat.
The Goldstar is also spacious, not just in terms of accommodating a rider comfortably but also allowing a lot of luggage to be strapped on. Although the bike is visually small, there was a lot of room for my 5’11’’ frame to move around and change positions when the need be. The riding position is relaxed and almost cruiser-like, but my backside never felt sore, thanks to the seat being adequately cushioned. Moreover, there was enough space to easily mount my Viaterra Element tail bag on the pillion seat. Even if I had a bigger bag, mounting it certainly wouldn’t have been an issue.
Another thing that left me impressed was the grip of its stock tyres. The Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp rubbers might not be feel-rich, but they never felt squirmy or lacking grip, even on some seemingly slippery concrete roads of the old Mumbai-Goa highway. This made my ride through ghats quite confidence-inspiring. Adding to the confidence was the strong front brake which delivers a progressive yet strong bite, despite the lever lacking feel to some extent.
Dislikes
The weakest link in the Goldstar’s arsenal is its suspension. The rear springs do an underwhelming job of absorbing undulations at any given speed or over any level of surface imperfection. Be it going over small rumblers at low speeds or cruising at 100kmph on wavy highways, the rear feels unforgiving with rebound so violent, it throws you off the seat. It lands into potholes hard, sending a jolt to the back.
On some off-road sections which we encountered on our route to Goa, the stiff front suspension joined in the drama by sending constant jerks to my arms, making the overall ride even more unsettled. Making matters worse was the surface of the old Mumbai-Goa highway which, although looks nice and slick, is actually uneven concrete throughout.
The suspension’s lack of ability to soak up undulations hampers the handling dynamics as well. Around corners, while the tyres were instilling a lot of confidence, the rear section would get profoundly wallowy even through minor dips and crests. This would widen my line around corners and force me to take it easy by dialing down my inputs.
The Goldstar 650’s fuel gauge added another layer of inconvenience while touring. Despite having a digital gauge, it shows fuel level vaguely by directly dropping down from three points to one and then going back to three after some time followed by suddenly blinking to give a low fuel warning. This gave me range anxiety on multiple occasions during our ride. Having said that, the fuel efficiency, given its displacement, was decent with the figure hovering around 22-24kmpl. This meant a range of over 250kms from its 12-litre fuel tank.
Conclusion
As they say, one can tour on any motorcycle. It’s the pace and comfort which vary depending on the motorcycle. In these regards, the Goldstar 650 is a mixed bag. The engine is capable of staying above 100kmph all day long, and the riding position and seat space are good enough to keep you relaxed. On the flip side, the unabsorbent suspension and busy ride quality demand you to take it easy through rough sections and around corners. And the moody fuel gauge tends to induce paranoia sporadically. In a nutshell, if you plan to tour on the Goldstar 650, it would be wise to keep a calm pace, soak in the environment, indulge in its throaty exhaust sound, and not go for a time attack.
Photography by Kaustaubh Gandhi
Gallery
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BSA Goldstar 650 Right Side View
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