BSA has been in the news for quite some time now, what with its resurrection from the dead a few years ago and its legendary Gold Star name being revived last year. Now, the Indian-owned British marque has filed trademarks for three of its yesteryear models – Lightning, Thunderbolt and Bantam – in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
BSA Lightning, Thunderbolt, Bantam names trademarked
The new-age BSA Gold Star stays true to its heritage from yesteryear, sporting a large-capacity single-cylinder engine of nearly the same displacement. Now, if the manufacturer were to implement that philosophy to the Lightning and Thunderbolt names, both of them would be reincarnated as modern-day 650cc parallel-twins, like their namesakes from a bygone era. Another possibility is the development of an all-new larger-capacity engine, which will take the fight to the modern-day retros from Triumph, Kawasaki and BMW that are a step up in terms of power and features from the Gold Star.
If the Lightning and Thunderbolt names are aimed at the more premium end of the market, the Bantam name is aimed at the smaller-capacity and more accessible end of the spectrum. The BSA Bantam of yesteryear was a small 125cc 2-stroke machine that was quite the trail carver.
Classic Legends, parent company of BSA, also owns Yezdi and Jawa, both of which have small-capacity single-cylinder engines in the 300-350cc category. So perhaps, we may see this platform on a BSA-badged motorcycle if the company doesn’t develop something new. If the new Bantam were to be true to its namesake, then the bike it could draw inspiration from is the Yezdi Scrambler, a bike we found to be not just a dressed-up street bike, but quite capable off the beaten path, when we reviewed it.
What these final production bikes will look like is anybody’s guess, but considering how spot-on the new-age Gold Star looks, we are in for quite the retro-themed onslaught from BSA in the future.
Rishaad Mody
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
