Birmingham’s famous motorbike brand is booming again among new owners
More than seven decades on from Birmingham’s BSA Motorcycles being the world’s largest bike manufacturer, new research by Bikesure reveals that the resurrected brand is enjoying a rapid resurgence among UK owners.
As one of Britain’s most beloved motorcycle brands, many fans will have celebrated the original news of BSA Motorcycles being revived under the new ownership of Classic Legends Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group of India.
Classic Legends wasted no time in announcing plans to begin building new motorcycles, and the new-look version of the famous Birmingham brand has made a considerable impact on the UK motorcycle market already.
According to Bikesure, a specialist bike insurance broker, newly released models by BSA have enjoyed the greatest relative increase among owners of motorbikes in the United Kingdom.
After analysing the most recent year-on-year change in licensed and SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notification) motorbikes by model and by brand, Bikesure’s research shows ownership of BSA motorbikes grew by 1,568% between 2022 and 2023.
This 16.5-fold increase in ownership means there are now 615 BSA bikes registered to UK motorists, according to the raw figures published by the Department for Transport.
The huge growth in new BSA ownership is driven by a new model being released for the first time in 40 years: the BSA Gold Star 2022.
Drawing on design inspiration from the original 1950s model — a decade when Birmingham was at the heart of global motorcycle production — the new 2022 BSA ranks as the UK’s 33rd most popular new bike out of 1,274 newly built models, according to the latest licensing data.
Commenting on their findings, a spokesperson for Bikesure said: “As a specialist motorbike insurance broker, we often see that, sadly, not all bikes stand the test of time as bike styles and rider needs continue to evolve.
"From our research, we were delighted to see an iconic Birmingham brand such as BSA re-emerge as the brand with the highest relative increase in UK owners, just years after it was resurrected from extinction.
"While BSA’s latest version of the Gold Star is growing in popularity, our research also highlighted models from other notable brands that are in danger of disappearing from UK roads, such as the Suzuki RG125 and Ducati 996 — both of which could be extinct by the end of the decade.”
To discover more about the motorbike models that are closest to disappearing from UK roads, visit Bikesure’s research at: www.bikesure.co.uk/motorbike-extinction/2040/