Buy Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Now Or Wait For The BSA Gold Star 650?

The iconic BSA brand is making a comeback to India with the BSA Gold Star 650 set to be launched on August 15, 2024. Currently, the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 is the only proper 650cc, retro roadster on sale in India with the Kawasaki Z650RS being more of a neo-retro roadster. So post August 15, the Interceptor 650 will have a proper rival to look out for. 

So, if you are on the market for a 650cc, retro-roadster, then should you buy the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 now or wait for the BSA Gold Star 650?  Here’s our analysis:

Buy Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Now

The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 gets stylish retro looks with the beautiful paint schemes, simple styling, bench seat and the round LED headlight. The design takes you on a nostalgic ride to the roadsters of the 60s and the 70s and the dual exhausts complement the overall design quite well. It is powered by a 648cc, parallel-twin cylinder engine producing 47.45PS at 7250rpm and 52.3Nm at 5150rpm. The motor feels very smooth, and is in fact the benchmark for refinement of Royal Enfield bikes. It  has a good amount of low-end grunt, making it easy to ride in the city in a single gear for long periods of time. It also has good mid-range performance, allowing you to cruise at speeds of 100kmph on the highway effortlessly. 

With a kerb weight of 218kg, the Interceptor 650 is on the heavier side. But, on the move, the roadster’s agility is quite decent. The brakes offer decent stopping power and the feedback from the lever is quite adequate but the overall braking performance could have been better. 

The upright riding posture of the bike makes it comfortable to cruise on the highway. The telescopic fork and gas-charged twin shock absorbers suspension setup is on the softer side, which allows it to handle bad roads quite well. The bike does feel a bit bouncy at lower speeds but when pushed a bit hard, it does feel more stable. In terms of features, the Interceptor gets a twin-pod analogue instrument console with a digital inset that shows fuel gauge, odometer and trip meter readouts while the analogue pods show speedometer and tachometer readouts. It also gets a USB charging port, which is a handy feature to have. 

The Interceptor 650’s prices start from Rs 3,03,000 to Rs 3,31,000, depending on the variant (ex-showroom Delhi). Here’s the latest variant-wise price list:

So, if you want in the market for a 650cc, twin-cylinder retro-roadster that looks smashing from every angle, has smooth and refined performance AND a decent list of features for a retro bike, then you should buy the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 now. Also, one thing to note is that the Interceptor 650, along with spoke wheels, also gets alloy wheels in select variants unlike the BSA Gold Star 650 which only gets spoke wheels. Buying the Interceptor 650 with the alloy wheels will handle punctures much better than tubed tyres. 

One more important aspect to note is that Royal Enfield is a well-established brand in India, with a wide dealer and service network. This ensures easy availability of bikes as well as spare parts in different parts of the country.

Wait For BSA Gold Star 650

When it comes to nostalgia, the BSA Gold Star 650 pulls pretty hard on that front with its design. The classic retro looks with the iconic gold and red BSA logo will make it stand out on Indian roads for sure after its launch. It is powered by a 652cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder, DOHC (Dual Overhead Camshaft) engine producing 45PS at 6500rpm and 55Nm at 4000rpm. DOHC configuration ensures better combustion efficiency (read more power) whereas SOHC is easier to maintain because it’s relatively more simple, while enhancing the low-end torque.

With liquid-cooling and a dual-overhead camshaft compared to the Interceptor 650’s air-cooled and single-overhead camshaft motor, the BSA Gold Star 650’s heart is more modern. It produces its peak torque output much lower down the rev range, which means it should have better low-end grunt compared to the Interceptor 650. Despite being a liquid-cooled motor, it has been designed to look like the retro, air-cooled motors of the past from the outside, which complements the overall retro design of the bike excellently.

Also, instead of two cylinders sharing the workload of producing the required power output from a 650cc engine, the Gold Star 650 being powered by a large single cylinder. Because of this difference in engine configuration, the refinement levels of the two bikes will most likely be different as well. Unlike the Interceptor 650’s 6-speed gearbox, this one comes with a 5-speed transmission. But, expect the ratios in the BSA’s gearbox to be well-spread out. We’ll be able to verify that after riding the bike. 

Royal Enfield bikes are known for their characteristic ‘thump’ because of their popular single-cylinder configuration. However, the iconic ‘thump’ is lost with a parallel-twin setup. Ironically, BSA promises to be better in this department as it has a big single, coupled with the pea-shooter exhaust for the trademark ‘thump’.

The Gold Star 650 gets more sophisticated Brembo calipers compared to the ByBre calipers on the Interceptor 650, which should result in a better stopping power in theory. But again, we will be able to  confirm this after we ride the bike. In terms of features, both bikes are very similar as the BSA also gets a twin-pod analogue instrument console with digital insets that show fuel gauge and odometer readouts. It also gets a USB charging port as well. Without smartphone connectivity, both bikes offer a proper old-school riding experience. But, if you really want navigation, you can mount an aftermarket phone holder, use your phone’s navigation and charge on the go with the USB charging port.

The BSA Gold Star 650 is expected to be priced around the Rs 3.5 lakh (ex-showroom) mark. With this price tag, the Gold Star 650 will be a bit more expensive than the Interceptor 650. It will also be a more premium brand compared to Classic Legends’ other daughter companies, the Jawa and the Yezdi. 

And with the Interceptor 650 being around for a while now, owning the Gold Star 650 will make you feel exclusive as not a lot of Gold Star 650s are expected to be seen on the road for at least the initial couple of years compared to the number of Interceptor 650s sold every month. BSA will have to establish dealerships from scratch or piggyback on the Jawa/Yezdi dealer network. What BSA decides is something that remains to be seen.

So, if you are looking for a gorgeous retro bike that will grab eyeballs everywhere you go, and are looking to experience a unique big single, and are willing to wait till August 15, then you should hold out for the BSA Gold Star 650. One interesting thing to note is that the BSA Gold Star 650 will only be the second big capacity (600cc plus) single cylinder bike to be sold in India after the BMW F650 Funduro!  That said, even though the BSA Gold Star is made in India, we’ll have to wait and see how the spare parts are priced here.