Classic Legends is ramping up its presence with three iconic motorcycle brands under its fold — Jawa, Yezdi, and BSA. While BSA was largely resurrected to cater to international markets which demand larger capacity motorcycles, it seems Classic Legends is confident of expanding its customer base in India as well.
For that, the Mahindraowned bikemaker has to venture into the smaller capacity motorcycles that are more mass oriented. The company has now revealed its first motorcycle in the 350cc segment with the BSA branding named Bantam at the ongoing Bike Shed Moto Show in London. The new Bantam 350 is the latest model to join BSA’s portfolio which has been unveiled in the United Kingdom.
As expected, it’s based on the existing 350cc platform that is utilised by the current range of Jawa and Yezdi models. While BSA’s primary focus area remains UK and other European countries like Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, there is no denying the fact that the Bantam will come to India at some point in the time especially since the bike has been built by Classic Legends at its Pithampurabased manufacturing plant in Madhya Pradesh.
For the uninitiated, like the Goldstar, the name Bantam isn’t allnew for BSA. The same moniker was seen on a lightweight 2stroke motorcycle manufactured between 1948 and 1971 in the UK. During its tenure, it came with multiple engines ranging from 123173cc and was a grand success in the post World War 2 era.
On the first glance, the Bantam 350 looks heavily inspired by the Jawa 42 FJ launched in September last year. In fact, most of the visual cues have been lifted from the 42 FJ making the BSA Bantam 350 essentially a rebadged iteration of the former. The blackedout treatment for the engine and gearbox assembly, tailpipe, front forks, exhaust and other mechanical bits emphasize on its sporty nature.
Like the Jawa 42 FJ, the Bantam 350 gets a sporty, neo retro design will black alloy wheels, round headlamp with protection guards, short front and rear mudguards, teardropshaped fuel tank, a small circular taillamp, a singlepiece seat, and fork gaiters. It also gets some distinct visual touches like the Union Jack flag on the fuel tank and the “Three Gun Salute” badge on the crankcase. The silverexhaust finish adds another premium touch for the bike.
Mechanically, the BSA Bantam 350 is most likely to be identical to the Jawa 42 FJ with the exact same underpinnings. The bike sits on telescopic hydraulic front forks and twin rear shock absorbers. It rolls on 18inch front and 17inch rear alloy wheels shod with tubeless tyres. Braking duties are carried out by 320mm front disc and 240mm rear disc aided by dualchannel ABS.
Powering the BSA Bantam 350 will be the same 334cc, liquidcooled, singlecylinder engine paired with a 6speed gearbox. This motor kicks out 29 bhp at 7750 rpm and 29.62 NM at 6000 rpm. The bike weighs 185 kg (kerb) while offering a tank capacity of 13 lires and seat height of 800 mm.
