The bike I’m looking forward to most in 2025 and Why...

Christmas is here, the new year is just around the corner, and, with it, eyes inevitably turn to the new motorcycle models we can look forward to in 2025.

I know mine have.

Like many, my thoughts crystallized at Motorcycle Live in late November. As in most years, having witnessed from afar earlier EICMA unveilings and kept abreast of news stories, I thought I knew what to expect but still went to see the newcomers in the metal, in person, to find out for myself.

Triumph’s new Tiger Sport 800 was top of my list and promises Tracer9 ability at an even better price. Honda’s new bargain Hornet 1000 looked as good in the metal as it seemed on screen; Yamaha’s R9 impressed, as did Suzuki’s revived DR-Z4 and although I’ve already ridden it, I was still intrigued to see the response to the new R1300GSA with a steady stream of people trying it out for size)

Then there was Ducati’s new V2 Panigale and Streetfighter, KTM’s 1390s, Honda’s ultra-cute GB350S plus a raft of surprising (and oddly named) Chinese newcomers such as the Benda Chinchilla and Morbidelli C100T.

But I also almost completely missed what was, for me, the biggest surprise of all – and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

On BSA’s stand I almost tripped over its new, ‘unveiled at show’ B65 Scrambler and immediately thought it a mouth-watering prospect. Here’s why:

First, although initially a surprise, with hindsight it wasn’t. Reborn BSA’s first bike, the 650 Gold Star, has now been on sale two years and at the NEC in 2022 the company showed a ‘concept’ scrambler based upon its single cylinder roadster. The B65 is the result.

Second, as a retro-inspired middleweight scrambler, the B65 looks immediately ‘right’. Although based on the Gold Star, there are enough changes to make it a credible scrambler. The front wire wheel’s gone up from 18 to 19inches, is now black-rimmed and wears a ‘de riguer’ semi-knobbly tyre. The conventional forks now have gaiters; there’s a high mudguard; the roadster’s twin chrome clocks are swapped for an off-road single dial; there are cross-braced trail-style bars and a new off-road saddle. It all looks well-proportioned and appropriate with the result being, for my money, far more convincing than, say, Enfield’s new Bear.

Even the new BSA’s colours are convincing. The two options at the NEC were classic white and grey or an eye-grabbing yellow/silver, both with contrasting red BSA logo and with the latter inspired by the 1970 B25 250 (which, also, incidentally, explains the 650cc B65’s name). I’m far more in favour of both of those than, say, the turquoise and orange and Bear name of the Enfield, which means nothing to me…

And that’s just the start. As the B65 is based on the Gold Star it is, by definition, a single – not a twin like the Enfield or Triumph 900. That’s good, too – a true ‘scrambler’ should be a single in-keeping with its off-road heritage.

Oh, and the B65’s got proper off-road heritage, as well: BSA singles were credible racing scramblers with the like of John Banks throughout the ‘60s and world champs in 1964 and ’65, something else Royal Enfield and Triumph can’t claim.

Beyond the engine, the B65 also has ‘all the right bits in all the right places’. There are the aforementioned wire wheels, knobblies, gaiters, trail bars and single dial. But there is also a Brembo front brake, ‘race plate’ style side panels, high mudguards and more.

While, performance-wise, as the B65’s based on the Gold Star, whose A2-compliant 45bhp has proven not merely competitive with Enfield’s 47bhp twin but also impressively characterful and smooth, it should ride like a proper scrambler, too.

Yet, best of all, I’m really excited about how affordable the B65 could be. Although no announcement has yet been made, it’s unlikely to be much more than the Gold Star. That bike is currently discounted by £1500 to just £4999 (or £5499 for the Legacy edition). Even without a discount, the B65 will surely undercut the less convincing Bear, be little more than Triumph’s 40bhp Scrambler 400 X and almost half Hinckley’s £9795 Scrambler 900.

So, a genuine, British-brand, middleweight scrambler that ticks all the boxes and costs around £6K? I think BSA has got virtually everything right and that’s why it’s the bike I’m most looking forward to next year. In fact, the only thing BSA has got slightly wrong with the B65 is in failing to tell everyone about it.

And, yes, I’ll admit to a little bias. The first bike I ever rode was a BSA, a Bantam 125 in 1973, into a hedge on a slag heap (remember them?) in West Yorkshire.

But only a little. Apart from that I can’t wait.

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