SPARES AVAILABILITY Unfortunately, in February this year, my bike was rear-ended and pushed into the corner of the car in front. Thankfully, the damage was relatively minor, and I was able to ride it to a garage for collection and assessment. I want to give a big shoutout to Protecta Insurance and BSA New Zealand, who were both fantastic throughout. Protecta approved the repairs quickly, and BSA NZ had most parts in stock locally. For the few that weren’ t, they sourced them quickly from India.

ACCESSORIES With the Gold Star back on the road after the repairs, I’ ve done a couple of longer trips in addition to my daily commuting. I’ ve also added the BSA soft panniers and the BSA dresser bars. The panniers are well-made, practical, and have proven very useful. The dresser bars look great, but they were a bit awkward to fit.

HOW IT’ S GOING The Gold Star continues to perform as a reliable workhorse. It’ s not built for speed or loaded with high-tech features, but it does do everything I ask of it. From commuting to weekend rides through twisties, across dirt roads, or even the occasional field— it has handled it all well. That said, a few things do frustrate me. Firstly, there’ s no centre-stand option. This would make routine maintenance and servicing so

KIWI RIDER 71