Although it looks like a pristine restoration job, this BSA Gold Star café racer actually uses a bespoke frame and a brand new motor.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better donor bike for a truly British café racer than a BSA Gold Star. But what if you want your Gold Star to stand out from all the others? How about building your own frame—and then wedging a brand new engine into it?
That’s the exact approach that England’s Metal Malarkey Engineering took with this fiery café racer. The company is based in the small market town of Bishops Castle in the Shropshire Hills, a stone’s throw from the Welsh border, with a team that’s bursting with skills. Their core business is bespoke bike and trike frames, but they’ll take on anything—from fabricating small parts to building full custom motorcycles.
Inspiration for this build came from the late-50s BSA Gold Star DBD34. Metal Malarkey wanted to drag the vintage design into the modern age, so they set out to build a thoroughly modernized version of it.
The first step was ordering a motor from ABSAF—a small Dutch company that builds classic BSA Gold Star engines from scratch. They sent over a fresh mill that’s near identical to the original DBD34 unit, save for a number of upgrades.
The new powertrain features a relocated spark plug, modded inlet and exhaust ports, a forged piston, stainless steel valves, and a Nikasil-lined one-piece barrel. The crankshaft is a modern part with a big-end needle bearing, the main bearings are upgraded heavy-duty items, and there’s a high-capacity oil pump in play, too. The package also sports a high-capacity oil pump and a five-speed Nova transmission.
Metal Malarkey referenced the iconic Metisse Mk3 frame for their chassis design. They built it out of cold-drawn seamless steel tubing with bronze welds, before shipping it off to PSG Powder Coaters for an elegant grey finish. The oval section swingarm is another one-off part, featuring a classic twin-shock layout and neatly integrated rear wheel adjusters.
The bike’s propped up on replica 38 mm Ceriani forks and yokes at the front, and made-to-order Maxton shocks at the rear. The 18-inch wheels use machined Talon hubs, shouldered rims, and Avon Roadrider tires. Brembo calipers on handmade mounts grip take care of braking.
The bodywork is a pitch-perfect blend of aftermarket and handmade stuff. Metal Malarkey sourced the classic Lyta-style fuel tank and café racer seat cowl from Tab Classics, finishing them off with a custom seat pan and upholstery from Saddle Craft. The oil tank was built in-house, with standard-issue stainless steel fenders complementing the rest of the tinwork.
The best mash-up of old and new is undoubtedly the Gold Star’s cockpit. Raised clip-ons wear Brembo levers with a TRW brake fluid reservoir, Biltwell Inc. grips, Oberon LED bar-end turn signals, and modern push buttons. Further forward sits a pair of dials from Smiths, combining analog and digital readouts.
The dashboard bracket also hosts a warning light and an additional button. The whole arrangement is not only elegant, but practical too. Metal Malarkey also rewired the bike around a Motogadget controller, including a new battery and a keyless ignition.
Lighting consists of a 7” headlight and a traditional Lucas taillight. The rear set foot controls use a mix of components from Barleycorn Engineering and custom parts. A ceramic-coated exhaust system runs along the right-hand side of the BSA, terminating in a reverse cone muffler with internal baffling.
Painting duties were split between the auto body repair shop, Graham’s Garage, and Lee Morgan Artworx. They wrapped the Gold Star in an impossibly deep candy red, punctuated by gold striping and retro BSA logos.
The real genius in Metal Malarkey’s work is that this scratch-built BSA Gold Star could easily pass for a meticulous restoration job, when it is, in fact, a brand new bike. And while it looks good enough to park in a museum, it’s a rider’s motorcycle through and through.
Metal Malarkey Engineering | Images by Ian Daisley / Pro Bike Art
