BSA Thunderbolt (2026) – Technical Review

The name ‘Thunderbolt’ last appeared on a motorcycle with Buell’s Harley-engined S3 Thunderbolt in the 90s but long before that the title was associated with BSA’s A65, a 650cc parallel twin that ran from 1962 to 1972. Now the name is back on a BSA in the form of a single-cylinder adventure bike with the heart of the company’s new Bantam.

Pros & Cons

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Price & PCP Deals

BSA hasn’t revealed the price of the Thunderbolt yet, but the company’s similarly-powered Bantam with the same 334cc engine starts at £3,499 to undercut its direct competitors, giving a clue to the brand’s approach to price tags.

We can also look to another of Classic Legend’s brands, Yezdi, which offers a pair of mechanically-similar machines built around the same engine in other markets. The Yezdi Scrambler shares many similarities with the Bantam, while the Yezdi Adventure is mechanically similar to the Thunderbolt, albeit with lower-spec suspension components. In India, the Yezdi Adventure is only fractionally more expensive than the Scrambler, with a price premium of less than 2%, suggesting the Thunderbolt may not be much more expensive than the Bantam.

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Engine & Performance

The engine is the same 334cc single that powers the Bantam as well as bikes in the Jawa and Yezdi ranges, also made by the Classic Legends concern, itself a subsidiary of the vast Mahindra Group in India.

It’s a DOHC, liquid-cooled design, and while that jars a little in the retro-style Bantam, it’s not a problem for the Thunderbolt, which is the first modern BSA not to hark back to the company’s 1960s heyday in its design language. Instead it takes aim at the likes of Royal Enfield’s Himalayan – a bike that, perhaps not coincidentally, also pioneered a move away from a retro design language for a company that was otherwise anchored in the past.

The motor uses a similar spec to the Bantam, with an 81mm bore and 65mm stroke and 11:1 compression ratio. Peak power is quoted, unusually specifically, as 29.16hp at 8,000rpm, while torque maxes out at 21.8 lb-ft and 5,800rpm. Those numbers are fractionally different to the Bantam’s 29hp at 7,750rpm and 21.85 lb-ft at 6,000rpm, but close enough to indicate there’s no substantial difference between the engines.

The power reaches the rear wheel through a slip-and-assist clutch to the six-speed gearbox and chain final drive.

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Handling & Suspension (inc. Weight)

The modern styling of the Thunderbolt is emphasised in the suspension, which ditches the twin shocks and gaiter-clad, right-way-up forks of BSA’s other models in favour of a monoshock rear and upside-downers.

Those forks are non-adjustable, with a 41mm diameter, and promise a decent 200mm of travel – on a par with that of the Royal Enfield Himalayan. At the back the monoshock has seven steps of preload adjustment and gives 180mm of wheel movement, matching the original Himalayan but 20mm short of the 2024-on, liquid-cooled version’s travel.

The wheels, with a 21-inch front and 17-inch rear, are wire-spoked and the right dimensions to promise genuine offroad ability and to use seriously knobbly tyres, 90/90-21 at the front and 130/80 rear.

Like the suspension, the brakes have a modern design with a two-piston radial caliper at the front on a 320mm disc and a 240mm disc and single-piston caliper at the rear. There’s ABS, as required by law, but unusually for an affordable bike it’s got three modes: Road, Rain and Off Road. BSA hasn’t details what those modes do yet, but it’s likely the Off Road setting disables the rear ABS.

The weight, at 185kg dry, is again roughly on a par with the Royal Enfield Himalayan. Not heavy, by any means, but nowhere near as light as something like the 142kg Honda CRF300L or 153kg CRF300 Rally.

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Comfort & Economy

Until we’ve ridden the Thunderbolt it’s hard to make a definitive statement on its comfort, but the upright riding position, wide bars and low-for-the-class 815mm seat height suggest it should be just as comfortable as you’d hope.

Details like an adjustable windscreen are the sort of thing you might expect on a larger, more expensive machine, and BSA isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to its confidence in the bike’s potential.

Anupam Thareja, co-founder of BSA parent company Classic Legends, said at its launch: “This is the best 350 adventure bike in the world. Don’t believe me – just test ride it and prove me wrong.”

Another co-founder, Boman Irani, added: “The new BSA Thunderbolt is adventure-ready and engineered to go the distance. Combining dynamic on and off-roading capabilities, unrivalled performance, and effortless usability, our new bike inspires confidence. It’s for riders with a ‘go anywhere and do anything attitude who seek new destinations and want to trust that their motorcycle will not just get them to where they want to go, it will excite every sense along the way.

“BSA doesn’t just build motorcycles, it builds legends and the new BSA Thunderbolt proudly carries that legacy forward.”

There’s no official economy claim yet, but the BSA Bantam with the same engine claims 70.6mpg under the (often optimistic) WMTC test regime, and achieved a real-world 51.75mpg in our hands, so there’s little reason to believe the Thunderbolt will be far from those numbers. Paired with a 15.5-litre fuel tank, the result should be something in the region of 200 miles of range.

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Equipment

The march of time means technology is getting increasingly cheap, so even a budget-minded bike like the Thunderbolt doesn’t need to scrimp when it comes to offering a few luxuries.

Behind that adjustable screen, the bike’s dash isn’t some archaic analogue affair or a Casio-style LCD, but a full-on colour TFT display that presents information on clear, white-background dials with yellow highlights that mirror the bike’s bodywork. That means, of course, that there’s Bluetooth connectivity as well, allowing turn-by-turn navigation, and BSA has added a USB socket to help ensure your phone doesn’t run its battery flat while it’s supplying info to the instruments.

Elsewhere, standard equipment includes hand guards, a rear carrier and an under-engine bash plate to back up the bike’s go-anywhere intentions.

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Rivals

The Royal Enfield Himalayan has been a huge hit since its launch and has to be considered a rival to the Thunderbolt despite the latest version moving upmarket with its liquid-cooled 450 engine. Honda’s CRF300 Rally is also in contention, thanks to its Dakar-inspired style, along with KTM’s 390 Adventure R. Meanwhile, BSA buyers are also likely to look towards Triumph’s more retro Scrambler 400 XC.

Royal Enfield Himalayan | Price: £5750

Read more

Power/Torque

39.5bhp/29.5lb-ft

Weight

196kg

Honda CRF300 Rally | Price: £6,599

Read more

Power/Torque

27bhp/19.6lb-ft

Weight

153kg

Triumph Scrambler 400 XC | Price: £6,545

Read more

Power/Torque

39.5bhp/27.7lb-ft

Weight

186kg

2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Verdict

The Thunderbolt looks like an intriguing prospect, but how it compares to the competition will hinge heavily on the price that BSA settles upon. If it’s substantially cheaper than its rivals, following the path of the Bantam that shares the same engine, it should prove to be a tempting proposition in its class.

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2026 BSA Thunderbolt - Technical Specification

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