Paphos People

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

English Motorbikes
There was once a time when ‘Made in England’ meant that the product you were buying was the best you could get, stemming from the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s when Great Britain led the world in mechanical engineering development and production methods.
One field in which we excelled was the production of motor cycles. The famous names of Triumph, BSA, Norton, Matchless, Ariel and many more still conjure up memories in my mind of shiny but rugged pieces of machinery which set the adrenalin coursing through my veins.
As an apprentice engineer on a pitiful wage of four pounds a week, such things were way out of my economic capabilities, so at the legal age of sixteen, I struggled to save up the mighty sum of five pounds and ten shillings and bought my first motorcycle. It was a 250cc BSA C11G,(Plunger frame, the swinging arm version was the C12) twelve years old and capable of sixty miles per hour on a good day. With this mighty steed I was free. It meant that I could go where I wanted when I wanted with nobody to hold me back.
I progressed to a 350cc Ariel Red Hunter, then a 650ccTriumph Tiger 110 racy stuff but highly dangerous as they had very poor braking systems. Say no more!!
The Japanese bikes were for the wealthy but us ordinary ‘bikers’ stuck with what we liked or could afford. Most of the British bikes were designed in the nineteen thirties, and with the outset of world war two, were produced in abundance for the armed forces. After the cessation of hostilities, England carried on making what they knew and trusted. The ‘defeated’ countries, Germany, Japan and Italy were forbidden to manufacture war machines and armaments but had millions of pounds from the ‘winning’ allied nations ploughed into rebuilding their economies. With up to date new manufacturing machinery and the financial wherewithal they were able to develop the next generation of personal transport.
There we were still using elderly Victorian manufacturing machinery, turning out nineteen thirties technology machines and losing out to the Japs, Italians and Germans.
Norton motorcycles had a world championship contender the 500cc ‘Manx’ Norton. Geoff Duke came second in the competition on a Norton in 1955. The managing director of Norton looked at the probability of Duke winning the competition on a Norton. He then worked out that with the prize money for winning every race, plus the wages, plus expenses, Geoff Duke would earn more money than he did! They decided not to contest the series. Duke signed for the Italian Gilera team, and won four world championships in the next six years.
John Surtees also switched from Norton to the Italian MV Augusta team winning the world championship three times.

Norton by this time were lagging behind the multi cylinder Italian machinery, their single cylinder engines simply were not fast enough anymore.

Then in the early sixties the Japanese invasion started. The first 250cc Honda Benley that I saw had a square headlamp, square mudguards, an electric starter and it had a very efficient exhaust system which meant that it was quiet and fast! Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki soon dominated the market, British bikes were now second best.
A statement from Norton Motorcycles in nineteen sixty five said “These buzz-boxes from Japan are all very well but you will never see a fifty year old Honda or Suzuki”. While they smugly sat back on their laurels, Honda came back with “Who wants a fifty year old Honda or Suzuki, we produce motorcycles for today and are constantly developing tomorrows products.”
That was the beginning of the end and one by one British motorcycle factories went out of business, the last to go was Triumph in Meriden in 1982. The factory was demolished and a housing estate was built on the site with excitingly named streets like ‘Bonneville Close and Daytona Drive’. An all British motorcycle is not manufactured now and the Asian bike makers rule the world but all is not lost!
There is a British Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, West Midlands with over a thousand fully restored historical British Motorcycles. If you are of an age like me and can remember the era, you must go! I can guarantee a tear will form in your eye when you see ‘the one that your Dad had’ or ‘your uncle Brian had one of those’. When you leave you will know the full meaning of ‘Gone but not forgotten’!