Shooting Star - The Rise & Fall Of The British Motorcycle Industry

The Rise & Fall Of The British Motorcycle Industry, Author: Abe Alexander, Hardcover, 153 Pages, ISBN: 9781550229004, 2009

- A poignant history of the once awesome British motorcycle manufacturers.

THE RISE & FALL OF THE BRITISH MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY
Bright lights and a big-city exhibition hall — this was Earls Court in late 1967. The annual London motorcycle show was still the most important in the world, even if the British motorcycle industry no longer was. Most of the marques on display were European — from Bultaco to CZ — or Japanese. Yet BSA and Triumph each hadrecently won a queen's award for outstanding performance in exports and were well represented at the show. The new Norton Villiers Company, recently established by Dennis Poore from the picked-over remains of Associated Motor Cycles, also debuted a sensational new model, the Commando. This was a medium-weight motorcycle with a sturdy 750 cc engine fitted to a new frame that virtually eliminated the jack hammer vibration British twins were known for and dressed with a slick fibreglass gas tank and "fastback" tail section alongside narrow, sporty chromed fenders. It looked fast, and it was fast. Best of all, it was British.