Quote Originally Posted by M4tt
The older brother of a friend of mine had a Honda Dream in 1963 and you could still buy new BSAs and Ariels in 1963. The Hondas got some really bad press in the early 1960s and the British bike industry was still quite strong. Certainly in South Yorkshire, the police were running Ariel Leaders into the 1970s. BSA were manufacturing until 1973 and Ariel until 1967.
All of this is true (well, I don't know about your friend's brother) but the fact is that in 1956 (when the Dream was launched) BSA group were the World's largest motorcycle manufacturer and in 1973 they were bankrupt. The total collapse of the British motorcycle industry happened. By the end of it the Japanese had not only taken their market share but almost doubled the size of the market itself. If we are to learn from history we have to try to compare similar historical events.

I guess my claim is that the Chinese are not the threat to the Swiss industry that the Japanese were. If however you believe the myth that the Japanese motorcycle industry somehow systematically (and mysteriously) destroyed the British motorcycle industry with inferior products then the future belongs to Alpha, Sea-Gull and their ilk.

I'm not so sure personally.
I can't find anywhere I said this. I did say that initially Honda bikes were made from thinner gauge steel at first (true) and that there was a popular belief that the much higher revving engines would not last very long. There was a display of snobbery from owners of British bikes towards owners of Japanese bikes.

However, my analogy about bikes was simply to highlight some parallels between watch movements and bikes, not to start a detailed discussion about the history of the British motorcycle industry. :wink:

Eddie