What Went Wrong With The British Motorcycle Industry? PART 1/3

What happened in the decade between the middle of the 1960s and the middle of the 1970s that destroyed Britain’s motorcycle industry?

From being the world’s biggest exporters in the 1950s, to complete collapse in the 1970s, this series looks in depth at the strange story of the death of an industry that was once exporting millions of pounds worth of bikes to the rest of the world, using contemporary reports and archive footage.

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Wobbly Phil would like to thank all those viewers who suggested background research for this series.

Video credits and links:

BSA Archive 'The Best of Everything'
   • BSA Archive   The Best of Everything  

Triumph Meriden - Cov Videos
   • Triumph Meriden  

Packing at AMC Factory - Peter Attwood
   • video packing  

Triumph Speed Twin 1950 - GilletTDM
   • Triumph speed twin 1950  

King's Motors of Oxford - maxustaxus
   • King's Motors of Oxford, Motorbike Showroo...  

1960 NORTON DOMINATOR 99 - Russell James Motorcycles
   • 1960 NORTON DOMINATOR 99 AT RUSSELL JAMES ...  

1960 BSA 650 GOLDEN FLASH TEST RIDE - Motorbikes 1980
   • 1960 BSA 650 GOLDEN FLASH TEST RIDE.  

ROYAL ENFIELD'S BIG TWIN! - Volcanic Brown’s Motorcycle World
   • ROYAL ENFIELD'S  BIG TWIN!  

MITSUBISHI SILVER PIGEON - YU SASAKI
   • MITSUBISHI SILVER PIGEON  三菱・シルバーピジョン - プラ...  

Subaru Vintage Garage Fuji Rabbit Scooter - Subaru
   • Subaru Vintage Garage- Fuji Rabbit Scooter  

BSA Winged Wheel - Classic Motorcycles
   • bsa winged wheel 001  

Vespa Douglas 92L2 - Jon Nurse
   • Vespa Douglas 92L2  

BSA Dandy - WB & Sons
   • BSA Dandy  

2 Wheelers In News (1960) - British Pathe
   • 2 Wheelers In News (1960)  

Triumph Tina scooter 98cc start up - Mark Watson
   • Triumph tina scooter 98cc start up  

1964 BSA Beagle 75cc at Andy Tiernans - Peter Ranson
   • 1964 BSA Beagle 75cc at Andy Tiernans #089...  

Music credits:

Ishikari Lore by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Recommended reads:

I'm much indebted to Bert Hopwood’s excellent book ‘Whatever Happened To The British Motorcycle Industry?’ Prices on eBay for secondhand copies of this book, which is now out of print but which was originally published by Haynes (the vehicle manuals people), seem quite inflated at the likes of £40-£90 advertised on secondhand sites, but there’s currently (December 2025) several on eBay for around £29.95 incl. p&p.

Report on Japan by Edward Turner, September 1960
https://share.google/vg2eHhlhyi1lbYdz1

The British Motorcycle Industry, 1935-1975 by Steve Koerner
An excellent, thorough and detailed 433 page PHD thesis written in 1995, which was published as the book The Strange Death of the British Motorcycle Industry in 2012.

The book is now hard to find, and consequently pricey. A Used copy will set you back over £100 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorcycle-I...

However, I did find a copy on eBay for £37.62

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3762624001...

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