Classic Bike Guide - Real rides, real riders

British bikes – the end is nigh

Having read the letters page for more years than I care to remember, I can contain my disappointment no longer. What is the matter with the Bigotted, Blinkered, British Bike Only Brigade – BBBBOB? They should appreciate motorcycles for what they are, wherever they are made.

I can only assume the BBBBOB are full of sour grapes because the Japs have been kicking ass in the industry since the early 1960s.

Enough of these ridiculous letters threatening termination of subscription, I shall only stop my subscription when it goes over £4. Indeed, my only gripe with CBG is, who decided to make it 20mm wider than every other mag?

Keep on featuring Jap bikes, I love ‘em. Only a few years to go now and the BBBBOB will fade into obscurity like the majority of the British bike industry did in the 1960s and 70s.

If readers want to really know what went wrong with the British bike industry, just read up on how BSA chairman Sir Bernard Docker and his barmaid wife were more interested in the champagne lifestyle and plating all the shiny bits on their company Daimler in gold at the expense of R&D in BSA!

Michael Taylor
Gwynedd