Britain can rightly claim to be one of the great pioneering countries of the modern motorcycle. There have been a number of iconic brands over the years, some still with us and others sadly consigned to the history books, but which are the most important manufacturers from over the years? Here are the five most famous (according to us…)
Triumph
Yes, of course! It goes without saying that Britain’s biggest and most famous motorcycle brand is Triumph.
Founded in 1902, Triumph was the definitive motorcycle company in the 1950s and 1960s, before declining (along with the rest of the British motorcycle industry) in the 1970s.
The Meriden factory finally closed its doors in 1983 but the brand was bought by builder John Bloor and revived in the 1990s with a range of all-new bikes. The rest, as they say, is history and Triumph is by far and away the country’s biggest manufacturer, with plants in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and Chonburi, Thailand.
The company employs around 2000 people and makes just shy of 70,000 bikes each year, with iconic models including the Speed Triple, Bonneville and Rocket 3.
Norton
Following hot on the heels of Triumph is Norton.
The Birmingham company was a major rival to Triumph in the British motorcycle industry’s golden age, with models like the Commando and Dominator, and was also a major player in the racing world, with success in the early years of 500cc Grand Prix racing, and at the Isle of Man TT.
Like Triumph, the 1970s were a troubled time for Norton, and the companies were briefly part of the same NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) group, which was set up by the government of the day to try and save the industry. That was unsuccessful and by the mid-1970s the company was liquidated.
Norton found itself in turmoil. A revival with a rotary engine in the 1980s was not successful, despite racing success at the Isle of Man TT and in the British Superbike Championship. After some years in American ownership, entrepreneur and Norton enthusiast Stuart Garner brought the brand home and located the company at Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Today Garner’s company has revived many of the classic nameplates from the past, adorning traditional style motorcycles, and has even introduced a 1200cc V4 superbike. The company remains exclusive, with small production runs and long waiting times for bikes, but with a number of overseas investment schemes in place, Garner shows plenty of ambition for the brand.
Royal Enfield
In terms of sheer production numbers, Royal Enfield is by far and away the biggest of our five Brit brands – indeed it’s one of the biggest bike makers in the world, with the ability to build almost a million units a year.
Enfield is essentially an Indian brand these days, but its roots are very much in Britain. The company made its first bike in Redditch, Worcestershire, in 1901 and, in 1955, the first Indian examples of the Royal Enfield Bullet were made in Madras.
The Bullet was hugely popular in India, famed for its strength, reliability and ease of maintenance. Even when the UK company went to the wall in the 1970s, Enfield production continued in Madras. Millions of Bullets have been made and sold worldwide and although the modern Royal Enfield is very much an Indian company the name remains a great British brand.
Indeed Royal Enfield has returned to the UK in recent years, setting up a research and development centre at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire. The centre, staffed mainly by British engineers, is developing a new generation of Royal Enfield machines for the global market.
These bikes remain traditional in their designs, with simple air-cooled engines and retro designs, but which are well built and clean running. The Royal Enfield range continues to expand with new models and an improved dealer network, all in the spirit of those famous 1950s classic British motorbikes.
Brough Superior
As a motorcycle enthusiast between the wars, there was only one brand to truly aspire to: Brough Superior.
Founded by George Brough, in Nottingham, in 1919, Brough Superior prided itself for being ‘the Rolls Royce of Motorcycles’.
George’s father, William, manufactured Brough Motorcycles but the Brough Superior was a separate company, set up by George’s desire to produce superior quality, high performance bikes for the super rich.
The Brough Superior was famously ridden my Lawrence of Arabia, who died after crashing his machine in 1935. The most famous model the SS100, was so named because of its 100mph top speed, but all Brough Superiors were extremely expensive. Just over 3000 Brough Superiors were built before World War Two ended production in 1940.
Production never resumed after the war adding in many ways to the brand’s mystique. The brand was revived in 2013 when Mark Upham, an expert Brough Superior restorer, introduced a modern day SS100 (pictured).
In the spirit of George Brough’s originals, the modern day machine is extremely exotic and very rare, costing £60,000 new.
BSA
There have been many great British brands that have fallen by the wayside. Ariel (albeit revived in recent years with a range of splendid Honda VFR1200 powered models), Matchless and Vincent are just three that spring to mind, but from the pioneering days BSA definitely stands out as one of the world’s most significant brands.
BSA stands for Birmingham Small Arms. The parent company started out making guns but diversified into bicycles, motorcycles and even cars. The company were famous for one of the most famous racing motorbikes of all time, the BSA Gold Star, and the company were major players in both road racing and off-road scrambling. The small capacity BSA Bantam was also one of the most popular commuter bikes on the market, with over 250,000 examples of the utilitarian machine sold.
Triumph actually acquired BSA in 1951 and the combined group was the biggest manufacturer at the time. Like so many classic British bike brands, BSA struggled and eventually went to the wall in the troubled 1970s. The brand had been merged into the Government instigated Norton Villiers Triumph conglomerate and despite the introduction of the BSA Rocket 3 superbike in 1968, the golden days of the British industry were over and production stopped in 1978.
New owners did briefly produce a range of BSA mopeds in the early 1980s, but the brand has been largely dormant for over four decades, although the giant Indian company Mahindra currently owns the rights to the name and has suggested that the name may come back some time in the not too distant future.
These are our top five but let us know what you think through our social media channels.
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