How Just One Man Destroyed The British Motorcycle In 1973

Comments · 496

• ME

  @MettleUK · 2 months ago · pinned

  The stories we tell here, written down properly. Read the first chapter free — no cost, no card: <a href="https://mettlehistory.co.uk/">https://mettlehistory.co.uk</a>

• PE

  @peterwait641 · 7 months ago

  Poor management that does not listen still exists today.

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• VO

  @Volcanicbrown1878 · 7 months ago (edited)

  I agree with most of what you said but, there was a whole lot more about Dennis Poore you didn&apos;t cover.<br>He bought out AMC and Norton was his baby. He immediately closed Francis Barnet, James, AJS &nbsp;Matchless and the other small companies as not profitable.<br>He bought out Royal Enfield, closed them for the same reason. However, Royal Enfield had another part of the motorcycle industry and that was Enfield Precision, a subsiduary set up by the parent company to produce instruments of high precision for Lancaster bombers during WW2. In the late 1960&apos;s Enfield Precision were tasked with producing the engine for the 750 Royal Enfield Interceptor. <br>After the parent company closed its doors for the last time, Enfield Precision took over the &nbsp;total production of the Interceptor models. They were still a highly profitable company with nearly all of the production going for export.<br>Poore was so obsessed with trying to save Norton, he had little regard to what the small subsiduary of Royal Enfield was doing. He was pre occupied with getting Norton back on track, Insisting that they came up with a new model in time for the motorcycle show. Norton had only six weeks to design, build and produce a prototype that could be shown at the motorcycle show. That model was the Commando 750. It proved to be a great success at the show with many orders being placed. All Norton had to do was to iron out the bugs and get it into production.<br>Poore went to see what Enfield Precision had been doing whilst the Norton, BSA and Triumph saga was unfolding. &nbsp;The Enfield boys had not been idle! They had overflowing order books for the Interceptor from the USA and couldn&apos;t keep up with the demand. When Poore arrived at their underground factory, He was shown a new 800cc Interceptor model the lads had developed. They had 3 running prototypes that had been thoroughly road tested. and were just waiting for Poore to give the go ahead to put it into immediate production.<br>Poore took the test data and specs away with him to study. He was back within a week and closed the factory down permanently. The 800 Interceptor was too great a threat to the new Norton Commando and he was having none of it. Having put quite a chunk of his own money into Norton, he wouldn&apos;t allow anything to compete or jepordise the new Norton model. <br>As a profitable company, Enfield Precision could easily have been sold, but any future buyer would have carried on with the lucrative Interceptor models, which of course would be in direct competition with Norton. Thats why Poore closed them permanently.<br>As a night in shining armour for the British motorcycle industry he failed. He was an asset stripper. Nothing more, nothing less.

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• PA

  @PaulHayman-m8z · 7 months ago

  Management is described as a dead fish it dies from the head down

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• BE

  @belperflyer7419 · 7 months ago

  Back in the late 60s I interviewed for a job at BSA. &nbsp;At the time I was working for Rolls-Royce in Derby as an electronics designer in the instrumentation dept designing test and measurement systems for test beds and rigs. &nbsp;I arrived for the interview on my motorcycle (ironically, an MSS Velocette, though I&apos;d had a few BSAs). &nbsp;None of the people interviewing me rode motorcycles so they had no idea of the failings of the finished product. &nbsp;At the time I was offered the job but a week or two later I got a letter saying they had decided not to appoint anyone. &nbsp;Shortly afterwards BSA ceased trading.<br><br>The reason the British motorcycle industry failed was because the Japanese bikes (mostly Honda and Yamaha at the time) were so much better! &nbsp;Mainly because British manufacturers were still producing what were effectively machines designed before and immediately after WW2. &nbsp;I had a new 1965 BSA Lightning which vibrated so much that at 70/80mph (legal at the time) I couldn&apos;t read the signs on the M1! &nbsp;A clubmate had a new Honda 450 which was much better and nearly as fast.

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• PA

  @paulwhitfield199 · 7 months ago

  A classic quote from MCN. &nbsp;The trouble with BSA Triumph is that no one on the board of directors knows anything at all about motorcycles. &nbsp;A fully fared 4 cylinder OHC bike with electric start and indicators was presented to the board in 1958 and was rejected in favour of that ridiculous Ariel 3 shopper. &nbsp;And why oh why did they stick to the vertically split oil leak prone crank case?

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• BR

  @browngreen933 · 7 months ago

  Triumph&apos;s greatest moment in the USA was it&apos;s starring role in the 1953 movie &quot;The Wild One&quot; as ridden by Marlon Brando. The original script called for &quot;beat up Harleys and Indians,&quot; but for some reason the movie producers used mostly Brit bikes instead. One exception was Chino, who rode a Harley.

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• WE

  @WesB1972 · 6 months ago

  When Honda introduced the CB 750 the British motorcycle industry was burnt toast. I bought a Red CB 750 in 1969 , $1450.00 out the door, Great reliable bike.

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• V4

  @v4panigale26 · 7 months ago

  The cost of stopping slavery and 2 world wars bankrupted Britain

  7

• TR

  @trystanjones2412 · 7 months ago

  Thank you for putting up this video.

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• IA

  @ianbooth4255 · 7 months ago

  Bert Hopwood&apos;s book Whatever Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry is a must read.

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• AL

  @alen5d1 · 7 months ago

  I owe more than a dozen motorcycles. My favorite to ride are the Triumphs

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