Customer Reviews

Whatever Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry?

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Hopwood worked in turn for at least 4 British motorcycle manufacturers (Ariel, Triumph, BSA, Norton) during the best and other times of the business. While being quite critically-minded towards the management of his employers, the creator of the Norton Dominator and other classics acknowledges the work of other motorcycle manufacturers, in particular that of the Japanese. The sad demise of the British motorcycle industry is commented in a silently amusing way, as far as such is possible. Picture material is interesting also and gains from illuminating captions. To my opinion, a book which is interesting not only for owners and riders of British bikes, but also for people interested in the history of British industry. Easy to read and really good written.

The book "Whatever happened to the British Motorcycle Industry?" by Bert Hopwood gives an insight in the fascinating field of motorcycle production from the pre-WW II years until the early 70s in Great Britain. It recalls the working life of its author, who was associated with the famous British names of Triumph, BSA and Norton. The book is unique in two ways: firstly, it does not concentrate of the technical side of the bikes. Instead, it is based on a broader perspective. It tells its readers why certain motorcycles were built and why others were scrapped. Secondly, it offers first-hand explanations of what went wrong with the British producers. One is reminded that the so-called 'Japanese onslaught', starting in the early 1960s, could have been prevented, had the British reacted in time with modern features that were already designed (multi-cylinder ohc-machines) or put their focus on smaller bikes being manufactured with economies-of-scale a.s.o.

It is a book that tells the sad history of the British motorcycle industry that once was on top of the world but virtually ceded to exist with the collapse of NVT in the early 1970s. It is seen through the eyes of a key figure, who worked for decades in the field of motorcycle design and production. Anyone, whose interest goes beyond the number of valves used in a certain engine, is recommended to read this book! I suppose it is the only one of its kind that gives that much detailed information on a non-scientific level.

I was looking for books to recommend to young people who are thinking about studying engineering when I came across this book. It is an excellent story of one engineer's career for people who want to know what engineers do, although today a similar engineer would design with CAD. I liked the contrast between the author and his nemesis, the charismatic, egotistical inventor Mr. Edward Turner. Most professional engineers will encounter non-engineering inventors who design from the seat of their pants. Such inventors play a role in liberating imagination from analytical self-censure but they can do damage. In the case of the British motorcycle industry the damage may have been that the engineers and charismatic inventors across the industry were not able to find a unified voice to take leadership of their industry. The British motorcycle industry may have survived if they had been able to do this. Its demise certainly was not for lack of technical talent and imagination. It would have been useful if Mr. Hopwood had compared his industry with other British industries that lost their competitive edge around the same time as motorcycles such as machine tools. It would have been useful to future engineers if Mr. Hopwood had critiqued on his own methods of struggle with the corporate leadership. In the end, the book is about a guy with a story and he tells it well. It is probably not suitable for high school students - they do not have enough experience in the business of design and manufacture - but it certainly is suitable for them later in life when dealing with real world issues.

I reread this book in the days after the GM bankruptcy. Mr Hopwood served on the boards of both Norton Motors and BSA Motorcycles. The reasons for the decline will sound familiar to anyone who has been watching the American auto industry. A lack of reinvestment in the product and management by cost resulted in motorcycles that fell far short of what the Japanese companies were producing. Technicial and engineering considerations were neglected and the customer was taken for granted. By the time management was ready to listen to the engineers, it was far too late. "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" according to Santayana, the American car companies did not remember.

This story is written from an insider's perspective and doesn't draw any conclusions of its own about how the story applies to other things. But, it is very easy to look around in our current world and see some of the same things Hopwood describes, except in other industries. We have been through the same things with the whole dot-com bubble and now real estate. When people lose track of what they are really providing and get too caught up in the numbers, bad things happen.

The book is an entertaining memoir, and reasonably well written. It's an easy read. A bit more detail would be great, but Hopwood wrote from his own perspective from the assembly line and engineering office. It is worth the read even if you have no interest in motorcycles. It's essential if you have anything more than a passing interest in leaky old British motorcycles.

This book really puts the reader in touch with the emotional demise of the British motorcyle industry and the self delusions which prevented this fine tradition from moving ahead and competing. Sad, but educational story. Good read, and Mr. Hopwood is an endearing character.

Not as good as I was hoping it would be. His story might be true but, the way he put's it, he was the only man that knew what was going on. Sometime's he said, "Edward Turner seemed to lack technical knowledge" and then he would say he was "brilliant". This go's on over and over....He did like Doug Hele but,I don't think he get's the credit for all of the thing's he did. Not a lot of photo's that was new to me but, there was some photo's from inside of the factory's that I thought were good.... anyway, like I said I don't know how much is really true.....TB

They produced some of the finest machinery of the 20th century but lost it all because of poor management. The author discusses his experience but really can't find the reasons for the downfall of a great industry. A great read for students of industrial management