BSAs, Ariels, Nortons, Royal Enfields. . . the Vincent Black Shadow. Let us all bow our heads in respect for the multitude of great British bike makers that have come and gone, displaced by makers from another island nation, and today mostly exist only in the hands of collectors like Jay Leno, or are sadly immobile in museums. Only Triumph managed to survive the fall of the British motorcycle industry, and today continues to make bikes, albeit ones with more Japanese content than British.
But for the first half of the 20th Century Great Britain was like the Octomom of motorcycle makes. And places like the Isle of Man, and the Isle of Lucy, to exercise them, the nation gained a reputation for making some of the most sporting bikes on the planet. Back then, everything was smaller, and while you might consider a 1,200-cc sport bike to be modestly endowed, a big bike from the golden age of British two-wheelers could do a whole lot with a whole lot less.
So, when you’re picturing yourself, hunched over the cafe bars, peeling through the fog on a slender sliver of a road coursing up the side of an English Channel isle, what exactly is that dream bike that you are riding?
Image source: [In.com]