One result of half a decade of a sky-high Japanese yen is the resurgence of the European motorcycle industry. The extravagant cost of modern Japanese motorcycles, even with the demise of the car tax, has given other manufacturers a chance to catch up with nefarious Nippon. In many ways the advances in manufacturing technologies means that the new manufacturer is at an advantage and can set up a state of the art factory without worrying about writing off the cost of older machinery.
Not that something as complex as making motorcycles can be called easy. The nascent British motorcycle industry, in the form of Triumph, for instance, had to take on decades worth of malpractice in British industry, had to weather the whole weight of the terrible reputation gained during the fatal final days of the seventies when the antiquated British designs could no longer cope with modern power expectations nor with the idiosyncrasies of the ancient machine tools.
There were those, and I was perhaps one of them (so much angst was there involved in my past acquaintance with Brltish bikes), who were just waiting for the usual litany of complaints to be levelled at just about every motorcycle, even automobile, produced by the British industry... but the new triples and fours proved remarkably robust!
Even Honda, for instance, were not unknown, even with their vast R &D and testing resources, to bring to market some horrible turkeys. Triumph had to suffer some minor problems in components brought from outside suppliers, which were quickly fixed under warranty, but that apart the bikes ran as well as any Japanese multi you'd care to shake a stick at.
I have to admit, that even with their robustness, these motorcycles are not to my taste (but then neither are most large Japanese bikes). Triumph at least pay as much attention to a decent development of torque as an excess of power which made, especially in triple form, their machines all the more enjoyable on the road rather than the race track.
No, what I objected to was their mass. At a time when devotees of advanced design were losing weight and gaining power, to the extent, even extreme, of ending up with a 900 four weighing a mere 420lbs, the new Triumphs were grossly overweight even if once under some decent steam they did not appear too porky.
But, to what's left of my mind, low mass and its corollary throwability become extremely important when the going gets desperate, when some blind moron shackled safely in his cage decides to liven up his day by trying to run moi off the road; then, when every ounce of manoeuvrability is necessary to avoid the horrors of what is left of the NHS, low weight becomes one of the helpful threads towards personal survival. I can see little reason why any modern motorcycle should weigh more than 400lbs.
Not that Triumph couldn't produce lighter motorcycles, but given the choice between matching the latest Japanese designs or ensuring that every component was going to reliability survive the rigours of motorcycling, a new company, saddled with the terrible reputation of most of British engineering. had little choice but to be conservative. Having now formed for itself an enviable reputation for longevity, Triumph are free to further develop their designs whilst maintaining their manifold good points.
It's interesting how the formation of a new engineering company, using the latest in production has shown up a lot of the rest of British engineering as being somewhat lacking in fundamental integrity. Triumph's reaction to the terrors of outside suppliers, other than the now expensive practice of buying components from Germany, Italy and, er, Japan, was to do more and more of the work inside the factory. Perhaps, in a few years time, Triumph will actually end up supplying motorcycle components to other factories as well as making whole bikes! That could really spark the revival of British motorcycling.
Triumph have been criticised in too closely following the designs of Japanese engines, but that is just par for the course as the Japs copied British and Italian designs back in the early sixties when the most they could manage were some pretty awful commuter hacks. What‘s interesting is that Japanese industrial practices are going in the completely opposite direction to the way Triumph are being forced to do business.
Few of the Big Japanese Four actually manufacture much, apart from the really high tech bits which require state of the art technology. Components are subcontracted out, often to small, hole in the wall companies that have none of the employment for life practices of the big firms. Rather than being stockpiled in the factory these bits have to be delivered to the door at a precise time, fed into massive assembly plants, which where possible are controlled by robots, and are so designed that they can switch from producing different types of machines at short notice.
Perhaps the most fundamental difference between the way Japanese companies and British ones work, is that the larger company rather than trying to screw the smaller one will help them develop their techniques so that over time a virtuous circle is attained. The smaller company becomes more efficient, which feeds into a better final product which, at the end of the day, means more sales and more orders all round.
The Japanese car companies, when they set up in the UK, insist upon the same philosophy - British companies that are foolish enough to refuse to play along will find themselves rapidly displaced by component suppliers from Nippon who decide to set up in the UK. Triumph, selling 5000 bikes a year worldwide (an almost miraculous figure given that UK sales are now down to a pathetic 50000) lack that kind of clout and are forced back upon their own resources. The way modern technology regenerates itself every year l have absolutely no idea which is the better way.
Triumph are not alone in Europe. Ducati are the most notable in their advances, evolving their vee-twin designs into ever lighter and more powerful motorcycles, a route Triumph will hopefully follow. Ducatis are mechanically reliable these days (if you treat the clutch gently) and in their milder, cheaper forms in many ways a much more sensible option than some of wildly wonderful Japanese race replicas.
Given that such real motorcycles, like Triumph and Ducati are available, the new suite of Japanese retros will likely die a death — other than when they are relatively small and cheap. Were Triumph to launch, say, a 400lb, 100hp 900cc Trident at a not unreasonable price the whole Japanese industry might just find itself in serious trouble. History teaches that things run in circles and it may well be time for the Japanese companies to go into full scale decline - and if they keep on producing stupidly expensive (to buy and to run) bikes it will serve them damn right.
But who knows what will happen? For all I know, the newly styled (and rather nicely, too) MZs will be such a hit that East Germany will become the new centre of European motorcycle production. Or maybe the new BMW boxer twin will help that company's flagging profits sufficiently to inject some funds to redesign the gargantuan bricks into something more modern.
Bill Fowler