The motorcycle show only used one of the many halls at the NEC and even had difficulty filling this properly. If you have ever been to a show before then you wouldn’t have been at all surprised by the layout at Birmingham.
I had expected Honda to launch a single carb, drum braked version of the CBR600, Yamaha to reintroduce the 650 twin in a decent chassis and Suzuki and Kawasaki to bring out some classic looking single cylinder and, er, drum braked roadsters.
These expectations were not to come true, unfortunately, and I had to look very hard to find a machine that wasn’t East European that had drum brakes. The CBR600 had a very flash white and red paint job but I couldn’t figure any way of hijacking it. The whole Yamaha and Kawasaki stands were one long bore with nothing that looked remotely interesting.
Suzuki launched their new 600 four, which is a sort of smaller version of the oil cooled 750 four with a steel wrap around frame and a CBR-type body enclosure. Not inspiring, for they didn’t take advantage of the hidden motor to cut down on the production costs and so removed is the chassis from modern day reality that it doesn’t even use the motor as a stressed member and has some useless detachable lower frame members. Only their ability to make ultra reliable engines will save the day. They also had a huge sports tourer, but this will appeal only to Yuppies who are willing to pay five grand for a bike that doesn’t even provide proper hand protection - poor dears will have frozen digits after five minutes in our winter weather.
Honda had something new in their NTV600 which has a VT engine hidden away under yet another wrap around frame. Unfortunately, for them, the line of the frame conflicts with the engine angle (claimed in their sales literature to be a 90° vee, but it looks the same as the VT) and the sharp turn of the exhausts promises little for engine efficiency. Honda claim 55hp, an amount not dissimilar to a sixties 650 twin - so with 20 years advance in design you should expect fuel to run from 55 to 80mpg. Some hope!
There was a rumour doing the rounds that one of the Jap manufacturers were going to introduce a four that dumped shell main bearings in favour of using the crankcase alloy, much as all those Jap twins did with their camshafts much to the dismay of their owners.
Also on the rumour front, there was the promised launch of yet another motorcycle magazine (you could probably hear the groans from dismayed publishers) which threatened not to treat its readers as if they were juvenile delinquents, a quick way of going bust if ever there was one. As the guy handing out the info wouldn’t tell me who was going to publish/write it, I won't tell you what it’s called or when it’s going to come out. So there.
The reason that so many publications are coming out is exactly the same reason why some British manufacturers are getting back into the motorcycle game. Both mags and bikes are so highly priced that it’s possible for anyone able to take the initial risk to set up in business and make a very nice profit.
Which brings us neatly enough to the remnants of the British Motorcycle Industry. Oh, how sad the Triumph Bonneville and Matchless G80 looked. The poor old Bonnie, which with a bit of attention to detail could be cleaned up and paraded as a neat imitation of its sixties ancestor, didn’t know quite what to make of itself (if ever a bike desperately needed drum brakes), whilst the G80 was too little too late.
And the Norton Wankel was styled with all the aplomb of all those seventies BL blando cars that served so little point. It really does want to make you scream with frustration. I did dig the police version, though, which had a stylish barn door of a fairing and lots of flashing blue lights built in - I reckon Norton could sell thousands of the things - just think of the fun you’d have. I applaud cutting out dealers and selling direct to the public. The Plod version will probably have its blue lights removed and be sold as a tourer. The Classic will cost just under six grand.
Tony Foale had a couple of bikes dotted around the show - the Superbike sponsored device looked rather neat and showed that there are some stylists left in this country, whilst the Ducati engined machine looked a bit too near to some of those Feet Forward abortions that scar the pages of MCS, for my liking.
In the centre ground there is a huge market for a machine that is properly designed with 120mph and 80mpg available, with minimal service requirements and a great emphasis on functionality. What no-one in the trade will accept is that the above features have to be combined with a degree of styling and weather protection that will make the CBR600 look old fashioned.
Anyone who talks mpg and function is treated as if they are blind to the looks, deaf to the laugher and dumb enough to accept the second rate, ill-conceived rubbish that’s currently on offer at the lower end of the market. Not that I’m complaining, you understand, the last thing I want is for you all to buy new bikes and stop buying the UMG. On the other hand, we don’t want to run out of used bikes, do we?
Bill Fowler