Quote:
Originally Posted by john.wigley
Agreed, Alan, and it has been so since the 1960s. When I turned 16, it was normal to ride some sort of sub £10 'fixer-upper', not unlike my Raleigh Runabout. I believe that I described it in an earlier post as being a reinforced pedal cycle with a 49cc two-stroke engine slung under the bottom bracket.
There was one lad in my class whose parents were perhaps a little better off than most and who bought him a new Honda 50 C100 (Cub) - this was in late 1964. What a beautiful machine: four-stroke OHV motor with full suspension, foot-rests and a pillion seat. Unrestricted in those far-off days, it would do over 40 MPH, return 100 + MPG and came with indicators, speedometer, electric horn, brake-light and mirrors, all as standard. I think the only 'extras' offered were a windscreen and panniers - there was even one fitted with an electric foot, the C102.
That should have rung warning bells loud and clear in the board-rooms of Britain at the time, but we chose to ignore it to our cost. It was just the same with cars in the '70s. As you said, even the most basic came with a radio, when not a decade earlier some British manufacturers were still listing heaters as optional extras - hard to imagine when you remember that the first Datsun (Nissan) was a CKD Austin 7!
Regards, John.
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You are right John, those early (60s and 70s) Japanese bikes (particularly the 4-stroke Hondas) were beautiful machines: well designed and with excellent build quality. It is such a pity that BSA (at the time had the largest motorcycle factory in the world at Small Heath) didn't see it coming and so just kept turning out the same Bantams, C15s and B40s - 'if it were good enough for my dad, it's good enough for thee...'.
If one compares a C15 with a CB72 from the 60s - how could one not have seen the obvious outcome - but there again, everything is easy with hindsight.
:-(
Alan