Motorcycles were a market that was to be a natural opening for Japanese industry. Although the British, Americans, Italians, and Germans were making motorcycles that sold well they were steeped in traditional ideas of what a motorcycle should and should not be. The Japanese were not. Japan had worked on creating a motorcycle industry especially in the post war period.
The early days of pedal-powered cycle (or velocipede) were a time of significant experimentation, the earliest examples had pedals that were connected directly to…
Harley-Davidson created their Sportster partly as a result of losing sales and prestige to the quick and nimble British motorcycles being imported into the United States in the fifties as Britain’s government used an “export or perish” economic model to pay off her war debts. These bikes from the likes of Norton, Triumph, and small arms maker BSA were around 500cc capacity heading on up to 650cc. Born in an environment in Britain where racing from café to café trying to reach 100mph and not get caught by the police had become a new sport.