I was talking to a friend about my two wd motorcycles.. He was very interested in them.
Among others, I explained the contribution of motorcycles to the outcome of war...
Listed a few brands that produced wd motorcycles (most British), then a question came up that I couldn't answer, simply because I don't know!
"Since British motorcycles were good enough to win the war, how come most of the brands that produced wd motorcycles are now out of the map?"
email (option): Ferrarakias@hotmail.com
Hi Kostas..that is a short question with a long and complicated answer if it was to be explained and discussed in detail.
Through the 60s the motorcycle industry as a whole had to weather a sharp decline in the demand for their products, as the small car became more affordable and more common.
The increasing strength of the trade unions and the influence of politics within them, which led to industrial action taken for political, not work related reasons also had damaging effects on production and sales etc.
There was also a general failure within the industry to realise the the threat of foriegn manufacturers, particularly the Japanese, and what that would mean in terms of increased competition.
There was also a lack of forward product developement, to modernise the existing designs and introduce new ones...and when there were new models they were frequently poorly designed and made. In the case of BSA for example this lead to major losses...
Generally throughout the industry in this period there was also a lack of investment in new tooling and production facilities as well. BSA were a notable exception to this and by the late sixties they had the most modern assembly lines and facilities outside of Japan...but the wrong product.
This was also the period where it was believed that 'experts' from outside the industry were the best people to bring in to solve the problems...that turned out to be another expensive mistake, designers from the aircraft industry turned out, unsurprisingly in hindsight, not to understand what the buying public wanted or even the basic requirements for a good motorcycle. Again, BSAs Research and Developement facility, set up at vast expense to house these characters produced nothing but problems for the BSA Triumph group as a whole.
As you can see, it was a multi faceted situation with numerous different things having an effect... and there is no direct answer as to why the Industry failed...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Ian thank you for your answer, I guess no one could have answered better than you!
email (option): Ferrarakias@hotmail.com
all i remember is when the first 250cc honda came on the scene in my area it was faster and didnt leak oil like my tuned 500cc triumph t100ss 
Your comment highlights a nice example of the crazy thinking within the industry Roger...When it was suggested to Edward Turner that the leak prone Triumph push rod tubes should be cast into the barrel he refused to accept any change...He stated that they were a Triumph 'feature' visually and that anyway, riders liked to strip the engine every so often..that must be why they bought Hondas then?
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If anyone wants to know what the alternative could have been to this ridiculous attitude get hold of a copy of Bert Hopwoods book 'Whatever happened to the British Motorcycle Industry?'..He was the BSA chief designer and his 'Modular' range of motorcycles which he proposed as a long term solution to BSAs problems included features that are not out of date today..such as single sided swinging arms..and that was in 1970!. He envisaged a complete range of motorcycles that could compete head on with the competition. They were modern, based on logically thought out principles with regard to design and production and had an inbuilt capacity to be enlarged and further developed as an ongoing range, well beyond the initial introduction phase...it was the work of a true Engineer..Sadly the BSA board didn't have the courage or forsight to take it up and squandered the last realistic chance of saving the company...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com