The Strange Death of the British Motorcycle Industry Paperback – 6 Mar. 2012

Firstly I have to condemn the words of the reviewer who rated this book as poor due to its lack of anecdotes and the detailed description of various motorcycle models. This has been done to death by many others including the motorcycle press.There are far too many 'anecdotes' and myths surrounding the crisis this industry found itself in. These myths often become accepted fact in the repeated telling (At present a notable and long serving motorcycle journalist is pandering the myth that Bert Hopwood and Doug Hele were not friends and that Doug Hele told him that he had no respect for Hopwood, this is a blatant lie and is in direct contradiction even Doug Hele’s much published opinions - it is easy to make up stories when the protagonists are dead) Mr Koerner has produced a work of such academic clarity that shows just how much damage the anecdote tellers have done.This book, is the first complete bringing together of all the core materials to form a coherent whole I have ever read. Since I have read most if not all the other attempts to tell this story, I can say this with some conviction.This book is an excellent and proper source of a real and complex tragedy brought on by so may factors. Well done Mr Koerner.

An excellent insight into the demise of the motorcycle industry.Well written and very comprehensive. Rec

This is no coffee table book, but I found it irresistible as the author, who is an academic, backs up his opinions with evidence, a lot of it new to me.As a fellow motorcycling author, I applaud this title , recommended for the inquisitive enthusiast.

I really enjoyed this- a very well researched account from original sources of the industry from the 1930s to the present. It's also very well written. What is particularly good is the wider context of the 'strange death', considering world markets for motorcycles, British government trade agreements, and labour relations, for example. This book does blame the well known poor management of the industry,- and not just in its final years- but it's much more subtle than that. I did feel there were some parts which were a bit rushed, maybe edited down too much from its origin as a PhD thesis. The inset pages about particular models etc. seems to be designed to make the book more attractive to motorcycle enthusiasts and are not particularly well integrated into the book, and don't add much. Overall, though, the book deserves to be much better known as a readable and scholarly and well balanced account of the industry.

This book is based on the Ph.D. dissertation of the author. It is a very comprehensive study of the decline to near extinction of a once worldwide leading industry. The author used many primary sources, such as government documents, company accounts and the records of the Motor Cycle Industry Association. It gives a clear picture of the history of the motorcycle industry and contains also interesting statistics. It covers many aspects from the technical side up to the changing immage of motorcycling. It is exhaustively researched.The reader gets a very clear picture of the relevant circumstances leading to the death of the once great british motorcycle industry.

Excellent historical account with an interesting sense of narrative

This looked like a interesting book and when it arrived I discovered that I had already bought and read it.It was interesting to discover that many problems of the British Motor Cycle were probably caused as much by its success as its failures .The answer seems much more complicated than the fairly transparent troubles in the British Motor Industry in the 1960s and 70s

Great book, very interesting, lots of unknown facts, really suited me

If you think that British motorcycle companies were amateur minnows this book will set you right. They worked together through a strong industry body, they worked energetically to open international markets including the USA, they tried to expand ridership for example by attracting women to motorcycles they even started planning for the end of WW2 in1942. They also made some huge blunders as the text reveals. This excellent book is readable comprehensive and intelligent.

this book is a comprehensive account of the events contributing to what the author calls the death of the british motorcycle industry. its 277 pages of text and over 70 pages of detailed notes and references listing the sources including page numbers and how to find the pertinent publication giving this information. this is an impressive work chronicling these events starting from the beginning and covering through the seventies and maybe beyond (I haven't finished the book yet). this is not an afternoon's reading. this is a book with so much information it deserves to be studied instead. i believe that this book will emerge as the leading resource for information about this subject.

Nice cover but I haven’t read it yet. Amazon give me at least a month to read it.

Probably the best book on this topic. I have several other books on the demise of the British motorcycle industry, and this is the best one out there. Worthy every penny!

I was very interested in comparing it to what happenedto our domestic ahtomakers plight. As I guessed, there were many similarities in the two situations. Failure it seems has many a common cause.Thanks for the one day shipping, absolutely amazing.