I received this book by the late Bert Hopwood on Christmass and have just finished reading it. I seem to recall this book was at one time available from our host, but cannot seem to find it in the current CMW catalogue. Anyway, it is 315 pages of very interesting reading and I recommend it highly. The author was a design engineer for Ariel, Norton, and BSA. He has quite a story on the rise and fall of the industry, and puts most of the blame on poor management in the 1950's and 1960's. Seems the management wanted cosmetic changes to 1930 motorcycle designs and repeatedly shelved and stalled new development ideas. 1)Disregarded the Japanese entry into the small motorcycle market as a money loser, never considered that the young rider would develop a brand loyalty to the same brand of bike he learned to ride on. 2)Management would continually try to shortcut testing of prototypes and move straight to production, resulting in product failure and warranty losses. 3)Management did not connect with the consumer to find what the rider wanted. 4)Poor scheduling, ie. making sure new models were ready for the showroom during the peak sales period of spring and summer (resulting in empty showrooms during these peak sales periods). 5)Not introducing new technology, resting on old style bike designs (ie, a three cylinder 750 cc engine was ready for production in 1962, but was stalled by management until 1972. 6)Persuit of frivolous fluff items on the bikes(ie the use of oil in frame concept which resulted in a bike that was too tall for the average rider). 8)Managers that had no backround in the product. 9)Govt assistance that required the sale of the most profitable portions of the corporation. 10) Labour strikes at the worst possible time.
The whole story seems very similar to General Motors, many different but competing brands under one corporation, disregard of the small car sector and leaving it to the Japanese, Govt intervention where the govt has an ulterior motive from actually making cars.
Anyway, it is a great read, and if you get a chance to read it , you should.