BSA Bantam The original design of the Bantam came from a German design, the DKW RT 125 (de) that was received as part of war reparations. This fact was not made widely known until long after the demise of BSA and for many years the Bantam was thought by many to be a 'truly British' lightweight motorcycle despite the original DKW design being taken up by two other manufacturers - Harley Davidson for one. more  |
Royal Enfield The Royal Enfield was the brand of the Enfield Cycle Company, an English engineering company. Most famous for producing motorcycles, they also produced, amongst other things, bicycles, lawnmowers, stationary engines, and even rifle parts for the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield. This legacy of weapons manufacture is reflected in the logo, a cannon, and their motto "built like a gun, goes like a bullet". It also enabled the use of the brand name Royal Enfield from 1890. In 1955 Enfield of India started assembling Bullet motorcycles under license from UK components, and by 1962 were manufacturing complete bikes. The original Redditch, Worcestershire - based company dissolved in 1970, but Enfield of India, based in Chennai, continued, and bought the rights to the Royal Enfield name in 1995. Royal Enfield production continues. more |
Harley-Davidson The Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is an American manufacturer of motorcycles based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of the two remaining American mass-producers of motorcycles (along with Victory). The company emphasizes heavy bikes designed for cruising on the highway and known for their distinctive exhaust note. more |
Yamaha Yamaha is a motorcycle powered by a twin cylinder two-stroke engine, reed valve 347 cubic centimeter engine. The bore and stroke are 64x54 mm. It produces 30.4 ft·lbf of torque at 7500 rpm. Coming out in 1980, it was the evolution of Yamaha's popular and well known RD350. Production was carried on into the 1990s and the engine is still produced and used in Yamaha's YFZ350 Banshee ATV. more |
Suzuki The Suzuki GSX1300R, also known as the Hayabusa, is a hyper sport motorcycle introduced by Suzuki in 1999. It has a 1299 cc inline-4 engine rated 175 bhp (129 kW) and was consistently tested as the fastest production motorcycle in the world before the 2001 detuning agreement referenced below. more |