What about the other ‘Brit’ firms?

One of the oddities of this golden age of British biking is that this isn’t the end of the story. There are other firms making their mark. But it also gets more murky…

Royal Enfield

As everyone knows, modern Royal Enfield, although originally from Redditch, are today Indianowned and re-acquired the Royal Enfield name in 1999. As such they’re about as British as a chapatti.

Yet that’s not the whole story. Re-invigorated by new CEO Sid Lal and now with global ambitions beyond its original, antiquated singles, an allnew, multi-million pound R&D facility has been established at Bruntingthopre, Leics (staffed by more than a few ex-Triumph personnel), Harris Performance chassis nous was snapped up and more modern, retro style bikes like the 650 Continental GT and Interceptor are starting to flow. So British? Sort of.

Brough Superior

There’s arguably no more British biking name than Brough. The ‘Rolls-Royce of motorcycles’ was the ultimate in the ‘20s and ‘30s and remains so on the classic scene today, which is why a revival under brand-owning Brit Mark Upham in 2016 caused a sensation.

But with design, engineering and production courtesy of Thierry Henriette’s Boxer Design in Toulouse, France (rather than in Nottingham, which is where the originals were built), their true Brit credentials are perhaps a little sketchy. Non?