I don't know why it would matter who owns it but, it does to me. Bit silly really in these global times. Appears SAAB taken over today by the Chinese and I know here in Australia vast farms are now Chinese owned. Chinese ownership of French chateaux is rising exponentially as reported only last week. I think the main concern about Chinese ownership is in Africa and parts of Asia where land is going from both local subsistance and commercial farmers alike with significant crops going back to China and thus impacting upon the availability and/or cost of staple foodstuffs to the locals. Guess that puts the motorcycle concern in a different light.
Your starter for ten: If the Chinese Rover is now the Roewe and MG is no longer Morris Garages, but Modern Gentlemen, what would the Chinese call Triumph?
I don't think JB will sell it however when he passes it to his son its just another company to him and if he needs a few million who knows highest bidder.
Its not fair to blame the Chinese blame the British companies who moved to find cheap labour and the British buyer who bought the cheaper Chinese rubbish. Had we only bought British or European we would still have a manufacturing base in the UK.
If British/European products of the sixties/seventies had been of even half decent quality, folk would not have had the need to buy Japanese (and now Chinese)
We produced cr*p for too long, and while Triumph are a great sign that we can get things right, it's far too late for many
SA_Rider: Your starter for ten: If the Chinese Rover is now the Roewe and MG is no longer Morris Garages, but Modern Gentlemen, what would the Chinese call Triumph?
Paying pitiful wages to what are almost slave workers and in some cases such as the prison factories are slave workers, is a realy good way to drive costs down! seems to me if you look at what China are doing they are waging war by other means.
European roducts were good. The problem was products produced by slave workers are cheaper! Driving pay down to try and compete only meant that people with less money were forced to buy cheap foreign made products. As the demand for goods produced at home dwindled so companies cut costs and thus quality and investment fell. Add to that that in the UK especialy everything is skewed to making a fast buck for shareholders rather than long term investment in the future and you have a Vicious circle.
As for quality what about 70s datsun or toyota cars? Don't see many around now do you? They rusted away. Old Suzukis might have had longer service intervals than a triumph or BSA and been faster but they corroded before your eyes. Nowadays most are just wrinkles on a coke can while there are thousands of old Triumphs and BSAs still going strong and parts are actualy cheaper for them because of that. Quality was actualy better on home or european produced products it was price we couldn't beat.
I think it was Oscar Wilde who said something along the lines of a "cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" he was right.
Its never too late. We prevented invasion when all looked lost, we can prevent disaster this time too but we need real leadership who have woken up to what is going on rather than appeasers going on about trade and partnerships. These people would have had us in a millitary alliance with old Adolf!
There thats killed it, I brought the Nazis up. All hail Godwins law
Italian bikes were very expensive and very fragile There was no way I could afford (or want) a BMW
The only Brit bike was the T140, which frankly was cr*p, certainly compared to the Japanese bikes of the day, which I did buy, such as the CB400-4 and Z650.
Given the option, I would gladly have bought British, but until the mid 90's, that option simply wasn't available.
How many t140s are still running compared to equivalent Japanese machines of the day? the T140 was a victim of the process I described above.
Also our definition of good has changed. What is better? something intricate and beautifully made but very fragile and difficult to repair or something simpler, maybe less sophisticated, but robust and infinitely rebuildable?
The answer defines what has happened to technology and our society. Is good something that is repeatedly obsolete or something that is long lasting?
From the mid seventies the Japanese stuff was technically more advanced, more reliable and cheaper.
I take your point about keeping it simple, tho I can't think of a manufacturer who uses it as a sales pitch (with the possible exception of Royal Enfield)
From the late 1960's the Japanese stuff was far beter than the British union led rubbish that was made. The 750 and 850 twins being flogged out by the few remaining companies were just bored out 500's to a degree. No invesment had been made by any of the companies, in-house fighting with the last 2 (BSA and Triumph) marketing their models DIRECTLY AT EACH OTHER!!!
Japanese bikes had Indicators & mirrors as standard, disc brake, no oil leaks, reliable. Even if they didn't handle.
And what engines did the very last NVT's use? A Yamaha DT125/175MX, coipled with Japanes electrics and Italian running gear, not very British at all, even less than a Hinckley one
"As the demand for goods produced at home dwindled so companies cut costs and thus quality and investment fell. Add to that that in the UK especialy everything is skewed to making a fast buck for shareholders rather than long term investment in the future and you have a Vicious circle."
That is why T140s etc were not as good as they could have been.
its too simplistic to say all British bikes of the 70s were crap and japanese stuff was better.
Honda camchains? Suzuki electrics? Kawasaki cams? Yamaha corrosion? etc etc. There was tons of scrap produced in Japan too. Its a total myth that everything was better from the land of the rising sun. I know from experience. Yes there were some good bikes but an overwhelming ammount of tat too.
its too simplistic to say all British bikes of the 70s were crap and japanese stuff was better.
...Kawasaki cams?
That was a 90s thing, the engines on 70 kwaks were pretty solid the handling however, apart from the Z650, was bloody awful though
Everything you said about the other three is true, natch
I'm only winding you up; as much as I am a Kwak fan I'd like a T140 more than a modern Bonnie damned site easier to work on, even if you had to do it more often.
)
the handling however, apart from the Z650, was bloody awful though 