Reasons for becoming a motorcycle manufacturer range from spotting a gap in the market to being dissatisfied with what is currently available and certainty something better could be made. When the mainstream British industry began to implode in the Sixties and was either unwilling or possibly unable to fulfil a changing dirt bike scene as it focused on simply staying in existence there was certainly a gap appearing across the whole motorcycling market. The buying public were less keen on laying money out on what was increasingly viewed as a rehash of what had gone before and they wanted new ideas, better specification, reliability. History records it was the Japanese industry which provided the roadster needs of the market and eventually in the Sixties it would be Europe and Spain in particular which fulfilled the dirt bike scene’s needs.
While revelling in the publicity success in sporting events brought to a company, seen to be winning this success came at a cost and, when the machines winning were similar to the revenue-earning road range, it was a cost they grudgingly bore. Problem was the off-road scene was changing and lighter bikes with little resemblance to a production range were chipping away at the awards in both trials
