An odd idea had been forming in Sixties MX, an idea so radical it rocked an industry on its heels. This idea would change the face of MX and unfortunately it wasn’t the home industry which would capitalise on it. Big bikes were still winning championships; of this there was no doubt but those winning on such massive machines were sure the day of these machines was over. It didn’t help the cause of the massive scrambler to find the industry supporting it was balanced on a knife-edge and would soon topple, forcing mergers, acquisitions, consolidation and just plain old ‘would the last person out please switch off the light’ as the once-dominant British companies seemed to collapse at the click of a thumb and finger.
BSA had realised, or perhaps more accurately BSA’s Brian Martin and Jeff Smith had realised, their employer’s Gold Star was at the end of the line. The pair instigated a development programme on the new unit road bike machines which would ensure a series of hand-built machines based on these motorcycles would bring the world championship to BSA twice but the ultimate winner was the light two-strokes now being developed in Sweden, the Eastern Bloc and Essex. They were initially for the 250 class where such so-called flimsy machines
