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Úvod »Automobily osobní a dodávky»Alvis » Classic British Two-Stroke Trials Bikes
In essence the growth of the British two-stroke trials bike industry was due to a tax dodge which enabled manufacturers to sell their products in kit form and therefore 'Duty Free: The industry grew at an alarming pace, particularly when World Champion road racer Bill Lomas, who kindly wrote the foreword, changed the overall thinking with the first-ever lightweight win in a British Championship national trial aboard a 197cc James in 1951. From then until the demise of the ubiquitous Villiers engine and the arrival of the Japanese fleet, British two-stroke trials bikes, such as AJS, BSA, Cotton, Dot, Greeves, James, Norman and Rickman Metisse, reigned supreme and manufacturers could sell all they could build. The final bIow came in 1966 with the collapse of Associated Motorcycles, when almost overnight many of the above marques, and more, disappeared. It was ironic that AMC had been UK importers for Suzuki. Those names above, which read like a roll-call of honour to a British motorcycle enthusiast, are just a few of the 28 marques discovered and chronicled in his inimitable style by rider and author Don Morley. Indeed many of the photographs, which number almost 200, were taken by the author during this golden age of two-stroke trials action, when he was learning his trade both as a biker and as a photographer of exceptional ability.
The front jacket illustration, photographed by Don during the 1963 Scottish, shows J.A. Davies kicking up some mud with his DMW. The back jacket photograph, also by Don, shows W.H. Russell aboard his Dot, again in the 1963 Scottish.
AJS, Alta Suzuki, BSA - the Bantams, Butler, Cheetah, Cotton, Dalesman, Diamond, DMW, Dot, Elstar, Firefly, Francis-Barnett, Gaunt (Suzuki and Jawa), Greeves, HJH, James, Miller High Boy, Norman, OEC, Rickman Metisse, Sapphire, Saracen, Scorpion, Sprite, Sun, Tandon, The Villiers Engines, Wassell.