WORDS: ROOTSY IMAGES: MARK MANNING
There are many marks along motorcycling’s relentless march forward that denote a point of progress. Initially little more than a steam-powered pushbike, the motorcycle has first lovingly embraced the internal combustion engine as its eternally beating heart, then settled on basic chassis design before making massive progress in braking and suspension to a point of arrival called convention.
Early breakthroughs by the British, French and Germans were later capitalised on by the Japanese from the 1950s onwards. More recently tastes have reverted back to European flavours in this post millennium age, while the Indians and Chinese are doing the copy and paste thing for their own markets.