The Britten V1000/1100 - What happened?

[R6_kid]

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the bike, the man, and the success that was gained in the time that John was alive. There is a lot of information out there about what happened while John was still alive but very little (if any) about what happened with the company and the bikes development afterwards.

I've read that there were plans to make it into a production road bike, plans for more racebikes and development, but all I can find currently is that they are selling memorabilia and that is the end of it.

Does anyone know definitively what happened, or if there is a reason any of the plans mentioned above didn't got ahead. It really seems a shame that all that hard work and forward thinking has been consigned to history rather than continuing the legacy and producing something amazing to compete in the modern era.

It would seem that now is the best time for a such a company/team to exist in NZ with both Moto2 and MotoGP opening up to privateer teams - even if the buy in is still rather high.

[ac3_snow]

Am I correct in thinking that Britten came up with the idea of a horizontally mounted monoshock?

[Kickaha]

Am I correct in thinking that Britten came up with the idea of a horizontally mounted monoshock?

The RZ500 had it in 1984 one year before the Aero Brittens were started,that's the first bike I can think of that had one, I'm sure there will be others

[StoneY]

The RZ500 had it in 1984 one year before the Aero Brittens were started,that's the first bike I can think of that had one, I'm sure there will be others

Pretty sure the Harley Davidson Softail series were the first production machines with this system, one of the few things I know about HD's.

1982
http://www.ehow.com/about_5365474_history-harley-davidson-softail.html

[Yow Ling]

kr250 had one too, not much new under the sun

[BMWST?]

the plastic fantastic has a horizontal rear shock

[StoneY]

the plastic fantastic has a horizontal rear shock

Not totally tho is it? Thought its a slight angle upward at the engine end?

[riffer]

It did last time I saw it (about six months ago).

[trustme]

If you want to know why the whole thing died read the Tim Hanna book. In a nut shell there were people wanting to carry on but the Family Trust & the way John set up his estate made that very difficult.
During a recent visit to the little museum the ladies said it could b4e started up if an equity partner could be found to plow in large quantities of cash. Not very likely

[bistard]

Yess the Tim Hannah book goes into a lot of detail & is a good read,my understanding is that the Britten Company now makes prosthetic limbs
There were also rumors of some plans for a single cylinder dirt bike

[R6_kid]

I'm currently reading the Tim Hanna book but I've had to stop about half way through due to study and work commitments.

It really would be a shame if it was legal red tape and hurt feelings that prevented the bike from realising its full potential.

[fuknKIWI]

If my memory is correct his company has produced prosthetic limbs, & made the (Pantah based) replica bike for the movie; The Worlds Fastest Indian.

[trustme]

No red tape. Those with a controlling interest starved the company of funds. A 6 speed box & from memory a slipper clutch were the next step but the estate would not agree to the expenditure.
The bike company had to buy it's machinery from the estate as John personally owned the equipment. The real value was in the intellectual property, patents & licences all of which were in Johns name & transferred to the estate which also caused an amount of ill will . The company had no assets & was cash poor although they did get it trading profitably after John died while they worked towards finishing the 10 bikes. Once they were completed it was pretty much all down hill.

[GD66]

It seemed the frenetic pace of designing, building and racing the bikes all at the one time sucked the optimism/enthusiasm out of those involved. This when coupled with the at-times questionable way Britten dealt with people both close and at arms length served to rule a line under any real probability of development continuing after he'd gone.
Make no mistake, in spite of the team image portrayed, the Britten race project only ever had a solitary figurehead with one focus.
Impressive though the bikes were, Tim's book reveals the cost the concept took in terms of personal dealings between Britten and his contemporaries.

[fuknKIWI]

It seemed the frenetic pace of designing, building and racing the bikes all at the one time sucked the optimism/enthusiasm out of those involved. This when coupled with the at-times questionable way Britten dealt with people both close and at arms length served to rule a line under any real probability of development continuing after he'd gone.
Make no mistake, in spite of the team image portrayed, the Britten race project only ever had a solitary figurehead with one focus.
Impressive though the bikes were, Tim's book reveals the cost the concept took in terms of personal dealings between Britten and his contemporaries.

Tactfully said Sir, & true too I believe.

[trustme]

Make no mistake, in spite of the team image portrayed, the Britten race project only ever had a solitary figurehead with one focus.
Impressive though the bikes were, Tim's book reveals the cost the concept took in terms of personal dealings between Britten and his contemporaries.

The video made it out to be a man alone, it was far from that. Some very clever & knowledgable people took Johns concepts & made them work ,he could not have done it without them, they did not have the vision but they shared in his. It is fair to say he burned a few out along the way.
So much was right but so much was also wrong.

[fuknKIWI]

The video made it out to be a man alone, it was far from that. Some very clever & knowledgable people took Johns concepts & made them work ,he could not have done it without them, they did not have the vision but they shared in his. It is fair to say he burned a few out along the way.
So much was right but so much was also wrong.

Succinct & tactful thankyou.

[R6_kid]

This is exactly what I am talking about. If Vyrus can adapt their frame and centre hub steering to develop a Moto2 chassis then surely the Britten tech can be developed in the same way.

http://www.stayontheblack.com/uploads/2011/01/vyrus986moto2-01.jpg