Found your site and was amazed about how much work you put into it. However, there are (especially regarding the European brands) some captions that are a bit unfair. e.g. you write about NSU declining after World War II. But NSU had their top in the mid-fifties and were at that time way-out the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world!

Mr. Honda took them as the example of how to set-up his production system, which was followed by all Japanese makers. Only NSU was so clever to see the change of tide in Europe and changed to cars. Even today, the roots of Volkswagen (Golf) and AUDI are basically NSU engineering, they were so far ahead..............!

With kind regards,

Ludy E. Beumer
Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.

Ed. Too true about NSU, a wonderful marque and I will always fondly remember my ride on the track of an NSU SportsMax. Unfortunately in the longer term NSU did tragically decline on the bike front despite their wonderful design and success and looking from 2005 it has been a long time since we saw a new NSU motorbike. There certainly is no intent to be unfair to European bikes, which I love....let me know of any possible distortion.