Rebirth of A Matchless

Rebirth of a Matchless

That’s right, the long-lived Matchless name will soon he back, with production of the new single-cylinder, Rotax-engined Matchless G80 scheduled to begin in July. First unveiled at the Cincinnati Trade Show in the U.S. earlier this year, the G80 will be built at a rate of 100 bikes per month during the second half of 1987, doubling to 200 per month next year in order to meet the substantial orders that builder Les Harris says the bike has attracted. “We signed up 300 dealers in the U.S. alone,” he says, “plus, we aim to sell a lot of bikes in the UK and are working on a 400cc version for Japan. The price is actually going to be lower than we originally projected because the rise in the value of the pound has reduced the cost of the Rotax engines which come to us from Austria.”

For the time being, the four-valve 500cc Single is being supplied with kick-starting only, but Harris plans to introduce an electric-start version if demand is sufficient to warrant the extra cost.