Welcome to Sunday Matinee, where we highlight classic car reviews or other longer videos I find on YouTube. Kick back and enjoy this blast from the past.
When you think about Brits and bikes, you inevitably envision the supposed "golden age" of motorcycle culture in the 50s. Greasers on Nortons and Triumphs, the Ace Cafe, and all the "ton-up" bullshit that surrounds it. But look past the lifestyle detritus used to shill artificially faded Vincent Black Shadow t-shirts and you start to understand the scope and scale the British motorcycle industry had on the world.
The BBC's always excellent Timeshift series took a look back on the British motorcycling industry and the culture it spawned, from cobbled together, glorified bicycles at the turn of the century to TE Lawrence, WWII, technological advances, and the rise (and gruesome fall) of the companies that paved the way. Being a product of the BBC, it's rose-tinted history, but if you want a crash course (ahem) on how the Brits shaped the two-wheeled world, hit play, grab a dark beer and a comfy chair and enjoy.