Developing a new motorcycle is a massive undertaking, usually taking between three-to-five years and millions of pounds worth of investment. The sheer scale of the projects mean that they simply have to succeed and although some are more successful than others, it is extremely rare to have the plug pulled prior to going on sale.
But it does happen from time to time. Sometimes bike makers decide that it’s simply better to cut their losses than to proceed with a new model that’s not up to scratch, or sometimes the market and tastes change while the project is in its gestation period.
Ducati Apollo
Ducati’s current model line-up majors heavily on V4 engine designs, but back in 1964 the idea was really out of this world. And the Apollo, which was named after the space missions of the time, was Ducati’s first V4 – and very close to going on sale.
The bike was requested by Berliner, Ducati’s American distributor. Being such a huge market, US sales bosses had a lot of sway in persuading factories what to make and back then they wanted a high powered touring machine to sell to the lucrative police market.
Ducatis were famed for being small and light, but the 270kg Apollo was a beast. The 1257cc, 100bhp, engine was capable of delivering a 120mph top speed, but the chassis (and in particular the tyres) couldn’t handle it.
Berliner actively marketed the bike, even printing brochures suggesting delivery in early 1965, and a prototype was shown at the Earl’s Court Motorcycle Show in London, in the November of 1964.
But before it could make production the Italian government backed out. Ducati was state owned at the time and bosses didn’t believe the market for the Apollo was big enough. Two prototypes were built. One is on display at Ducati’s museum while the other is believed to be in the hands of a Japanese collector.
Often manufacturers will present concept bikes at big shows to gauge public opinion, to see if their ideas are loved by potential buyers, and sometimes they just do it all in total secrecy. That’s why it’s difficult to know just how many projects came close to hitting our showrooms before being canned, but we do know quite a few and here (in a loose chronological order) are 10 such flops which might have been classics – if only the cards had fallen slightly differently.
BSA Fury/Triumph Bandit
Two bikes for the price of one here, as the failing BSA company looked to build a motorcycle to save the once dominant British motorcycle industry.
Japanese companies had decimated sales of British motorcycles and by the late ‘60s BSA owned fellow strugglers Triumph. Legendary designer Edward Turner was drafted in to create a new motorcycle to hit back at the Japanese and, assisted by legendary engineers Bert Hopwood and Doug Hele, they created a completely new 350cc parallel-twin to be called the BSA Fury. As was the norm at the company at the time, a rebadged version was also to be sold as a Triumph – which would bear the name Bandit.
It was a modern design, with twin overhead camshafts and an electric start. It was said to deliver 34bhp and a 110mph top speed, but finances were tight and development proved challenging. The bikes were set to be launched in 1971. Promo pics were taken and they appeared in brochures for that year. Some US journalists got to review a pre-production model but, behind the scenes, things were a mess and testing threw up reliability issues.
A handful of pre-production bikes were built, but the company went bust before a reliable production machine could be developed. Despite the Government-formed Norton-Villiers-Triumph organisation picking up the ashes of BSA, the Fury/Bandit project was quietly abandoned.
Norton Nemesis
We’re not sure if this was a cancelled project or merely a pipe dream, but the Norton Nemesis generated such interest in the late 1990s that we’re going for the former.
It was a decade of permanent flux for the once iconic manufacturer, stumbling from one bankruptcy to another. Under Canadian ownership, the company engaged former Formula One engineer Al Melling to design a range of new motorcycles from scratch. The flagship was to be an audacious 1500cc V8 superbike, called the Nemesis.
Promising a top speed of over 220mph, the Nemesis was presented to investors alongside a 750cc four-cylinder Manx in late 1997. The outlandish specification included cameras instead of mirrors, a button operated gear change and active suspension. Production was meant to start the following year but it was never going to happen. Melling refused to confirm if the V8 engine had even run when it was presented to the press in 1998 and, by 1999, it was over. In true Norton fashion it ended with bankruptcy and a court case, with Melling being awarded the rights to the project.
Understandably the Nemesis never made it into production. The solitary prototype found a home at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull where it remained on display until 2023, when the museum tasked custom bike builder and internet personality Allen Millyard with recommissioning the Nemesis. Documented on his YouTube channel, the Nemesis is finally running. It has performed several high speed runs and made a public appearance at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Millyard rode it up the famous hill.
Aprilia Blue Marlin
Shown at the 2001 EICMA show, the Aprilia Blue Marlin was a café racer concept developed in collaboration with French company Boxer Design, who later went on to make the reborn Brough Superior models.
Powered by Aprilia’s 1000cc V-twin motor from the RSV1000, it was destined to become a production model but fell victim to that eternal challenge facing design engineers – how to translate a great looking design into something which can be manufactured and used practically.
A stripped back fusion of futuristic and retro, the Blue Marlin attracted plenty of public interest – but when it came to creating a usable motorcycle the compact dimensions proved too challenging. There was no space to package an airbox and without destroying those stunning lines, or completely strangling performance, the Blue Marlin proved to be dead in the water.
Triumph A13HC Hurricane
The 1990s were a period of excessive power and speed, and bikes like the Kawasaki ZZR1100, Honda Super Blackbird and Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa were a common sight on roads. Triumph, in a bid to expand its business, saw an opportunity and went about developing a ‘Busa beater in private. Despite being months away from being ready to go on sale, boss John Bloor backed out and cancelled the project. At the time it looked like madness but, over two decades on, it was probably a smart decision.
Although never officially talked about, the secretive project wore the internal designation A13HC and was likely to be sold as the Hurricane. The four-cylinder engine was rumoured to displace 1300cc and was set to produce a class-leading 180bhp, which would have seen a theoretical top speed of 200mph.
Several factors contributed to the cancellation in late 2003. Triumph had been chastened by the failure of its four-cylinder TT600, which had fallen well short of the established Japanese makers, while the infamous factory fire of 2002 had given Bloor a chance to take stock of his business. The management consultants brought in strongly recommended focusing on the triples and twins for which Triumph was renowned, and the ‘me too’ A13 didn’t fit in with that. Externally, the tide was turning on hyperbikes. Negative headlines saw politicians get involved and Japanese manufacturers laid down their arms and brought a gentleman’s agreement to limit their bikes to 300kph (186mph), pre-empting possible bans or restrictions.
In truth the market was already turning against these bikes anyway, with lighter and sportier superbikes like the Yamaha YZF-R1 and Suzuki GSX-R1000 feeding the adrenaline junkies’ habits. The Triumph Hurricane may have been a world beater in the 1990s but the moment had passed and, had it gone on sale in 2004, it would have been five years too late. John Bloor knew this and instead focussed his attention on introducing distinctive triples like the Daytona 675 and Rocket III.
Suzuki Stratosphere
Presented as a concept at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki announced in 2007 that the Stratosphere would enter production. Thought by many to be slated for a 2009 release, it would disappear without a trace.
Powered by a brand-new 1100cc inline six-cylinder engine producing a claimed 180bhp, it was the spiritual successor to the iconic Katana – from which it borrowed a number of design elements.
Suzuki had a reputation for unveiling concept bikes. Most failed to make it beyond that stage, although the stunning B-King concept of 2001 finally made it into production in a very watered down form in 2007. The underwhelming reaction to the B-King hurt Suzuki, and with the global financial crisis of 2008 causing motorcycle manufacturers to batten down the hatches, the Stratosphere project was shelved.
Honda EVO6
Shown at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, the EVO6 was Honda’s Rocket III rivalling power cruiser that never was.
Powered by the 1832cc flat six engine from the iconic Gold Wing, it had an automatic transmission system which later debuted on the DN-01 (a concept which probably shouldn’t have made production!).
Honda bosses confirmed that the EVO6 was seriously considered for production but, in the end, it wasn’t to be. One can only assume that the ongoing financial crisis, which hit sales of big bikes hard and caused manufacturers to reevaluate their R&D spending, made Honda think twice about giving birth to a niche cruiser.
BMW Lo Rider Concept
Shown at the 2008 EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, the Lo Rider was a real ‘will they/won’t they’ type project.
It was a time when BMW was looking not only to extend its range, but to diversify and shake off its fuddy duddy image. The S 1000 RR superbike would make it to series production, but there were quite a few that got left behind.
The German company was known to be working on a 675cc three-cylinder sportsbike, which was set to take on Triumph’s Daytona 675 in the supersport class, but this concept was even further down the line and was shown publicly at shows and even spotted in testing.
The Lo Rider was a bit of a mash up of roadster and cruiser. It was powered by BMW’s traditional boxer twin engine and designed with a view to being modified and adapted to the owner’s personal tastes. It was pretty well received but, with the world gripped by a global financial crisis, R&D costs were slashed and BMW took stock of its new model developments. The supersport machine was deemed not to be economically viable, retrospectively a smart call in light of the subsequent collapse of the sector, while the Lo Rider also didn’t see the light of day – although elements can be seen in the later R nineT, which arrived in 2014.
Triumph 250s
Triumph owner John Bloor is not afraid to make bold decisions. We’ve already seen how he canned the Hurricane project in 2003 and, just over a decade later, he was at it again with the cancellation of a range of small capacity bikes aimed at conquering the Indian market.
Sensing an opportunity for a premium brand in the huge Asian markets, Triumph set about developing sub 250cc platforms benchmarked on the locally made machines selling by the million in India. In 2013, the company set up an Indian subsidiary and even released sketches of some designs which mimicked the bigger Speed Triple and Daytona 675.
Working prototypes were built and weekly newspaper MCN (which had regularly doorstepped the Hinckley factory to get spy shots of the Hurricane) spotted the bikes being ridden on roads around Leicestershire.
But behind the scenes it was doomed for failure. Protectionist policies made it almost impossible for international companies to set up without collaborating with local manufacturers, but the proud Triumph tried to go their own way and got burned. Design engineers stripped down local models and struggled to understand how they could make a such a motorcycle and make a profit, while testing threw up reliability issues. With too many political obstacles and an impossible business model, the project was officially put on hold in 2014. They would be back a decade later though, partnering with Bajaj to create the class-leading Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X for a global market.
Harley-Davidson Bronx
Conscious that their product line-up consisted solely of expensive cruisers and tourers aimed at a certain audience, back in 2018 Harley-Davidson introduced a radical business plan to broaden the brand’s appeal. Dubbed ‘More Roads to Harley-Davidson’ the aim was to introduce new models to get more bums on Hogs.
A big (and probably misguided) focus on EVs was eventually hived off into the Livewire sub-brand, while a partnership with Hero created the X400 for the Indian market. A foray into the adventure bike sector created the Pan America, but closer to the core audience was meant to be the Bronx – a 975cc V-twin streetfighter that would go up against the likes of Ducati’s Monster and the KTM Duke.
It seemed like the most credible diversification for The Motor Company and it was slated for a 2020 launch. It looked good in the promo pictures, but 2020 came and went without a Bronx.
The project was officially cancelled as Harley wound back on its ambitious plan and decided to focus on its core audience and bikes with more profit margin, a shame as the Bronx certainly looked the part and would have given H-D a keenly priced mainstream contender.
Unlike many of the bikes here though, it wasn’t all in vain. The 975cc version of the Revolution Max engine would appear in the Nightster cruiser, with a bigger variant being used to power the Pan America.
