Triumph, who had developed an almost cult-like following among these off-road competitiors, developed competition variants of their flagship road-going 650 models to cater directly for these customers. The English 650cc bikes, in their various guises, by 1960 had become the weapons of choice for amateur and professional riders alike in such events. To give the Harleys a sporting chance against the faster foreign invaders, the American Motorcycle Association, in a display of unabashed favouritism for the national brand, limited cylinder capacity to 500cc for bikes with overhead valve engines and 750cc for those with side-valve engines in all competition events except for TT steeplechase, scrambles and desert races. Lightweight and quick, the overhead valve parallel twins outperformed their more cumbersome, American-built rivals, the side-valve Harley Davidson 750cc vee-twins. Triumph, Norton and BSA motorcycles spearheaded the British invasion in the US throughout the 1950s and by the early ‘60s were dominating offroad competition, both on the dirt track and in the Californian desert.
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