Harris Performance Products are a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-based

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

racing and parts manufacturer. The business started in Roydon,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England making replacement chassis for

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

, housing Yamaha TZ250/TZ350 engines using a monoshock rear suspension layout. It was absorbed in 2015 by Eicher Motors, a conglomerate specialising in vehicle production, based in India.

Background

The family-run company Harris Performance Products is based in

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

and designs, develops, manufactures and markets road and racing motorcycle chassis and components. The company was established in 1972 by Lester and Steve Harris, with a third director Stephen Bayford. Over 2,200 road bikes have been produced and sold from one-off specials to the Harris Magnum range. This included approximately 20 Laverda-based Magnums, amongst others. Harris motorcycles have been successful in all classes of road racing including Grand Prix,

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...

, World Championship Endurance,

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the e ...

and top Irish road races. In 1991, the company became one of only two companies worldwide to be licensed by Yamaha to buy factory race engines for installation in Harris designed and built chassis for the blue ribbon 500 cc Grand Prix World Championship class. Harris is a technical partner to the official Yamaha UK Supermoto team. Their Harris Yamaha 500 GP machines which were produced from 1992 onwards. They ran the official Suzuki factory

World Superbike Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a Silhouette racing car, silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Su ...

Team in 1996‚ 1997 and 1998. In 2003 Harris Performance teamed up with

World Championship Motorsports Worldwide Championship Motorsports (WCM) was a Grand Prix motorcycle racing team formed in 1992 by American Bob MacLean and British Peter Clifford (MotoGP). The team ran Yamaha motorcycles from to and was called Red Bull Yamaha WCM. Competiti ...

(WCM) to build new racing bikes under the name "Harris WCM". The FIM initially banned their motorcycle from competing after their engines did not conform FIM rules and the team was forced to run modified two-stroke, ten-year old Yamaha motorcycles until a compliant engine was ready at the 2003 Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix, but the partnership lasted until 2005, when a technical partnership with Blata fell through. In 2015, Royal Enfield, a subsidiary of

Eicher Motors Eicher Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive company that manufactures motorcycles and commercial vehicles, headquartered in New Delhi. Eicher is the parent company of Royal Enfield, a manufacturer of middleweight motorcycles. ...

, India-based motor vehicle manufacturers, acquired Harris Performance for an undisclosed sum. The company had a long relationship with Royal Enfield and was responsible for the chassis development of the brand's models Continental GT cafe racer and the Himalayan ADV bike.

References

External links

- Harris Performance Products website

Motorcycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom {{Motorcycle-manufacturer-stub