Report From Japan
REPORT FROM JAPAN
YASUO YOSHIHARA
YUKIO KURODA
ANOTHER LITTLE RUMOR
Is Suzuki about to come out with a big-bore machine? No one is really sure, although there have been numerous reports here of a big machine for the American market—and you can be certain that the Hamamatsu company would want to match the entries of Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki in the big-displacement, high-performance field for quite a few reasons.
For one thing, the policy of headlining the various models of machines a company produces with a fancy, big, fast bike is a sure-fire way to corner a lot of prestige and attention from the press, the dealers and ultimately the buying public-Honda will probably sell many more 90s, 350s, etc., because of the attraction of the four-cylinder machine. Buyers figure that a company which builds something as stunning as the big Four must have plenty on the ball in middle-range and small-bore machinery, too.
The latest conjecture is that Suzuki is building a 750or 800-cc twin-cylinder overhead-camshaft machine. While this might seem improbable in view of Suzuki’s intense commitment to two-cycle designs, there are several factors which make it a distinct possibility. One is the knowledge of the prototype passenger car that Suzuki was working on last year—it was powered by a 1500-cc sohc engine, and would have been aimed at the lucrative small sedan market in Japan, Europe and the United States. Suzuki decided not to produce the car, but they did plenty of design ana production research into four-stroke engines; and they could go the way Yamaha went, using their automobile engine experience to build a machine that would appeal to seasoned riders who had previously ridden Triumphs, Harleys or Hondas—and whose tastes didn’t extend to big-bore two-strokes.
Much market research has shown that there are many motorcyclists in this category. Suzuki built their T500, the first 500-cc two-stroke Twin in modern times, to appeal to this class of big-bike riders; they did much detailed research into problems of thermal expansion, gas flow, etc. The result of their efforts was generally praised as a very fine motorcycle, but as far as commercial success is concerned it was a dud. I think that the company may have been burned a little by this experience, and might now
decide to cater to more conventional tastes with a powerful, reliable fourstroke mount-though the flaming success of Kawasaki’s Mach III might tempt them to introduce a two-wheeled version of the Fronte SS sedan.
This little jewel has been doing extremely well in the highly competitive mini-sedan market and for good reason: it is powered by one of the most sophisticated designs around. The piston-port, three-cylinder engine puts out 36 horsepower at 7000 rpm, with only a 6.9:1 compression ratio. The engine is of 52 by 56 mm dimensions, and it potent enough to nail the 1000-pound car through the quarter mile at under 20 seconds. There is no doubt that many more horsepower could be squeezed out of this design, and it is strong and reliable, too. The main impediments to building a 650or 750-cc motorcycle with a similar design are the technical hitches of excessive fuel consumption and heat, and the aesthetic problems of the looks, the sound and the feel of such a machine.
KAWASAKI THREE, TOO
Kawasaki has decided to offer 1970 models of the Mach III in two color schemes—the striking charcoal version exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show and also a tasty orange shade. This tallies with their “Colorful Epoch” theme in domestic advertising—and there is no doubt that their machines are among the most colorful to come from Japan. It used to be that you could get motorcycles in one color: flat black; those days are gone forever.
The new Mach III will come with a ribbed front tire instead of the universal version previously offered—it didn’t do so well for the handling of the light, 60-horsepower machine. All the Mach III needs now are some of the new “Hatta” forks to give it road racer handling—and I suspect that these remarkable units will be offered on the complete line of Kawasaki competition/high performance machines in the near future; the company is justly proud of these new suspension units, which it calls “the most versatile legs in motorcycling.”
IF YOU THINK WE’VE GOT IT BAD. . .
Legislative restrictions on using motorcycles on public roads in Japan may seem unbelievable to the American rider, but they give a good idea of what can happen when a bunch of duly elected ignoramuses and expert bureaucrats can do to your freedoms when they decide to run amok. I found this out the hard way, the day I went to shoot a promotional film near Mount Fuji.
I’m working on a series of short films for Columbia Records, Japan, which will be used on television to premiere new records. There’s a sort of semi-rock piece called “Glorious Morning” I was told to work with—why not use some motorcycle action scenery for it, I thought? And why not use the highspirited and beatiful Honda Four? Or better, two of them!
No problems at first—Honda Motor Co., Ltd. gladly lent us two new Fours, one blue and one red; came Monday morning and I flopped out of the sack at 5 a.m. “Wow! It’s still last night!” And being the 21st of December it was colder than a polar bear’s point of view when we started driving up toward the Fuji Subaru Line and the volcano.
To get there we had to use the Chuo Highway, a long toll road running from Fuchu, near Tokyo, all the way to Lake Kawaguchi at the foot of Fuji-san; one of their rules is that motorcycles can’t carry a passenger while on the highway (I’m sure some dim-witted Safety Expert assured them that riding double is too dangerous to be permitted at terrific speeds like the legal 50 mph limit), and all riders must wear helmets (if they have helmet laws make them apply equally to car drivers, I say).
On the fastest sections of the highway, the speed limit is 100 kmh (62 mph) for cars—but only 80 kmh (50 mph) for bikes—again evidence that somebody with power was convinced bikes are more unsafe than cars (which is saying a lot, if you look at all the recent callbacks, the most interesting of which was Toyota’s recalling of all of their 155-mph 2000 GT models for a defect in the steering gear that could cause it to come loose at high speeds).
To top it off, the 750 Honda I was riding had a red warning light mounted between the instrument pods that flashed angrily whenever I exceeded the 50 mph limit. You can be sure I fixed that little accessory plenty fast.
We shot hundreds of feet of 16-mm film of riding shots, with the camera either held by the passenger (photographing his own machine and the other machine in front), or with the camera held out from the car, a Nissan Skyline 2000 GT that just managed to keep up with the Hondas. We had some road race type scenes, and some romantic stuff with a pretty Japanese model riding the lead bike. And Mount Fuji was unusually clear and sharp in the sunlight, covered in a white mantle of early winter snow.
On the way back to Tokyo I got stopped by a shirobai, motorcycle cop, red lights flashing away. He very politely pointed out that it was against the law for motorcycles to ride in the center (fast) lane of the expressway, and that I should keep my Honda Four over to the left with the busses, dump trucks and bicycles.
To top the whole thing off, I also learned that Honda and Kawasaki almost didn’t get the 750 Four and the Mach III approved for domestic sale, because there is a law stating that no motorcycle capable of exceeding 120 mph will be permitted to use public roads. Well, that’s the legislative situation in Japan. Let’s hope enough enraged Americans who take their motorcycling seriously will stand up on their rear wheel and stop things from going the same way in the States.
SHEEPHERDIN' HONDA
A new version of a proven model from Honda: the GL-175, a mild-tuned, tractable machine with more emphasis on torque than horsepower. The machine sports such features as a completely enclosed rear chain; it will be used by sheepherders in Australia, among others, and they have to drive through a lot of tall grass that could foul an exposed chain. Export plans to the USA haven’t been announced yet; if Honda decides to export to the States I will report it in this column.
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DISTAFF DELIGHT
While women motorcyclists are something of a novelty in the USA, it is much more extraordinary for ladies to ride bikes in Japan. Until recently women were severely discouraged from any such expression of personal freedom.
But young Japanese are, by and large, more loose and less inhibited then their elders in many ways; the case of Miss Fusayo Horikawa is proof.
NEW 90 SUZUKI
Fusayo-san is 19 years old, and works as a news courier for the Nippon News Service Co. She rides her new Yamaha DS-6 250-cc machine on her daily rounds, putting many kilometers on the machine during each day’s runs. She has set the machine up with flat road racer-type bars, and confesses that she loves speed; she was once captured while doing 130 kmh (about 80 mph) down the Daisan Keihin highway by a quick shirobai. I imagine she batted her eyelashes out of that one.
She says she’s working overtime to make enough money to buy a Yamaha Trail 90—she enjoys using a motorcycle for relaxation as well as work.
And boyfriends? “A bike is better than a boyfriend!” she laughed. But I bet some swift dude on a Yamaha 650 will run up beside her someday and she’ll modify that point of view....
About the time this column appears, you should start seeing the new Suzuki TS-90 Honcho enduro in dealers’ showrooms. This very pretty little machine boasts an original design of a double cradle pipe frame, and a 90-cc rotaryvalve engine (with a Hop-Up kit to increase displacement to 100 cc). It develops 11 bhp at 7500 rpm, and advertises the “broadest torque range of any 90-cc bike.” A five-speed gearbox and 5.5-inch travel motocross style forks are other features of the little machine.
