Tokyo Motor Show
TOKYO MOTOR SHOW
W. B. SWIM
SEVEN JAPANESE motorcycle manufacturers displayed 95 machines at the 10th annual Tokyo Motor Show Oct. 27 - Nov. 10 and Japan’s two motor scooter makers showed 11 each, for a total of 107 twowheelers under a single roof.
Seventeen new models were shown, including some still in the prototype or development stage and not ready to market yet. Japanese makers delight in whipping up a prototype for the yearly Motor Show and giving out extremely sketchy specifications or none at all, and then coming out months and months later with an official announcement putting the new model (which everybody saw maybe more than six months earlier) on sale.
Honda (one is tempted to add “of course’’) had the largest display, showing 25 motorcycles, 11 of them the popular Honda 50. Suzuki showed 18, Yamaha 16, Kawasaki-Meguro 11, Tohatsu 10, Bridgestone 10 and Lilac 5. Only Iseki did not exhibit at this year’s show, and they only make a single 50cc model. Both Rabbit and Silver Pigeon scooters displayed 11.
The 107 machines on display included 53 different models of motorcycles plus 9 competition machines, 10 models of scooters and a bantam bike which doesn’t fall into any ready classification.
Seen at the Show for the first time were pipe frame versions of Honda 125 and Honda 150 with dual carburetors. No details on performance available.
Suzuki showed three versions of the Suzuki Super Sport model 50M40, a standard, road racing and scrambler. This machine looks like a nearly identical twin to Suzuki’s 50cc RM36 factory racer with the squarish tank shortened a bit and a headlight and taillight mounted. While the racer gets over 10 hp @ 12,000 and has a top speed of over 145 kph with its 9 speeds, the new Sport machine is rated at over 6.5 hp @ 10,000 and 100 kph with six speeds. Suzuki also showed an automatic fuel mixer aimed at the overseas market where gasoline service stations do not sell ready-mixed gasoline/oil fuel mixtures for 2-stroke bikes. They have used it successfully on their 360cc ■truck already. It’s named the “Selmix.” Yamaha’s only new touch was their version of an automatic fuel mixer, dubbed the “Autolube.” The oil pump is controlled by the throttle wire and runs off of the crank shaft through a series of gears, so that more oil is shot into the venturi of the carburetor when the engine needs it and not so much when the motorcycle is idling. Both firms are aiming primarily at the American market with these new features.
Tohatsu showed the 35cc model reported in the August issue of CYCLE WORLD and the 90cc model you read about in this column in November. Bridgestone featured the prototype of a rotary valve 125cc single cylinder motorcycle and a 90cc machine. No specifications on either were given out. They also had a tiny, tiny bantam motorcycle-scooter-bike or whatever you will that didn’t stand over two feet tall and hardly that long from tip to tip. Only toddlers under two years of age or small, compact-size midgets will ever be able to find what to do with their legs on this one.
Kawasaki - Meguro exhibited a sports version of the 2-stroke 125 B8 model with 1 1 hp @ 6.000 rpm. 4 speeds and a top speed of 100 kph (62 mph). Another new product shown was the 4-cycle 250cc Sgt with 17 hp @ 7.000 rpm. 4 gears and a 120 kph (74'/2 mph) top speed.
Lilac’s display of shaft drive motorcycles was dominated by the new 180° opposed twin 500cc model R92 and the model C-82 I5()cc V-twin with the cylinders at a 66° angle. This 4-cycle overhead valve machine has 14.7 hp and 4 speeds, but further information was not available. No details of the 500cc twin shafty were given. The 500cc reminds the viewer of the BMW and the 150cc V-twin has a resemblance to the old German Victoria.
Rabbit's exhibition did not include any new motor scooters, but Silver Pigeon showed two new 2-cycle twins, the model 240 and model 140. The 240 is I43cc with 9.2 hp @ 7.500 rpm and a top speed of 100 kph (62 mph) while the I25cc model 140 gets 8 hp @ 7,500 rpm and 95 kph (59 mph). Both have three speeds and automatic clutches.
It was an exciting Show, well laid out with each maker vying with the others for eye-catching gimmicks, curvacious models, blaring loud speakers, etc. But apart from all of the hullabaloo the Show brought home graphically how active Japan’s motorcycle industry is even though the number of makers has declined drastically to 8 from the 1954 high of 55. The seven manufacturers who exhibited, in addition to giving a hint of the future trend in motorcycles with their new models, forcefully showed the vigor of the industry by the wide range of sizes and styles of bikes being offered. Fifty-three different models of for-sale motorcycles, not counting some of the scrambler and racing bikes that are also offered for sale, is strong testimony of the good health of the motorcycle business in Japan. •
