Report From Japan
WITH A COMPULSORY helmet law for roads where the speed limit is 37 mph or higher due to be passed shortly, work is being rushed on setting up standards for helmets. The semi-governmental agency which keeps tabs on the motorcycle industry has been huddling with the Japan Industrial Standards (JIS) Committee. They agreed to rush exhaustive studies and tests and the committee will award its official JIS mark to products which qualify. Emphasis will be on strength, rigidity, resistance to water, heat and cold, etc. This step is long overdue as there are some pretty shoddy helmets on the market, which can give an unwary rider a false sense of security.
Japan's one lonely super highway, the Meishin Kokudo running some 100 miles between Osaka and Nagoya, will be the site for extensive high speed road tests of motorcycles under the auspices of the semi-governmental agency shortly. Research will be made on vibration, tires, noise level, fuel consumption, etc., on the only highway in this country which could be favorably compared to a Los Angeles freeway. Machines to be used in the test program are the Kawasaki 500cc, Yamaha 250cc and Honda 160cc.
Japanese motorcycle manufacturers continued to forge ahead both in production and exports during fiscal 1964 from April 1, 1964 to March 31 this year, according to official figures just compiled. Production was up by only some 16 percent but exports zoomed ahead more than 38 percent above the previous year. The United States market got 46 percent of the exported machines by paying $46,059,595 for 220,926 motorcycles. The 90cc and 125cc class motorcycles finally outsold the 50cc machines, reflecting the trend in exports for the larger models. Japan's makers turned out 2,097,099 motorcycles during this 12 month period and exported 625,269. Honda remained the top maker and exporter with 1,385,444 and 416,059 respectively. Figures of other makers reporting are: Suzuki 360,551 (77,700 exported); Yamaha 238,974 (104,666); Bridgestone 75,092 (20,129); Kawasaki 35,505 (4,203) and Lilac 809 (687). Makers now out of business turned out 724 machines during this period and exported 1,825, which sounds funny until you figure out they managed to sell a bunch they started the year with in stock. By sizes it was 50cc 620,763 (232,211 exported), 50 - 125cc 1,329,018 (289,510), 125 - 250cc 116,230 (76,541) and over 250cc 31,088 (27,007). Motorcycle exports brought in $105,264,644 in much appreciated foreign currency.
One of Japan's big two tire makers, Bridgestone, which also manufactures motorcycles, has put on sale a full line of knobby tires. The company is using its successes in local moto-cross races to publicize the new scrambler tires. Sizes already announced are 2.50-17, 2.50-18, 2.75-18 and 3.00-19 in the M-l series and 2.25-17, 2.75-17, 2.75-18, 3.00-18, 3.25-18 and 3.50-19 in the M-2 series.
Tetsuya Ide, assistant chief of the engine design section for Kawasaki motorcycles, recently visited the United States for an extensive one-month survey of the motorcycle market. Confining his travels mostly to the west coast, the Kawasaki engineer and designer is expected to be able to furnish the company with detailed technical information which should result in future models more tailored to the U.S. rider's needs. His trip is significant as it marks a departure for an engineer to make such an extended research tour. In the past the company has sent sales executives on such market surveys.
REPORT FROM JAPAN
W. B. SWIM
Hap Jones, president of the Hap Jones Distributing Co. of San Francisco, was recently in Japan on a two-week buying trip setting up several new lines of motorcycle, parts and accessories which he will import from Japanese makers. He makes periodic visits to Japan to keep his parts line up to date.
The rat race has become so furious that industrial spies employing the most modern methods, and scads of money, have turned their attention to Japan's motorcycle and automobile makers. To give you an idea of how sophisticated these specialists have become, a few weeks ago one master spy pulled a fast one on Honda, who is perhaps more adept at tightly guarding their secrets than any other maker here. One day when a top driver had Honda's latest model of its formula one automobile racer out for a secret flat-out test on Suzuka Circuit, a helicopter was industriously spraying fertilizer on surrounding fields throughout the day. Just incidentally, it appeared from the ground, the chopper always seemed to be going the same way the racer was around the track, always pouring out a thick white cloud of fertilizer which was simplicity itself to spot. What Honda doesn't know until they read this column is that a movie cameraman was faithfully recording the formula one racer test on film, and turned up with some very good and quite interesting footage, according to those who have seen the movie. Industrial spying of the motorcycle scene is just about as fierce.
Bridgesone entered a new 175cc scrambler in the recently-created 200cc class race at the MCFAJ 12th All Japan Moto-Cross Races. It is expected that a street version will be unveiled soon, perhaps by the time this column reaches the reader. The motorcycle was designed primarily with the American rider in mind, and a company official reportedly has had one in the United States for some time, road testing it there. The twin-cylinder two-stroke machine has at least two features which have never been seen on motorcycles before. One is two rotary valves, one for each cylinder. The other is a transmission which can be switched from a four-speed rotary change system to a five-speed return change system at the flip of a lever. A small lever, which can be operated either by the foot or by hand, is fitted just behind the gear shift lever. When it is pushed it moves the gear shift drum inside the transmission from side to side. The drum has an extra groove and a third shifting fork, which come into play to bring in an overdrive 5th gear when the lever is flipped to the 5-speed side. Engineers claim the 4-speed rotary is best for running around town, but could be dangerous at speed on the open highway. Thus the five-speed box with a stopper pin to make it a return change system for sports riding out in the open. Some magazine's technical editor should have a ball for himself when he gets his hands on one of these for testing. The 175cc size was chosen for the twin to allow the use of many of Bridgestone's 90cc single parts. The machine should have a top speed of around 85 mph in the street version. Engine width of the new model TA-1 has been kept to about 17 inches or less despite the space required on both sides of the engine for the rotary valves and carburetors.
(Continued on page 82)
John Honda's Aoi Trading Company which is doing a roaring business in road racers and racing parts for export, has now acquired sole export rights for the 350cc and 500cc Kyokuto flat track racers, CYCLE WORLD has learned. Specifications are not available, but it is known that this specialized overhead cam engine is outrunning JAP dirt trackers on the local professional short tracks. John is reportedly thinking of reworking the high rpm 4-stroke engines (up to 10,000 rpm) and using them to power road racers as well as flat track irons. Ascot, look out! And perhaps Isle of Man, too!
A new road racing circuit less than an hour's ride from Tokyo is due to be completed about the time this column is printed. The $55,000 track is 1.9 miles long and all parts can be seen from the grandstand. Width is enough to accommodate 20 cars or 40 motorcycles. The owners expect formula one cars to put out a top speed of 85 mph, but motorcycles may be able to top even that on the twisting course. Cars have the first go July 16/17, but motorcycles probably won't be far behind.
The big MCFAJ spring event, the 12th All Japan Moto-Cross Races, came within a hair's breadth of being washed out at Asagiri in the foothills of Mt. Fuji. After the mud was washed off, it turned out to have been Suzuki's day, with the company's riders winning five out of ten events. Yamaha won three and Kawasaki nabbed the other two. Japan's "Mr. Moto-Cross," Kazuo Kubo, kept his winning string going by winning the rain-drenched Open class race and taking a 2nd in the 250cc senior event.
A cloud immediately sat down on the course and visibility was cut to bare yards. All that could be done by officials and spectators for 10 minutes was listen to the screaming exhausts of the scramblers somewhere out on the 1.5 mile course.
Suddenly the cloud lifted, continuing to pour rain, and about 25 of the 30 entries could be seen sprawled all over a steep hill that was just too slick to get up. Just as officials were about to call it no race, a mudball with wheels slithered across the finish line, the exhaust sounding like Hiromichi Tazawa's Yamaha. Off into the fog he rode. A half dozen other riders slid in one by one, including Kazuo Kubo. The next thing you knew here were Tazawa and Kubo again, completing their second laps. Officials decided to call the race at three laps, and Kubo's Suzuki was in first. Winning time for the 4.5 mile race was well over two hours!
Smartest man of the day was a novice who pulled up a few feet short of the finish line on his first lap and killed his engine. He sat on the machine for more than an hour until Kubo got the flag, then started the engine and rode across the line. He got a 6th for his efforts, as only five machines were able to complete two laps or more. Senior 250cc winner was Tadao Suzuki on a Yamaha, 125cc king was Yamaha mounted Ichiji Arai, Masaaki Hasemi's Suzuki took the 90cc and Takeo Enomoto pushed his Suzuki across the line first in the 50cc. For the new 200cc class only seven machines out of an entry of 12 were on the starting line, five Kawasaki 150cc, one Suzuki 150cc and the new Bridgestone 175cc. The Kawasakis swept one through five, with Takashi Yamamoto getting the checkered flag before his teammates. •
