A Yamaha In Every Living Room

A Yamaha In Every Living Room

ROUNDUP

EVERYONE WHO BUYS A HARLEYDavidson can look forward to the excitement of rolling down those long, lonesome highways, seeking out new thrills and high adventure, right? Not really. Surely, then, every Yamaha owner has tasted the joy of riding on a clear day, with nothing but the road, the sky and a throaty motorcycle for company, right? No. Not at all.

Fact is that every year, there are staggering numbers of Yamahas that never get started. Harley-Davidsons that never roll a wheel, KTMs that never touch a berm. That's because most Yamahas, Harleys and KTMs aren't motorcycles. Instead, they're something else altogether—musical instruments, computer components, bicycles or many other non-motorcycle-related products. Diversification, it’s called, and it’s a game that most big companies have to play.

You see, every business has its ups and downs; but if a company diversifies and gets into enough different fields of endeavor, the downs in some of their businesses are likely to be offset by the ups in the others. A perfect example is Honda. With less than 25 years in the automobile manufacturing business. Honda has became the third-largest brand of imported car in the U.S.

Not all of Honda’s attempts at diversification have been as fruitful. The companv once decided to enter the snowmobile market with a 750cc sled based on the CB750K motorcycle powerplant.but the machine never made it to the production line. Honda also tried developing a surfboard-sized. rear-engine snowmobile called the UL 1 75. but it never became reality, either.

Suzuki has had its share of successes and failures, too. In 1909, the company was called Suzuki Loom Works and made nothing but thread looms. The first Suzuki motorcycle, a 36cc motorized bicycle appropriately named the "Power Free,” didn't come along until 1952. Since then, such things as prefabricated houses and motorized wheelchairs have taken turns tumbling off of Suzuki production lines, most without much acclaim. Today, Suzuki's bragging rights for non-motorcycle products center around its successful automobiles and outboard motors. The Chevrolet Sprint, the car with the best fuel-mileage rating of any gasoline-powered automobile sold in the U.S., is made by Suzuki.

When you talk about non-motorcycle interests at Kawasaki, you have to think big. When Shozo Kawasaki founded the company in 1 878, motorcycles were the last things on his mind. He was into ships, locomotives, steel mills and, eventually, airplanes. During World War II, Kawasaki built fighter planes, and it wasn't until after the war that the firm turned its attention to products as tiny as motorcycles.

Actually, none of the four big Japanese companies that now produce motorcycles got into the bike business until fairly recent times.

And with the exception of Honda, all of them began as manufacturers in some other field and got involved with motorcycles later on. Yamaha, for example, was strictly into music up until the Fifties, producing organs. pianos and guitars. The company also was involved in a widespread musical-education program intended to help develop more musicians who might buy its instruments. That's a classic case of a company creating a market for its own products. But nowdays, anyone who owns a Yamaha might have one> of many different musical instruments, a stereo system, a set of skis, a tennis racket, a bow (with arrows), a piece of furniture, a hotwater heater, a boat, a golf cart, a generator or, oh, yes, a motorcycle.

ILLUSTRATION BY DOUG ROY

In Europe, a lot of companies simply bought their way into the motorcycle business; a few years ago, for example, Electrolux, the Swedish-based vacuum-cleaner manufacturer, took over Husqvarna’s motorcycle and chainsaw operations.

Honda is not the only company that has been involved with motor-

cycles from the start; Harley-Davidson is another. But Harley, too, felt the need for diversification, and today makes cables for computers, as well as bomb-shell casings and drone aircraft engines for the military. Similarly, the Austrian KTM firm has become a force to be reckoned with in the domestic bicycle and moped industry.

The fact is that not a single company currently selling bikes in this country is a motorcycle-only manufacturer. Times have changed since the days when Bultaco had an advertising campaign that pictured

the company’s distinctive “thumbsup” logo on some non-motorcycle product, such as a chainsaw or a piano, with the words “No way” printed boldly underneath. Those ads were Bultaco’s way of boasting that it was “a company that makes motorcycles. And nothing else.” Back then, that might have been something worth bragging about. But today, it’s more likely to be an indication of poor business savvy. Advertisements like that simply aren’t around anymore.

Come to think of it, neither are Bultaco motorcycles.

Putting a lock on theft

It’s a shocking statistic, but in the last year, insurance companies have experienced a nearly 25-percent increase in the number of comprehensive claims. In lay terms, this means that more bikes are being stolen each year, and that more of those thefts are being reported to the insurance companies.

In an effort to slow this motorcycle thievery. Criterion Insurance Company is offering every motorcycle owner in the U.S. the opportunity to purchase a $49.95 Kryptonite bike lock for $29.95. You don’t have to be insured by Criterion to take part in this anti-theft campaign, although if you are insured by them,

you don’t get any sort of discount on your premium. What you do get is a coupon that will save you $20 on the price of one of the best motorcycle locks on the market.

You can get an order form from any Criterion agent or by calling 1800-638-8760 and asking for extension “LOCK.”

Carb jetting kit correction

The article Carb Jetting Kits, in the April, 1986, issue of Cycle World, contains an error in the charts that

depict the performance of the two kits. The color coding of the curves is incorrect, and so the indicated performance of the Kerker kit on

both charts is actually that of the Fours N' More kit, and vice versa.

To avoid any further confusion, a set of corrected charts is shown below.