The Great Japanese Motorcycle War
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2023
- Today we're looking at the story of the Japanese motorcycle industry, and how Japan went from having hundreds of companies manufacturing motorcycles, to just 4: Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki.
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Being fascinated by old bikes, I once asked a Japanese mechanic if many of their bikes made before the rise of the big four had survived. He replied, "no, most of of them were recycled. Completely different culture, in the UK you revere old machines, while in Japan we revere old people". Thinking of some of the care home abuses I have seen in recent years, he may well have had a point.
Cheep junk like there cars !
A cultural truism.. in my country, the Japanese, Chinese and Germans were sent inland at the start of the war. I lived next to Japan town and Chinatown, a stone's throw from the city park on a beautiful lake. The Japanese and Chinese were highly respectful of their elders, elders represented wisdom. By contrast, elders in western society are kicked to the curb. The west values youth and cool, not wisdom. As a kid my world was the Hardy Boy's and Terry and the Pirates. Japanese and British motorcycles were everywhere. While the British bikes were stylistically loud and cool, the Japanese bikes were quiet and reliable. The disconnected character free modern era has nothing on the past. At least we have our memories. 😃
@@sscbkr48 Asians in general are respecting their elder highly. It's part of the culture for hundreth of years.
Japan has always been extremely impoverished when it comes to sources of industrial metals. they didn't fold katana steel "1000 times" because it's some secret to creating an unbeatable sword. no, they did it because their steel was very scarce and of poor quality so they had to think of a way to reinforce it. which is also why their swords are so skinny relative to the rest of the worlds sword designs.
thats why they recycled their bikes. not because Japan is irreverent of their past. that doesn't make any sense. they have a special room in their house that where one wall is dedicated to displaying their family crest and their paternal relatives samurai armor and sword. Japan loves their past deeply...maybe even too deeply.
to think the west doesn't revere it's elders is to not have studied western history beyond surface level. the west just developed the thought that the truly wise elder knows when to pass the baton to the younger generation whereas some eastern cultures just align behind the eldest citizens until their death meaning the younger generation doesn't get to become it's own master until it's already elderly.
My father couldn't afford to buy me a new bike, but he found 2 Honda 65's that didn't run and bought them cheap. He cobbled a running one from these 2 and my life has never been the same. Best dad ever. I miss him and that sweet little Honda! Got a Honda and 2 BMW bikes in the garage. 😁
I deed. That be a good dad.
God bless your dad. Love finds a way to overcome lack of money.
I have similar memories ... I don't think I showed enough appreciation .... I hope I am wrong. I wish I could relive some of those times and be able to really tell him how great a dad he was.
After the "motorcycle bug" bit, my Pop brought home a 1965 Kawasaki B8T 125cc basket case. Sadly, it was not all there, so it never ran. But the next bike was the charm: a 1967 Yamaha G5S 80cc, with upswept exhaust, which was a fun little scrambler! Sure learned a lot riding, and wrenching, on that bike before moving up to a Triumph T25T, and then a BMW R75/5, and others. Ride on!
Honda S90---CB and Dream 160---305 Super Hawk---Yamaha Twin Jet 100---305 Big Bear...these were the bikes that inspired an entire generation! The 60's were on fire!
Thanks for creating this video. I knew very little about Honda before it came to America in the 1960s. This video explained how Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki were able to dominate the rest of the world.
My little Honda was a great bike. It was my first bike. I had no license and it took me everywhere with no issues. I wish I still had it.
My first one was an XL125, in 1976. The slowest one, my buddies were all faster, but not off road. 🙂
plenty of mopeds in thailand buy one and put it on display in the livingroom amigo!
My first bike was an old 185XLS. These days I ride the bulletproof reliability Halfrica Twin, I aka CB500X😅
For the first two decades I rode nothing but Hondas. 55 years later I still riding Japanese motorcycles. I found them dead reliable, never failed to start and run. Never had a catastrophic failure. For me maintenance was tires, gas, oil and chain.
I've been a Japanese motorcycle fan since I got off my Tucumseh powered mini bike!
I quickly grew to love inline 4 cylinder engines. My first being a 1985 Kawasaki Ninja 600.
Tel that to my idiotid Ducati friends. Lumps of s h i t!!
You are so right Harley Davidson makes a lousy motorcycle One once that was enough
I have had many brands over the 60 years of ownership but I always said if you want to get where you want to go, and more importantly, be sure of a no fail return, the gas tank should have HONDA written on the side.
@@rhelouin oh yeah!!!!
My little Honda 50 got me to work every day. Rode it all 4 seasons, even through the snow storms.
In the UK, when the Honda Benley 125 was introduced, our similarly priced British alternative was (drum roll) the BSA Bantam. I'm sorry but the BSA was no contest against the twin cylinder, electric start, super reliable and affordable beast from the east. Thanks for rekindling fond memories, amazing footage and very listenable narration.
So you got better Bikes but lost a part of your culture, a sad trade.
@@mrnobodytheuser2950 Hi, yes, you're quite right. Us Brits need to remind ourselves occasionally that we're good at low volume, quality, niche market products. The Japanese can do both high (motor vehicles, cameras) and low volume production (hand beaten Samurai swords and ceramics)
Japan found that the key to winning the market is not to go big... but to go *small*
Asahi's 175cc paved that pathway early on, Honda took it sprinting with the Cub after the war.
That little black bike in your thumbnail, the Honda 90 Sport, was the first bike I rode. My elder brother in the Navy came home on one when I was fifteen back in the 1960s. I fell in love immediately. Now in my 70s I'm still riding - but the bikes are bigger.
My first MC was a 50cc Bridgestone, a Honda 305 Scrambler, suddenly, in a moment of insanity, I purchased a highly modified 650 BSA she was beautiful and a total garage queen, it was broke all the time. Sanity returned in the guise of reliable and fun to ride Honda 350 CB, after two years I sold it to purchase an engagement ring ( we just had out 50th anniversary). I missed bikes so I got Suzuki 500, after marriage and following grad school there was a 5 year or so bike hiatus, and then a Kawasaki 400 was purchased . A baby came and the bike went away. After 20 years of bike abstinence a Yamaha Star 600 came along and finally a Harley Softail Heritage. Now under Doctor’s orders to shed two wheels I can safely say without the marvelous and reliable Japanese bikes a great amount of enjoyment in my life would have been missed.
They got us USA kids hooked. Making the Trail 50 or 70.
We started out on a Honda (or Yamaha) and that's where our loyalty stayed.
They made different sizes for us as we moved up to bigger bikes.
Eventually we had a CB 750
Why haven't you got more subscribers?
Channel is class 💯👌👌
The Meguro brand still exists as part of Kawasaki. It was relaunched a couple of years ago with a version of the Kawasaki W800.
My first set of wheels was a 1967 Honda Super 90 it was wings for me. I was a kid I worked on that bike myself I kept it spotless I must have washed it a million times and I would take care of it like it was a fine gold watch. I drove it for 2 years and I put many many thousands of miles on it and it never broke down once. Anyone that remembers those days had a motorcycle like that one or maybe a little bigger mine was pretty small being a 90cc but that was my first of many many more I love those old bikes and I still do❤
My first bike was a 1966 Honda Super 90. I was 14 when I got it and like you I loved that bike more than anything at the time. I remember I worked all summer on a farm and saved up 250 dollars, bought the bike for 225. Hauled it home in the back of a 1959 chevy station wagon. Big snow on the ground but I couldn't wait. I rode it around the yard anyway. Deep snow and a motorcycle don't work to good together. Spokes became a big snowball. Good memories.
@@johnnyhawk329 I lived in Florida and I got it for my birthday in August and I drove that motorcycle I got a job as The early-morning Paperboy delivering newspapers and now was the first motorcycle I had with many more to follow I rode motorcycles for over 40 years I've had about 30 of them maybe a few more to me it was like having a set of wings thanks for sharing your story
@@erickriebel4366 Those super 90s were tough old bikes. Sold mine to my nephew after I rode it 6 years. I think he rode it several years more. I had a 1974 Honda CB 360 after that. Sweet bike. 6 speed trans,crash bars,back rest luggage rack. Loved that bike too.
This video is a great appetizer for the excellent videos on the history of individual Japanese motorcycle manufacturers on UA-cam (search for them). Each is about 40-50 minutes long. You pick up lots of interesting knowledge and trivia - to take one example, Yamaha made excellent pianos from the opening of Japan to the west, until the Second World War, and after that, they didn't have the manufacturing capability to continue making pianos, and no one in bombed-out Japan had money to spend on high-end pianos anyway. So, after some reflection, they started making motorcycles like their company's survival depended on it - it did. And that, children, is why the Yamaha logo STILL has three tuning forks ...
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 😎
Well, not like abandoned it anyway. Yamaha Electric piano has been essentially the standard for a long long time.
I watched this all happen. I still remember riding on the fuel tank of my dad's Allstate 250 (made by Puch, I think) then riding on the back of his 1959 BSA 650. Single carb and ran great but then he upgraded (maybe an upgrade, maybe not. Better to have waited for a 1966 or 67.) to a 1965 Lightning. Bad points bounce problem caused a needed rebuild at 10,000 miles. Then upgraded the points cam and fixed that problem but then a couple of years and he bought a Honda 750 and that was it till some old man in a Cadillac turned left in front of him. He survived but never rode again to my knowledge. But the bug had me by the throat. 3 months I rode a Kawasaki 90cc "enduro" and I bought a brand new Honda 350 XL, the one without the electric starter and supposed to be more of a dual purpose bike than the up piped SL. Marginally lighter for which I was glad a couple of times. I should have stuck with it but no. I had to have my own 750 which I bought about 6 months before my dad's accident. Just in time to ship it back to the port in Long Beach when I was shipped stateside. It arrived in Long Beach and I headed over to my parents home near Ventura, CA just in time to go to the hospital to visit my dad who had a broken pelvis, thumb and left the imprint of his jeans in the paint of the tank where he'd squeezed the sides hard enough to do that and also left an inch deep dent in the tank which I believe is what broke his pelvis. Yep, squashed his nuts pretty bad. But I got my brother to take me down and retrieve my Honda and I rode it to my parents home, and when my leave was up I road it the 600 miles back to Davis Monthan AFB near Tucson in one day. Since then I've owned lots of Hondas a few Kawasakis, some Suzukis and a couple of BMWs but never a British bike. I missed that chance by a few years. My best bike would be a toss up between my 1983 Honda CB700SC Nighthawk which was a great bike, and my Suzuki 650 VSTROM, which I lowered an inch front and rear added a Givi trunk on the back and road tires and proceeded to put 87,000 miles on it in less than 5 years. I bought it originally rather than a Kawasaki 1000 Concours because it had a larger fuel tank. I was commuting 93 miles each way, 5 days a week into LAX, down the 405. I'd like to have either one back in good condition even now. In my opinion both are better than any other bikes sold these days. The Honda was almost completely maintenance free, shaft drive, automatic valve adjusters, electronic ignition and the carbs never apparently needed anything done. Change the oil and other fluids regularly and get a new air cleaner every so often and you're good. The Suzuki had to have the valves check and several always needed adjusting. I had to have a shop do that as it requires the valve clearances to be measured then the cam removed and the cap and valve shim replaced and the cap re-installed and then cam re-installed and the clearance checked again. A good tech could do several at the same time as they were expected to do being shop mechanics. And I had to carry a can of chain lube with me to work where I put the bike up on the center stand and sprayed chain lube on the chain while gently rotating the rear wheel, till the lube dripped off the chain. Chains lasted me about 36,000 miles that way.
Yeah, I'd rather have the Nighthawk.
With the current trend in retro bikes, the early ‘80s Nighthawk would be a good bet for Honda. 👍
I grew up with Japanese motorcycles and have owned all of the big 4. In high school we had nicknames for each brand. Yamaha was Yamerhammer. Suzuki was Suzy. Honda was Hondog. Kawasaki was Kamikaze.
In the sixties a special bike arrived in England, with no oil spill, self starting and running like a turbine! Who would imagine that people didn't like badly produced bikes, oil spots on the floor (Proving it had oil inside) and having to change both brakes and the chain wheel, when they or one had been worn down?
As a teenager I owned a few motorcycles. 1935 Norton 500cc flathead.Ajs 350cc grasstrack.200 cc Vellocette horizontal water cooled police trainer. Several BSA bantam. When old enough I bought a Yamaha 80 cc to go to college,with 200 miles on it. Almost identical to the thumbnail mine had a dual seat and a fairing. I sold it with 22k miles on it.
Thank you for the informative lesson on the history of Japanese bikes. Yes, they came to the west and started selling and continued to, while the British and Harley needed more maintenance. I've owned more Hondas than any other brand, because they've made either the best, or one of, and a complete spectrum of models.
Read "Honda: An American Success Story" by Robert Shook. It's a management book from the 1980s, when everyone was trying to figure out why Civics and Accords were so great. It touches on pieces of the motorcycle past that brought them to the dance.
Awesome video! This is the most concise look at how the "Big Four" got to where they are. Must See for any interested in motorcycles!
Always a good day when a new video drops
A similar situation occured with transistor radios. They began in the united states in 1954,and by the early 60s the japanease
had taken over the market for them.
In 1968 I got a 6 transistor hand-sized Panasonic radio....
and listened to the 1969 Moon landing on it....
we had to take the radios we had smuggled into school out of our desks and turn up the volume so the whole class could listen.
I bought my first Japanese bike in 1969. It was the Honda 1965 160 and I paid 5 pounds for it!
Always awesome to hear the history of some of my favorite motorcycle manufacturers!
congratulations!
Very interesting video, thanks. I remember seeing Japanese bikes gradually taking over in the 60's/70's. There was a lot of scepticism and some snobbery from UK bikers but gradually, the thrill of having a bike that started up every time (with an electric starter!), was reliable and didn't leak gallons of oil, won people over. Crap tyres though!
Brilliant! Any more on the earlier Japanese history would be most welcome. The story of
Meguro, for instance.
Tohatsu motorcycles always intrigued me. Also Lilac and Bridgestone.
Excellent production! This is what’s great about UA-cam. A niche subject like this can be discussed thoroughly. Great job. 👍
I jumped on Amazon while I watched this video and bought the book. I'm really look forward to a deeper dive into this topic. Great video!!!
Thanks once again Bart for a very informative,interesting and professionally presented video.
Wow! I was alive through most of what is covered in this video. I became a fan of motorcycling from my early teens. That said, this video filled in so many blanks. Thanks so much for this video! I really appreciate it!
Great video! I'm old enough to remember some of the companies like Bridgestone and Hodaka that sold bikes that were competitive with similar big 4 models here in the US. I started on a Honda mini-trail.
I was surprised that they didn't get a mention.
Is it the same bridgestone that makes tires now?
@@foxy126pl6Different division of the same company. They also made highly regarded bicycles and in the late 60's competitively raced their 350cc two-stroke twins (along with Yamaha) against the larger Suzuki and Kawasaki two-strokes and 750 four-strokes from Honda/Triumph/BSA/Norton/HD in the AMA races at Datona.
I bought a Hodaka Ace 90 3 years ago. My first bike ever and it sent me down a rabbit hole of Japanese 2 stroke bikes. It sat for about 15 years, but a little tune up, carb clean and fresh premix and that sucker was annoying neighbors again! Still ride it and my 15 year old is learning how to ride on it.
I really appreciate the history videos. I’ve always liked history to begin with and I love motorcycles so it’s very cool to see where they came from and how they started etc.
Excellent video ! very intersting history and thank you for mentioning your reference books !
Very well put together as always. Great research. Thank you for sharing.
Your level of knowledge and research is really impressive. I will definitely get a copy of that book too. I have worked with Japanese automakers for a lot of my career and a lot of those same things like "gentlemen's agreements" and each company having a hierarchical supplier network are the same.
Interesting and informative. Also, *thanks* for ditching the background music! Your narrations are good, and more enjoyable this way.
Yes! I Hate background racket!
Interesting topic, especially the last bit about how the big 4 was so successful in foreign markets since they had already seem off huge competition at home.
The Beach Boys song “Honda “ was a big hit. I learned how to ride a motorcycle on a Honda 50 cub in 1960 . Thanks for sharing this great video ! Greetings from the Philippines !
So interesting and I often learn so much from these videos even though I have been into MCs since 1963 at 7yo when my babysitter (a Fonzi like character) taught me to drive his candy apple red 250 Ducati motorcycle. I really enjoy bart videos and can't wait for more.
Brought back memories. I had a Suzuki B120P in 1967.
The Japanese motorcycle industry triumphed because the built better motorcycles. The Motorcyclist, the British magazine, tested one of the first Japanese motorcycles to reach Japan, a Honda IIRC. When they opened it up and saw the precision and quality they realized instantly that the British motorcycle business was dead. And they were right. Marusho, I haven't heard that name in a long while. Or Ossa or Bultaco and so many others.
Ossa and Bultaco were Spanish, another interesting story. They were most famous abroad in trials and motocross but also made many road bikes. They thrived under the nationalist Franco government but did not long outlast Franco.
@@cedriclynch I remember them well and that they were Spanish, "Ossa, she's a bear" and Bultaco, built to go. The Metralla was gorgeous.
Montessa was also a Spanish bike I believe.
@@dennishough3709 Yes, indeed.
The 305 Superhawk could flat out run most other bikes of the day. If not it could stay close and just wait for the Harley or Brit bike to break down.
Japanese Motorcycles are and always have been fantastic. Power and style within the range of the working mans pocket. In the 70s everybody put their predijices to one side and bought one because they were exciting, and fast x
I remember my little 2-stroke Yamaha which had a separate oil tank so you didn't have to mix. I used it to drive 5 miles to my girlfriend's place so we could snog.
I bought a Yamaha Twin Jet 100 in 1967 in Hinton Alberta, Canada.....drove it to Jasper, down the Parkway to Banff, then to Cochrane, up the Forestry Trunk Road to Nordegg and back to Hinton.
Even today that would be considered a wonderful ride. Twin Jet 100 with Autolube 2 stroke oil injection. Built like a fine watch!
As an old man, I fondly remember from the 1960's when Honda , built 305 Scrambler. as the saying goes, it was a game changer.
The Super Hawk was one of the most beautiful motorcycle designs ever!
Very well put together as always. Great research. Thank you for sharing.. Thanks once again Bart for a very informative,interesting and professionally presented video..
That was so interesting! Thanks so much for your efforts to put this important history togerther! When I moved to work in SE Asia around 2010, I realised for the first time, the scale of motorcycle sales in the world. ....And I always though it was in the west :)
You do a great job based on mucho research. Thanks!
Great video! I totally loved it. I bought my first motorcycle at 14-1/2 years old, for fifteen dollars. It was THAT good! Once I remade the mono-wire (all shorted to ground, from melting together) wiring harness and a few more things were patched... it ran! Maybe I had the only electric start '67 Yamaha YL1 in California too, because I didn't get a horn until much later and I had a horn button available. The infinite wisdom of Yamaha management excluded adding one wire and one more button for the DC generator to momentarily be an electric starter. I somehow managed to miss that mistake, already having a spare button. All of the Japanese manufacturers made suck-ass frames that were bent from the factory "back in the day," but "blueprinting" them made good money. I recall Suzuki as having the best frames typically [ LOVED the GS-750E of '82 ]. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
The bike I learned to ride in 1977 was a Suzuki AC 50.
You speak about them disparagingly but the "little bicycle with a motor strapped to it" at 16:02 is a really beautiful machine. I'd love something like that today, no alterations. But in general motorcycles from that era are very beautiful compared to today's, with some exceptions.
Thanks once again Bart for a very informative,interesting and professionally presented video.. Very well put together as always. Great research. Thank you for sharing..
I had a Honda 90 Scrambler. Loved it. I was 15.
Excellent, well thought-out and presented, video. Thanks.
My first bike is a 2013 Shadow Phantom that I got last year. I suspect I will be riding it for a long time. Especially because it has apparently remained unchanged for a long time.
That was a good look at the pre- history of the Japanese motorcycle industry before their spread worldwide. There was one comment though that I would like to disabuse you from. That was that Yamaha’s first model was little more than a bicycle with a motor. Not so. The YA-1 125 Dragonfly was an improved copy of the famously successful DKW RT125 a pre-war model that was copied by many manufacturers after the war including BSA, Harley Davidson and Suzuki among others. The Yamaha however received improvements that included a 4th gear instead of just three and primary kick starting which allowed the rider to start the bike in any gear by pulling in the clutch lever. The bike was also finely detailed with a deep red paint and a beautiful fender ornament. The extras that Yamaha put into its first model unfortunately made the bike around 20% more expensive than others in the 125 class and sales at first were not goods. However when Yamaha entered the the bikes in the Asama Highlands race the first time they astounded the spectators and humiliated their competitors. Sales took off and racing became imbedded in Yamaha’s strategy for selling and improving their machines. The preparation for the Asama races is a fascinating story that can be found on Yamaha’s world website in the racing section.
In depth analysis just enjoyed
Outstanding video. Thanks for making it.
Hello from Sydney Austrailia, They say to like subscribe comment, well I've done the first two over a year ago, and hers's my comment bart, well done! love the interesting stories on motorcycles you produce, I've just hit the little bell icon, however, no need as soon I I see a new one I'm onto it, great work once again.
One difference between their culture and ours is the respect for tradition and artisans they maintain even as teck social impacts. I saw it in woodworking tools, my interest from 1980 to 2010. Another difference is, they fit everyone in where they can make some contribution. Also the last I looked the income differential from highest to lowest is 11 to one. Very low crime rate, groups of kids out evenings on the trollies. I'll bet all the people who failed at making motorcycles ended up with successful lives of value, in solid families. Good people aren't losers in Japan, and they don't look up to cutthroats. Very different planet from USA. Personally I prefer Vermont, the Bill of Rights, and ahhh, Freedom. Thanks for the book clue and the great vids !!
i should to say thank you for you know well and understanding deeply about our culture.
Thanks for the doc Bart !
My favourite Japanese bike Yamaha. Both of us were born in 1955 !
I ride an Indian made/market FZ250.
Trinidad & Tobago.
West Indies.
Excellent video, many thanks Bart.
Great video you put together Bart, it must have taken you many many hours of research. My first bike in England at 12 was an old well used and abused Honda s90 that I taught myself to ride on my uncle's farm and then taught my 2 cousins. I should have bought Nobby tyres but instead just slid off so many times, and looking back it probably gave me better balance trying to stay on the muddy slopes of the farm fields with old, almost bald. street tyres. When I was old enough to ride on the streets legally I always bought Japanese in the mid-late 70s and onwards. Never a British bike. Also, myself and all my biker buddies always bought nippy Japanese bikes. Now living in the states and in my 60s I thought it was about time i bought me a Harley........well why not, never thought I would but I'm not looking for a wheelie machine no more or a speed ticket collector.
Great one, Bart. Cheers man.
Thanks for this video. It’s awesome to see this part of motorcycle history that’s seldom talked about even in Japan. It reminds me of an earlier video about the failure of Japanese cruisers, I thought it would be a great idea if Japanese makers imitated historical prewar and post war bikes from their own past than making Harley copies. Like Kawasaki remaking the Meguro S3 instead of the Eliminator or the Vulcan S, or Yamaha remaking the Kitagawa Liner instead of the V-Star or the Bolt. Those would be cruisers with more genuine and authentic heritage and I would think would sell better even though there’s currently no brand recognition for those names. They could give Royal Enfield a serious run for their money.
Yahhh !! absolutely Chevy, Ford & bunch of the other makers COPIES TOYOTAs exactly .....What copies saying the big Euro - Teutonic Pride !!
Very enjoyable and enlightening, thank you 👍
Awesome video. Very informative
Awesome info, love it🙂
When I was 10 years old I got a Yamaha YB50. I'm 64 years old and still in love with motorcycles.🇧🇷
Always a good day when bart uploads!
This was an interesting video. My father bought me a Yamaha 80 when I started college in 1964. It allowed me to explore Oahu, HI along with some of my dorm mates. There were six of us who had motorcycles ... Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and of course Yamaha. Honda was the most popular. I think there were only two of us who had Yamahas and that was my roommate and me. I learned to ride on one of the guys who had a Kawasaki.
The quality of your videos is astounding
Thank you for this video, it's a nice summary of the die hard competition that was going on. Also nice footage! Maybe would have been nice to add a little more info on the 'company espionage' aspect. As well as the crazy story about how east-german (!) two-stroke engineering catapulted japanese two-strokes to domination
Really well done! You did some research.....Bravo.
another great episode
Let’s gooo new Bart vid😎
While in high school, I worked part time and saved enough money to buy a new 1977 honda ct 70 for the low price of $ 453.00. I put 36,000 .miles on it and rode from los Angeles to San Francisco and back twice and from Los Angeles to lake Tahoe once and back including city and dirt riding in between, great fun and lots of memories.
I grew up in the late '60s and early 70's. We had a Honda motorcycle store/shop right down the street from our house. I saw, first hand, the rising tide of the Japanese motorcycle in the US. For about 6 years I would frequent the shop and marvel at the ever increasing offerings that Honda had to offer. I bought my first trail bike, a Honda CT-70H, in 1971. Other than just a few Kawasaki models, I've always owned Honda motorcycles. Their level of engineering and product design is still tops in the industry. It was no surprise to me when the British, American and German motorcycle companies lost market share to their Japanese competition. Great overview of the topic related specifically to interplay within the Japanese manufacturing world. Just ordered my copy of the book you referenced. Hope you're getting a commission! ;-)
Thanks for the great narrative, obviously based on solid research!
Very good video, well researched.
I enjoy these motorcycle documentaries very much. They are well-researched with very good narration. One thing that may not have been stressed enough is the condition of Japan in the years succeeding WWII. There wasn't any money around in a country that had been devastated by the American B-29 incendiary bombing campaign that burned down entire cities. Transportation was primarily by the remaining surface rail stock. Vast numbers of people got to the rail head by walking or cycling. Even today, Japan remains a nation of cyclists and scooter riders. The primary mission of many Japanese companies was to provide an inexpensive tool to get workers to work. Hence the bicycle with a tiny motor. There was a great deal of engineering prowess in Japan at the time. But there was a shortage of machine tools and facilities. The obvious solution to a transportation problem was the manufacture of very small, affordable machines. This solution survives to this day in Japan, and indeed in much of Asia. Still in modern Japan, all, sorts of things from the mail to ramen are delivered to one's door by a tiny two or three wheeled vehicle. Decades ago, a country of 100 million people were struggling to find decent food, working hard to rebuild, and retaining something of a Japanese way of life. This was assisted by all sorts of little machines out of necessity. Still today many people think my 32 year old 400 cc Yamaha SRX is a large motorcycle. Still today, Grandmother is probably out and about shopping for vegetables on her Honda scooter. And it all started in a nation that refused desperation, and just got moving on tiny machines.
From what i have read and been told over the years the japanese began to take over the motor cycle market due to their willingness to produce product that was dependable and reliable unlike the bikes made from part UK that were anything but(leaked oil,poor electrics,antiquated mechanicals,etc)and clever marketing of their products
Awesome video essay and a super channel bart!
I started wondering: Have you ever considered a similar historique over motorcycle helmet manufacturing? I would be really interested in that, having spent several years selling them in retail and developing a deep personal interest. ❤
Very interesting documentary, Thanks. I live in the UK. My first interest in motorcycles began when I was 16 in 1975, and a schoolmate gave me a go on his Honda PC50 moped.
By that time the British motorcycle industry was all but finished. Motorcycles were all about those beautiful, colourful Japanese machines, and the odd German and Italian ones. Working in a petrol filling station, I'd watch them all fuel up and go.
It was great for a young person, as the Japanese Big Four produced a huge variety of small capacity motorcycles. We were spoilt for choice. The next year I saved up and bought a Suzuki TS100 cash. It gave me fantastic independence and was alot of fun on and off road. It used to get admirers too at times.
So thanks again for the video, for giving the history behind that vibrant 1970s motorcycle scene. It's good also, that 50 years later, while the Big Four is still there of course ,they no longer have complete domination, with the comeback of legendary brands like Royal Enfield, Harley Davidson and Triumph.
I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Possibly an in depth video on each Japanese manufacturer?
I'd watch those.
Excellent documentary
I was expecting to see more about Harley agreed that Harleys could be built in Japan under a different name, and Harley helping to build the factory. That is one of the places where Japan learned interchangeable parts and mass production. Also, after WW2 during occupation, Dr. Demming helped the Japanese develop a philosophy of continuous improvement in manufacturing. Copying the DKW was a giant leap for Yamaha.
Great mew video! Have you considered doing one on the CB900c. I'd be interested to hear your take on that bike
It's not a random motorcycle history. But the most important one.
Somewhere in my parts box is a CB radio coax connector with a Honda logo on it. Apparently they were into electrical components in the 1960s too.
In the mid 60's Suzuki's ad campaign involved a lot of very obvious references to how having a Suzuki would get you women. The most brazen poster had TWO women with a motorcycle and the words, "You get more nookie on a Suzuki." That's pretty direct. I know. Hard to believe. If you search a bit, you can find an example of that poster.
That last Honda S-90 was my FIRST Motorcycle!
I heard of a "gentlemans agreement" that the big four in the late 60's approached Bridgestone and said they would us Bridgestone tires as anOEM supplier exclusively as long as Bridgestone stopped making motorcycles, and the rest is history...not sure if that's true tho
Bridgestone motorcycle where always Japanese.
Yes I heard much the same story... a version has top Honda guy asking top Bridgestone guy how much money was made from bikes vs. how much from Honda buying Bridgestone tires. Apparently the bikes were not so very profitable.
Nice job!
Love you’ve got clips from the IOM TT
I bought a very old Honda 50 step through when I was 17 and it was a breakthrough for me as a kid. I rode it thousands of miles, totally reliable, never stopped, negligible fuel consumption... Brilliant first bike! At 70 I still have a Thruxton Velocette and a 999 Ducati. 😏