Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; .. WI 2: WI ..:lI 'The Japanese . . . are runningout of room to put the things they are able to buy' , ~ g c..o r--- Ol ,.....; C'I l-; 11) .c E 11) >0 run for cra nkcase e m issio n studies ; st ill others being a na lyzed for exhau st-gas com positio n un der speed and lo ad. And everyw here , m ore digit al read-a u ts, m ore strip-c h arts, m o re os ci ll os copes being read b y w hite-gar b ed tech n icians in com p le te clean line ss an d quiet while a ll h e ll w as b rea king lo o se in 2 8 roo ms ju st nex t d o o r. T h is b u ild ing h as entire room -sized silencer cham bers an d a massive a ir in take/exhaust sys te m t o co n tr o l in side a ir pre ssure / densit y with engi nes su ckin g w in d in a ll 28 c ha m b ers wh ile e m it t ing n o (I mean zero) n o ise t o the o utside. T h ey ca n test on dy n os of anywhe re fr om 5 hp t o 20 0 h p ca pacity, They can us e the buildin g's ventil a ti on syste m to powe r a gia n t flow-b en ch th at chec ks ou t h and-m a de port fo r m s. Outside, in th e r ain , w e ge t t o witness a little of what goes o n a t Asaka 's sh ort (less than a hal f mile jpinched-ova l t est track. Heavily ra in gear ed ri ders rode a p air of noise -control t est XL350s w ith telem etry packs on t h eir backs, sh owin g how so m e of the sound tests a re don e. One of these bikes, e ngi n e e nclosed in a pl astic fairin g/shroud , ca n pass 65 d b a t 50 feet. They a lso show us r oad bikes z in strumented with gy ro stab le p latforms (sim ilar to t he " heart o f a mis si le 's in ert ial gu ida nce ) to p ick 'up handling parameter s as th e bi k es are co rne re d , so the teste rs can ge t d ata on lean, stee ring , in p u t , su spen sion lo ad in gs, all under ac tual ri din g con d it ions. A so ft ch ime an nou nces lunch time, and kn ots of w hi te-co veralle d peop le m a ke -th e ir wa y th ro u gh the spot less c or rido rs an d w or kb ay s to a backgro u nd of ge nt le p ip ed-in music . T h is is a plu sh job in j ap an, these p e opl e a re an elite who h ave w on a hi gh iy co m pet itive sh u ffle to wo r k here. No r does th eir intense in vo lve men t e ver st o p . Ta ke Mr. Kume - hired st ra igh t o u t o f engi nee ring sc hoo l 22 yea rs ago a s a draft sm an; groo me d a nd gru nt transferred to design . Wor ked on th e GP bikes an d th e Formula One car p ro je ct. Racing is in his sou l, n o m atter what the go vern m e n t says. It 's p eo p le like him, following in his tra cks, " doing collect ively" n ow that th e geni u s Honda h as stepped as id e, wh o are making the futu re a t Hon da . At Asaka , there are n o promises. T omorrow is t oday - it all • depends where yo u want t o 10 0 k. II - ttlf it's _ Tuesday, this must be Suzuka" N ine m o t o-j ou rn alists - on a m arathon to ur h osted by HondaR & D we re treated to a first -ever look at plac es an d things which h ad , up t o now, been held sec re t eve n from m ost Honda emp lo yees. T he tou r left Los An geles Internati on al " AIrport, flyin g throu gh th e tagend o f a hurric ane; a nd a rr ive d a t T oky o In ternation al , droppin g through the skirts of a ty ph o on w h ic h w ou ld , d u ri ng o u r stay, t ak e sc ore s o f lives an d ren d er t h ou sa n ds h omele ss in japan ese c o ast a l areas. The we a ther seemed to set th e t one for th e trip, as our unflappab le, su per-effic ient h ost s wh isked us t hro ugh a m in d-b oggl in g , it ine ra ry at a whirl w ind 's p ace. Sunday : ' Tha t 's f un n y , I co u ld have swo rn we left on Sa tu rday , a nd it's st ill day ligh t . Already the internati onal Da te Lin e is sta rti ng to p la y t ric ks w it h ou r percepti on s of time . Fi rst whi ff of T o kyo Bay com b ine d with th e c rush of people go ing t hro ug h Customs tell s u s in n o un cert ain tenu s th at we 've st ep p ed. ou t of o ur sh elt e re d 747 -wo rld int o an Asian country . A sw e at y h our an d we a re t h ro ugh w ith o ur b ag g'age intac t. As we b oard a p lus h sa lo n bus for the tr ip t o Tokyo 's Pal ace Hot el, ac ro ss t he m o at from th e Em p e ror's re siden ce. th at " o t her" Asia will be co me some thing we will see th rou gh windo ws fo r t he d u ra t io n. It is n ow 6 :0 0 p. m . To kyo t im e, as we fres he n u p fo r a coc ktail-o rie n tation to me e t o u r h osts. To o u r b odie s, it 's 3 :0 0 a.m . hu t w e're too w ired to notice. We w ill, e a ch have a perso nal co m p an io n and guide for th e t our to fo llow. I am intro du ced to N onm ot o Ots uka , Chi e f Desi gn er a t Ho n da R &D in Torranc e, Cali fo rnia. I learn tha t we share a ce rt a in ta st e fo r fast o n -road Sing les , In his y ou nger da y s (he se ems aho u t m y age , 35) he used to o wn a Par illa 2 50 ; an d curre n tly as p ire s to colle c t a suitably primo Vel occt te , Ca n ' t bla me hi m . Monday: A ft er brea kf a st , we ga th er on ce ag ain t o board ou r bu s, whi ch rese mbles a r ich dude's ra ilroad ca r ins ide (even h as 'a c o lo r T V ), for th e 3 0-m ile rid e thro u gh driving ty p hoon ra in to Asu ka . Part of th e ri de is o n To kyo's to ll expresswa y (b u ilt for th e O ly m p ics) , which is two lan es ea ch d ire c t io n , elevat e d on m assive st resse d -co ncre t e su ppo rt. T ra ff ic m ov es slo w ly but c on sist e n tly on it in sp ite of its seem ing ly lim ited c ap aci ty . T he re is alm ost no lan e -swit chin g, just e n d less reserv e s of pat ien ce in t h e e ndles s s trea m o f c ar s, tru c ks, an d buses - a ll of wh ich seem " a t ive ly new a nd a re rel sty led . Esp e c iall y the handsomel y tru ck s. We se e a lmost n o m ot o rcy cl es, w ith th e excep tio n of on e m an riding a Ho n d a 75 0 Sport in roa rl ra ce lea th ers an d full-fa ce h elmet . lI e is som et h ing o f an e lite , fo r th e J apan ese a ut h o rit ies have se t t he s kill a n d stre n gth .' T h is back-strap, and other instrumentation , ev en t e lls when the ride r ha ngsoff. requircments fo r a la rgc-di sp lacem e n t mo to rc ycle lice nse practi cally out of re a ch . Fo r exam p le , a n app lican t m us t be able to lif t a d own ed CII 750 u na ided (q ui t e a feat for t h e' ave rage size a nd weigh t j apan ese ) ; an d must rid e hi s m achin e several m etcrs a lo ng t h e t op of a 18 " (a p p rox.) pi p e with out footing o r fallin g, Mo st j apan ese ca n never aspi re to any thing b igge r t han a 35 0. Down o n th e su rf ace st ree ts , a wa y fro m c osm o p olit an ce ntral T oky o, th e reali ty o f Asia cro wd s a b it cl oser. House an d sto re fr onts are n arro w , sh o u lder-to-sho u ldc r. Gas jammed sta tion an d garage lo ts a re c ra m m e d with ca rs o r ca r bo dies . Ho o d s, de ck lids an d d oors are st a c ke d here a n d th er e ag ain st wa lls. Piles o f m et al parts are st acked in th e crevasse s between bu ild in gs o r in lo t c o rn e rs, a s if be ing sa ve d for so me fu tu re u sc. The noses of car s p o ke o u t o f th e fron ts o f ho us es, alm o st as if a hole h ad b een knoc ked in th e livin g roo m wall to m ake a p lace to p ark. Bicy cle s and m op eds n estle in the ch in ks be tween c ar an d wall. The j ap a n ese a re a ffl uen t, a s hi gh ly visib le ve h icles a n d a pp lian ces t est ify; b u t they a re runnin g o u t o f" ro o m t o p u t t h e things th ey are ab le t o b uy. We p ass from To ky o Prefecture to ad join ing Saita ma with out n oticin g mu ch c h a ng e in th e u rban texture about us. T ok y o is o f fic ially th e w orl d 's m ost ' pop u lo us city , flu ctu atin g b etween l l milli on an d l 7 m illi on peop le as its workfo rcc ebbs an d flows thro ugh the m assive c om m u ter rail syste m . The tra ins, wh ich routinely m ove six milli on p e o pl e in a m att er of h ours, are a ll th at ke eps T okyo from st ra n glin g it self to d ea th . By t he t ime we rea ch the Asaka R & D fa c ili ty, we 'r e begin n ing to see a few lots be t ween ho uses p lan ted with rice an d ve get a b les - ' the begi nn ings o f " coun tryside." The Asa ka fa ci lity was, up un til ab out i 9 72 , a " Ho nda lan d " m o to r am use m e n t p ar k . The m an a ger o f that park, Mr . Chijiiwa, is n ow the General Man a ger a t Asaka - the m an wh o crac ks the whip an d sees t o the ne ces si ties while t he re se arch ers re search . lie t ell s u s, a t a we lc om in g briefing, th at a ll th e "good stu ff" h as bee n ca refu lly h idden , so we are fre e t o p o ke a ro u nd an y where ex ce p t th e St yl ing Ce nter . So, poke we d o , e ach acco mpanie d b y ou r comp anio n p lus a bo u t three o t hers: \Vhal w e saw is cove re d in d etail elsewhere . All d uring the t our, a n d a t th e din ne r p art y later in t h e eve n ing (as . guest o f Mr. Ki yoshi Kawash im a, Pr esident o f Hon da Motor Co , and o f Ho n da R &D), we se nse that o u r h osts a re su b t ly gauging our rea cti on to the thin gs we a re b eing shown . T he rain ha s cancelled o u t a ny rid ing for t o day (t h ou gh our rid ing gea r was sh ip p e d a h e ad o f u s fo r a p lanned test sess io n) ; so we ju st ge t to lo ok at Asaka's short (less t han a mile) t est trac k whil e Hon d a riders in fu ll rain gear d em on strat e sound te st t e chnique s. \Ve are a ssu red o n th e way ba ck t o T oky o t ha t th e typh oon is m ovin g n orth, a n d at Su zuka, 300 th at tomorro w kilom e te rs south , things will be better. - 31'

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