Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

elief may finally be in sight for the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in their home market. After years of declining sales numbers despite an onslaught of innovative products, the Japanese gov- R ernment has addressed two areas in motorcycle regulations that the manufacturers have lobbied tirelessly for. "Tandem riding on Japanese expressways recently became legal, and that expands opportunities for more people to enjoy motorcycles," said Honda Motor Company president and CEO Takeo Fukui in his Tokyo Motor Show speech. "In addition, there is a recent trend toward an increase in the number of older motorcycle users in Japan. We have begun to see structural changes in motorcycle demand." The second regulatory change in Japan has been the creation of a new motorcycle-riding license for automatic-transmission motorcycles. "We also believe that the introduction in June of the new motorcycle rider's license limited to automatic-transmission motor- cycles will make AT motorcycles even 1T)0re a part of people's lives," added Fukui. Yamaha president Takahashi Kajikawa agreed with his business rival. 24 "These are bright signs emerging for the domestic market," Kajikawa said. ''And we are convinced that the world motorcycle industry is also going to continue to grow." The motorcycle market in Japan is as one-of-a-kind as the country itself, and many of the new models and concept motorcycles on display at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show are aimed for the Japanese market. "It's quite interesting," explained Triumph's commercial director, Tue Mantoni. "We have a range with cruisers, classics, and sportbikes. In terms of the mix, Japan is the market where the heaviest weight is toward our classic bikes. Across the world, it's about one-third [cruisers], one-third [classics], one-third [sportbikes]. The classics are about 80 to 85 percent of our sales in Japan." As the old saying goes, simplicity wins. HONDA There were 47 motorcycles presented by Honda, and 4S of them were either racing or production models, current or new in only a minor way. The other two motorcycles embodied Honda's imagination of what street motorcycles can be. NOVEMBER 9, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS "We find ourselves in an era in which the research and development of motorcycles requires free thinking full of visionary dreams, without being bound or limited by preconceived notions including conventional thinking on product use," Fukui said. "Even though the 'market in' approach - a focus on responding to customer needs - remains as the basis of our activities, at Honda we also pursue a 'product out' approach, [in] which we propose our dreams of technologies and products that exceed customer expectations. The two concept models we have introduced are the physical embodiment of such thinking. By integrating visionary dreams and free thinking with cutting-edge technology, we create models with new values and enhanced riding pleasure." Of the two concept models introduced, Fukui went on record that Honda plans to begin sales of the model called - at least during the Tokyo Motor Show - the DN01. The DN-O I is the first model created by the "Dream New" effort at Honda. Honda has high hopes that the ON-O I will be highly successful and create a new category of motorcycles in the way, for instance, that the CB750 and the Gold Wing created new motorcycle categories. Honda describes the ON-O I as an "automatic sports cruiser." "We started the design from zero two years ago," explained chief engineer Akira Sugiyama, a veteran engineer who has helped design a score of Honda street bikes. "Key words we used in describing what we wanted were 'easy,' 'relax,' and 'comfortable.' This is different from key words we use on other bikes such as 'aggressiveness' and 'excitement.' We wanted to go on the other side with this one." At the heart of the ON-O I is a 680cc, eight-valve V-twin engine used in Honda's Oeauville sport tourer sold primarily in Europe. "Because one of the key words is 'comfort,' we chose the V-twin. We chose the V-twin not because we wanted to excite the rider - or irritate the rider. Instead, we wanted to relax the rider and give peace of mind," said Sugiyama-san. If there is a technical landmark in the ON-O I, it is the automatic transmission. The technology behind the ON-O I's automatic transmission has been in continual development at Honda for four decades. Honda believes in it enough that they have coined a new acronym, the "HFT," or Human Fitting Transmission. The HFT system consists of a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor. The pump and

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