Do Jap bikes have soul?

[jtzzr]

Any bike you ride has soul (yours) , the bike has as much soul as you give it.

Soul is not if it`s a jappa , Soul is not if it`s Brittish.

Soul is what you feel when you ride the thing.

The bike has nothing without the rider.

Just my opinion

[AllanB]

You sausage!

IMO it depends on your definition of 'soul'.

I remember the Jap bike slagging of years gone by.

It really had no foundation, even in the very early days.

A lot of it came from racial prejudice & jealousy - there is nothing more embarrassing than you Bonnie 750 being passed at 110mph by a Honda 'black bomber' 450

Many people confuse annoying traits as soul - crap electrics, oil leaks, erratic starting etc.

IMO if you come back from a ride with a grin on your face then the answer is YES - no matter what you ride or what the red-neck down the road thinks of your ride.

[Elysium]

Also known as the machine spirit.

"The functioning, or lack thereof, of any machine is believed to be the result of its spirit's disposition. To keep their machine spirits happy and cooperative, operators therefore make numerous ritualized advances to their machinery. These depend on the machine, but in most cases include various maintenance rituals and prayers of function and occasionally also an offering or libation. This is increased if the machine is large and/or important.

Machine spirits are believed to be bestowed by the Machine God"

- Adeptus Mechanicus

[YellowDog]

The marque on a bike is always going to be a big issue and changing opinions based upon experience and common sense is almost impossible (for most). Try and tell a HD owner that a Vulcan or Boulevard is better or comparable in any way is like having a death wish.

In my opinion, the Japanses have done the entire motorcycling world a huge favour. They have raised the bar for the rest of the world to have to follow or to otherwise fail.

Even British bikes no longer spray oil at high pressure. This used to be called 'character' and a great corrosion prevetion feature. Back in the real world, such failings have been irradicated by the basic laws of commerce.

Japanese bikes do have lots of character. They are all quite different and the vast range of choice. I'd buy any bike from any NZ serviceable manufacturer if it suited my riding needs.

BTW: In the early 80s I owned a Triumph TR7 Convertable. After 3.5 new engines I sold it. I had to bury my past bad experience with the Triumph marque before considering my present bike.

Our past experiences and those of people we know are probably the strongest infleucing factor; hence once you get a good one you generally become loyal to it.

[discotex]

I reckon all bikes have soul. From the mighty GN to the Rocket III and everything in between they all have character.

[Jerry74]

Mine talks to me... "get off ya arse and ride me mate"

[Molly]

... I owned a Triumph TR7 Convertable. After 3.5 new engines I sold it. I had to bury my past bad experience with the Triumph marque before considering my present bike.

I too owned a couple of TR7s. The pop-up headlights had a mind of their own and they rusted faster than I could patch them up. Still, that had no influence on my purchase of several Triumph bikes. The two have nothing to do with each other. It's just arbitrary collections of letters purchased for the marketing departments of vehicle manufacturers.

[YellowDog]

I too owned a couple of TR7s. The pop-up headlights had a mind of their own and they rusted faster than I could patch them up. Still, that had no influence on my purchase of several Triumph bikes. The two have nothing to do with each other. It's just arbitrary collections of letters purchased for the marketing departments of vehicle manufacturers.

Yes I do agree with you. I was just trying to make a point about marque loyalty.

[flame]

I think 'sole' is dependent on the personality of the pilot.
My jappa is a bitch slapper beast, but I love her, I guess thats character.
My Duc.....he makes me party inside and out! love him to bits!.....yep.... thats SOLE!

And guess which one gets a rub down after each ride


....(haha, both of course )

[Big Dave]

Ah! Soul. Every bike has one.

[toycollector10]

The quote below is from the SOHC4, Single Overhead Cam Four Cylinder (Honda) forum...It's worth a read.

The Honda CB750 caused a huge stir on release, and here is what HondaMan had to say about it in an earlier post.

QUOTE
Well, I was there. I can tell you what I saw, but it was bigger than just Honda vs. Kaw (or anybody else). Like my avatar says, "If you remember the '60s, you weren't THERE...", the unenforced drugs, alcohol, smoking and escapism of every type has never reached the rampant levels it was back then.

The late '60s were a time like never before, nor since. We were testing all the things that had been sacrosanct to our parents, and things like the Vietnam War, city riots, campus riots and incredible crime everywhere were literally tearing the fabric of this country apart. The "hot summer of '68", when I was living in Chicago, was nightly riots and murder, Watts in L.A. wasn't any better, colleges were seeing students dying in riots every week. It was, quite literally, a rough time to be living, and at that time, I was living on the street myself. Not because I had to, but I wanted to "see what was up" in the "real" world.

We had tossed out many of our parent's ideals, like "the USA makes only the best things", and here came Honda, with the CB160, CB250/305, and the CB/CL450, which would run with almost no maintenance and take anyone long, long ways from home for pennies of gas. And, even Harley couldn't do that. Fords, Dodges and Chevies didn't even last as long. Honda became deeply entrenched in the average teenager's psyche as a result, and EVERYONE wanted to have one to ride. No matter where you looked, little Hondas were buzzing in every direction, day and night, year around.

Then, with no previous fanfare, came the 750. At it's debut, and in nearly stock street form, it blew away every bike in history at Daytona, in just one race. Honda didn't have to advertise it: it was whispered about in every gathering I knew, man or woman, old or young: this is the ticket AWAY from all that is going on. Enter Easy Rider, the movie (which is an excellent portrayal of mainstream teen-and-twentysomethings of the day), and the two made an explosive mix. Honda had hoped for sale of 10,000 units in the 1969-1970 seasons: they had 32,000 orders by the 3rd month after the intro, according to the Honda dealership where I worked at the time.

All you had to do to "shut Dad up" about his old Harley or Indian was to run through 1st and 2nd gear against him. No Ford, Chevy or Hemi could touch it in a 2-block race. You could ride for an entire weekend for $2 in gas, and if you laid off the throttle, you could sneak away in the night like a ghost afterward. EVERYONE talked about them, and most of us wanted one.

But, they were almost unobtainium for the first 2 years. Honda had no idea this was going to happen: they tried so hard to meet the demand that they sacrificed the quality quite a bit in the late K0 and all the K1 models, just to get them to a dealership. No one even cared what color it was: you would see people lined up at the sales counters every weekend, even BIDDING with cash in hand to get one. I laid down $250 in 1969 to "get in line" for my first one: this did NOT go toward the bike's price, either. And, I paid cash to get my K1 when it showed up, just to make sure I didn't lose my chance. It cost me a total of $1695 plus $250, which was 6 month's salary in 1970 when I got it. And, there were no loans in those days, like financing today. You gave everything up to get one.

And, it did not disappoint. In fact, it delivered an adrenalin rush of power that made my Ford with HP390 engine seem like a semi truck. I sold my car a month later, and hit the road, then the race track. It was 2 years before I even thought about owning a car again.

The 750 was so forgiving of owner mistakes that it set the standard for both bikes and cars from then on. Previously, bikes were on 600-800 mile oil changes, points at least twice a year, a battery every Spring, and kickstarters. Honda's little bike's electric starts didn't work well: this one started better than a car! And, in the first year, owners were hitting upwards of 50,000 miles on them without rebuilds or failures. ALL other motorcycles of the era (and a great many cars!) could not even do this. The legend was born.

Ironically, the very same day that Honda introduced the CB750 at the New York motor show, Kawasaki had their twin-cam 750 in the same hotel, to be debuted in the same show. The two companies were so quiet about it, they didn't even know about each other: Honda's team just had a more elaborate display, and started at about 2 AM or so setting it up. The Kaw guys saw it around 4 AM and called Japan: they were told to withdraw the "New York Steak", their code name for that bike, and return to Japan. Kaw did not wish to fight nor compete heads-up with Mr. Sochiro, a Bushido in high Japanese caste. So, Kaw spent 2 years developing a 900 on that chassis, the Z-1. It was too heavy, not smooth, handled like a tank, and was high maintenance, compared to the 750 by then.

It never mattered again, who developed what. Honda had changed motorcycling forever by 1971. Lawyers, bankers, accountants, college kids, even women were riding them, and everywhere. Not a day went past that one didn't purr by, stirring thoughts of a long trip on a lonely road to somewhere, anywhere that was away from the ruckus that American cities were then. And, the highways were empty! The RV had not yet appeared, trucks were 8-wheelers or 10-wheelers, and you could ride 90 MPH all day if you wanted to, on mostly brand-new cement Interstate highways.
UNQUOTE

[Motu]

Bikes are like people...some are damn sexy,certainly scary,and more than I can afford on my budget.Some are just boring,some nasty,some ''just not what I'm into''.Some people who you start off not liking,are really interesting when you get to know them better.Some people are your best mate straight away....then things get a bit sour after you have known them for awhile.You learn to take in people at a glance,and stick to those you like best.....and miss out on some more interesting relationships.

Bikes can take on a national stereotype too - fill in the blanks.....

What sort of soul would a New Zealand bike possess?....??.

[toycollector10]

Nice post Motu, you seem to have a handle on the "human condition"....

[yod]

Anyone who determines the quality/soul/character of a machine and/or it's rider simply based on the country of origin of the manufacturer of the machine, is an idiot. Obviously.

That's akin to determining who you should marry based on the brand of milk they usually purchase.

We stopped at the Rahotu pub on the Four Points last year, four of us (Triumph, Honda and 2 Kwakas), parked up and proceeded to sort our shit prior to heading inside to get our cards. Suddenly a 'woman' dashes out and rushes to her Harley (Sportser 1200 I think?) and states that she couldn't possibly leave it where it was since we had parked our Japanese bikes within the general vicinity...she chortled about it a bit as if to joke...but still moved the bike over to the other side of the car park, next to another Harley.

What
a
fucking
half-wit.

[toycollector10]

"What
a
fucking
half-wit".

Out of a half-baked sort of "bikers of the world, don't unite" philosophy I never park my Japper next to an H.D, as I know it offends them and cuts them to the quick.

I sense that it just tears them up to have a piece of "Jap Crap" parked next to their motorcycle. So I don't do it. Just as a mark of respect, so to speak.