Jap Harley

[bigfish_Oh]

Rikuo Internal Combustion Company (陸王, Rikuo Nainenki Kabushiki kaisha?) was one of the first motorcycles manufactured in Japan, originally in the early 1930s under license and name of Harley Davidson using their tooling, and then under the name Rikuo until 1958.[2]
There is a fairly comprehensive history here [3] – although even this author admits there are some details unknown as Harley-Davidson themselves did not publicize this Japanese connection. This, because effectively, it could be that the Japanese were helped in mass-production techniques by the introduction of this factory into Japan just prior to the Second World War

[tank_post142]

the Japanese used them through out WWII against the Americans.

[bigfish_Oh]

my question is, Did HD help the japs in mass production techniques?   as in mitsubushi---- zero's ?

[RoadKill]

my question is, Did HD help the japs in mass production techniques?   as in mitsubushi---- zero's ?

Why stop there ? Mitsubishi and Chrysler were almost 'one in the same' for YEARS!We just bailed them out with China money!

[The Anvil]

my question is, Did HD help the japs in mass production techniques?   as in mitsubushi---- zero's ?

Not really, no.

The pre-war history between the US and Japan is long and very complex. Read Imperial Cruise by James Bradley for some perspective that you didn't get in school.

[Jess Tolbirt]

look at the size of that seat! then Japs must have been big boys back then.
interesting bike tho, i would love to have one

[RainMaker]

look at the size of that seat! then Japs must have been big boys back then.
interesting bike tho, i would love to have one

That seat is probably large because they put the whole family on the bike at once.  That seems to be common in other countries.

[The Anvil]

The original seats on H-D's were that big and it's patterned off of those so...

[John Schmidt]

They're easy to spot since they also sound very different. Instead of going "potatoe" "potatoe" they go "sushi" "sushi."   

[Fudd]

So, if it's made under license from Harley Davidson, can I ride it to a "Harley's only" club meeting?

Does the bike have the words "Harley Davidson" on it anywhere?

[Bonzo]

The original seats on H-D's were that big and it's patterned off of those so...

Excellent book Anvil, He is a little slanted, but his facts are correct. My Dad was an Okinawan invasion veteran and named me after William Cohen who was slaughtered  by the Japanese soldiers after their surrender, "Fly Boys" detailed a lot of that horror

[BigAl]

Harley sold them teh prints and the tooling in the 30's.

To stay in business.

Bad thing is it taught them a lot about mass producing a machine.

Then they used it against us and the Chinese, Koreans, Austrailians, Indochinese , and others.

Rikuo, I have posted this before.

Pretty cool I think, a Japanese Harley.

Al

[Momz]

Imagine a HD made in Japan and Hondas made in the USA.

It seems that all riders do have something in common,....well it least some of us.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[hotglue #43]

Japan made a BMW look-alike, too.  Look at the link and you'll also see a bike resembling a Moto-Guzzi. The Marusho is rarely seen these days, even at antique bike shows.  It is my understanding that it was a good machine, but never had much of a dealer network in the US.

Here's the link:

http://www.marusholilac.com/ml5.htm

Actually saw one at Barbers MC museum this week!!!  LOTS of cool old bikes there.... I could spend a few days in that place!!!!

[Steve K (IA)]

look at the size of that seat! then Japs must have been big boys back then.
interesting bike tho, i would love to have one

That was known as a "buddy" seat.

[Big IV]

my question is, Did HD help the japs in mass production techniques?   as in mitsubushi---- zero's ?

If HD taught the Japanese to mass produce then why did HD hand assemble long after Honda had a modern assembly line? That doesn't make sense as a piece of revisionist history.

[RoadKill]

Does any of it really matter? Either it has a 'cool' factor for you....or it doesn't!  I give it a thumbs up !

[bigfish_Oh]

     this was posted on a HDforum "do HD riders really hate metric's" post after I posted a pic of the back of my seat that says Made in USA.

I can just see the whole family on it.

  Dad had a big HD something in 63-64 with the big seat and took both of us kids all over the country, I mean fields, creeks, country roads

[BigAl]

Manufacturing or mass producing means more than just putting it together.

It means you can preproduce parts and one part will fit on another assembly without any more work being done to the part.

Assembly lines are not what makes mass production work.

Parts all made the same and interchangeability are key in mass production.


Assembly lines only speed up the assembly.

The Japs did not totally use this technique on everything.

Their rifles were absolutely a mess. One caliber would have been nice in their carbines, but they had many different calibers on the battle field.

Not logistically exspediant.

[The Anvil]

The original seats on H-D's were that big and it's patterned off of those so...

Excellent book Anvil, He is a little slanted, but his facts are correct. My Dad was an Okinawan invasion veteran and named me after William Cohen who was slaughtered  by the Japanese soldiers after their surrender, "Fly Boys" detailed a lot of that horror

Yeah, I think the "slant" was in part a reaction to having been duped for so long. I know that I was a bit p.o.'d wondering why I hadn't heard about any of this in school. We've all been taught that the Japanese just attacked out of the blue with no preceding history or provocation but it didn't happen that way at all. That's not to say that we deserved what we got in any way but as usual politicians put average Americans on the hook for their tab of stupidity and imperialism. Saddest part is, we seem to never learn.

But America made the best of a bad situation by rising to the occasion. We needed to enter WWII because Europe could not be allowed to fall completely under Nazi control. Pearl got us involved and it was all in due to the nature of the attack. People forget that it wasn't until WWII that America's position as a superpower was secured.