Motorcycle culture in 1970's and 1980's Japan

One damn fine thread....thanks for the insights and 1st person experience WPBill!

The Gringo wrote:

Bill thanks for the info. Since we don't know where this picture came from I'm wondering. Since this 750 has a sticker on it in English and the, what looks to be a pressure washer in the background also has stickers in English, I'm wondering if this bike might have been built over here to mimic the Bozo bikes? Possibly someone from Japan who came over here and due to our lack of restrictions decided to just have at it and build one for the sake of nostalgia? I'm sure it could be a Japanese build but it sounds like the owner would have needed to have some big bucks.

Also what seems odd about this bike is that for all the work the owner put into this bike, the engine covers are all dingy. Looking at some of the other Bozo bikes everything seems to be polished, painted or chromed.

We better hope Steel doesn't see this bike or he'll have a new project in the works.:laugh:

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that is a US based bike. I know there is at least one SoCal car club calling themselves Bosozoku. Mostly cars, and modern import tuner cars at that, but they do have a few old school bozo cars on their website:

www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Street/8033/BosozokuHome.html

WPBill wrote:

...I'd guessing the round to angular was an extension of the British cafe racer influence...

I would tend to agree - in fact, by the late '60's, the Norton Commando had also developed a more angular look to it - and the Commando was certainly the inspiration for a lot of modifications to British bikes at the time!

wpbill,great read thanks for taking the time to post it.thanks for the offer to help translate,or try to.there is so much cool stuff for these kawi's there.now that they are racing the vintage heavyweights there it seems to be generating some super trick parts.i won't bug you alot but if there is something i am really interested in i might see if you can help,thanks.

leon holmes

in 85 or 86 i answered an add in cycle news weekly for selling old liter bikes and a really cool japanese guy...cant remember his name,,,think it was awia...but not sure....came up to san luis obispo ca,and bought two z-1's a norton commando and a bunch of parts from my friends and i.......the guy went to lunch with us and spoke like two words of english...which is how much japanese i spoke...we just nodded and smiled a lot with hand gestures....anyway he would send me letters from time to time and take the effort to have someone write his thoughts in english....he also would send these magazines from japan that were not in english but had pictures of the rich bike culture...and one off trick kawis and little repli racers.....i was in awe......
i took my road rat z-1r repliracer/ superbike out in the street the day he was over and did a giant burnout which he seemed to like a lot.......
thanks for the cool thread....craig

531blackbanshee wrote:

wpbill,great read thanks for taking the time to post it.thanks for the offer to help translate,or try to.there is so much cool stuff for these kawi's there.now that they are racing the vintage heavyweights there it seems to be generating some super trick parts.i won't bug you alot but if there is something i am really interested in i might see if you can help,thanks.

leon holmes

The guy that runs Mid Knight used to hang around with my HD club in Tokyo. He also had a good rep amongst my non HD riding friends as well. Danged if I can remember his name, though, its been more than ten years.

www.mid-knight.jp/

Hmmm, one of his store stickers is closely modeled after the one for the bosozuku SPECTER. Wonder if he used to be a member...

mid-knight has some real nice z1r solo seat tailpiece's that make me wish i could find the cost and shipping to see if it is even possible for me.if i get serious i will look it all up and see if you can help me.
thanks,

leon holmes

Jeff Saunders at Z-1 Enterprises has some excellent business contacts in Japan. In fact, I think he is a US rep for these folks, or something like that:

www.win-pmc.com/

I'm sure he'd be willing to help you get the Japanese piece-de-resistance (read that using a French accent) you desire.

jeff did say that he was a distributor for that outfit.i tried the french accent,and got spit all over my screen :laugh: .


leon holmes

531blackbanshee wrote:

mid-knight has some real nice z1r solo seat tailpiece's that make me wish i could find the cost and shipping to see if it is even possible for me.if i get serious i will look it all up and see if you can help me.
thanks,

leon holmes

47,250 yen, so about $480 depending on the yen rate. That's just the piece itself, I have no idea what shipping would be.

dang bill i didn't mean for you to go hunt it down.i sure do appreciate your time tho.thanks for getting that info.between the price and shipping it will be awhile before i can own one of those,too many projects-too little money.plus my unwillingness to sell anything to get anything,puts me at an aquisition dis-advantage.thanks again for the info.


leon holmes