Japanese motorcycle companies

Very cool Avatar JUNYR !!

 

Did not know that. Explains a lot about HONDA.
There used to be over 50 brands of motorcycles produced In the United States.
When I was 16 I could name them all.

 

IMO we should differentiate and not generalize quite so much. Ya got lots of "not made in The USA" parts on HD's. So are those that are made in Japan and elsewhere for Japanese companies in stock at HD dealerships? Same thing for many of the aftermarket parts for HDs.
Can these be found at the HD dealerships? I know the dealerships have things like disposable HD diapers for the little shits... Some of the aftermarket suppliers of parts and goodies for HD also make same for other Cruisers including Hondas.

HD's using the same parts since 1936? LOL.. Sounds like that one came from either somebody who doesn't know much about bikes or is trying to schlep a HD on somebody..

Some of the HD aftermarket parts and goodies cost big bucks and are so much better than some of the factory stuff that get trimmed, sliced and diced by the bean counters and the Harvard MBA's who call the shots, it ain't even funny. OTOH ya got ElCheapo Chinese shit for HD's and yes others too that is just that, shit..

Might be fun for anybody who is really interested to see if their local friendly Honda stealers even have a spare R/R in stock or a half dozen of the famous five buck a pop plastic fairing expansion rivets..

Then we got Krispy who should stick to what he knows and is batting in the negative numbers.

 

Those 400's were little jewels. The 500's were great too. Almost popped for a 750 way back but ended up with a John Player Norton.

Seems to me that Sonny Barger had a 750 chopper..(??)

 

Hey Don:

Working on an older Japanese bike I hear your agnst. However, Kawasaki made, sold and shipped enough Ninja 900's that parts are either available (from Europe only, but I can still get them) or search ebay and find what I need pretty easy.

But when you have a engine a manufacturer only made for a couple years the frustration levels surely go up.

BZ

 

I owned one of these (yellow, go figure) when I was 17. Truly one of the best bikes I have every had. Would LOVE to own one again and kick myself for selling it but, at the time, an education seemed more important.

 

Yes they were. And they could be made in to 1000cc bike killers with handling. With a 458 or 496cc bore kit,CB750 26mm carbs, hand bent header, Fox shocks and Kaz's big cam. They cost about as much as the CB750 to make, so Honda said.
Some of the reason for not stocking a lot of parts is at the end of the year there was tax to be paid on each part in inventory also.

 

Erm, Harley Davidson is still using the same "design" since the beginning yet they have the market cornered on recalls.

 

+1 I think the only new designed engine is the Vrod, and if I'm not mistaken, it took them working with BMW to pull that one off. I also believe they didn't introduce FI until the last couple years. I know my mom's '01 softail was carb, her '09 superglide has FI. I don't know a lot about emissions, but I feel that when the gov't cracks down hard on bikes, HD is going to be hurt the worst.

all in all, they have been good bikes for my parents. But they pay WAY too much for what they get IMO.

 

LOL thanks! I stumbled across that on the internet somewhere and had to 'borrow' it. Love the trike dirt tracking it...

 

They don't... I tried last weekend to get some of those very same expanson rivets and they had none. They did have the rubber wellnuts in stock however, at $4.87 each...

 

Well that explains it, then. I thought maybe my roosters were gay!

 

I'd ride one to work since they'd help wake me up. blub...blub...blud...blub...blub Oh. I mean shake the livin shit out of me till fillings I didn't even know I had started popping out of my teeth.

 

Porsche..

Maybe borrow some books from your folks who are true believers to find out more. Actually they are a lot smarter than you think and WTF do you care how they spend thier money?

 

Yes they came in Dark blue,Yellow and red. I got a blue one.
I was a student at the time but I would not want to live those high stress years over again.
The bike is a fine memory though, Smooth and quick.

 

All the bikes manufactured in the US and imports have to meet the emission rules set in 2008. That is why most street bikes have fuel injection.
They need to get rid of California's inventory tax law and that would help the spare parts situation.
All of the parts are kept in warehouses in Nevada where they do not have that law.

 

It's ashame when you have to struggle to find parts. Specially when you have much time and money spent in a restoration or custom project like Don does. That being said, Honda has produced such diverse motorcycle lineup over the last 40 years I can see where it would be nearly impossible to keep producing all parts. Some stuff IS still available. I know of a customer that just purchased a brand new fuel pump for a 75 GL1000 and the dealer actually had it in stock. I think spark plug wires are available separately for certain models...maybe GL1000's or 70's CB750's, and can usually be adapted for use in other models. If a dealer can't or won't keep oil filters or spark plugs in stock they should be allowed to fail. For smaller dealers with limited resources, it seems unreasonable to expect them to stock slower moving items...when they can be ordered and received in a couple days.

Don't know if anybody has noticed but Harley has been a 'gold mine' for dealers the last twenty years or so...just look at the facilities. Yet the parent company sure didn't hesitate to get in line for taxpayer money a year ago. What happened to all the money they've been making? While they make the benchmark cruiser bikes, you certainly can't accuse them of innovation or diversity. The only (IMO) interesting thing in the dealerships (Buell) got the 'boot' last summer. Let's see how they do supporting parts for them in five years or so.