Why My Bike is a 700 Instead of a 750

I had heard about the tariff to "save the American motorcycle industry" but only the vaguest of details. A friend with an interest in economics dug up this article from 1984 and I thought I would share it here. Sorry if this subject has already been discussed ad naeseam.


Taking America for a Ride: The Politics of Motorcycle Tariffs

 

Bookmarked ...

Hello:

Hey, thanks. I've seen that before - did not bookmark it - and could never find it again. Thanks - I bookmarked it this time.

It is probably way, way more than the average person wants to know about the tariff, but I found it interesting.

For whatever it is worth, the tariff is exactly why my bike is considered a "gray market" bike here in the U.S. Neither the '88 VFR750FJ (RC24), nor the '89 VFR750FK (RC24) were exported to the U.S. I guess by that time Honda said, "The Hell with this."


Gray Market

 

No problem, I figured if there was any interest in this history it would be in here. Imagine the flames if we had these forums back then!

 

Thanks for getting out of the mothballs.

Its a great piece of scholarship and I'm glad to have it as a reference. Reagan was not the "great communicator" that republicans like to make him out to be. He jammed it to the Japanese cycle industry in the mid 80's. He was anything but a capitalist in the true sense of the word. He used the HD tariff fight as a cause celebre in the right wing baiting of Japan as the yellow peril come to buy up America with all the Asiadollars they had accumulated selling us Sony and Honda products and a lot more. Back then it was the Japanese that came to the USA its pockets stuffed to overflow with greenbacks carrying new NICON electronic cameras (pre digital),taking pictures of America while buying up all the prime real estate like Rockerfeller Center and all sorts of high profile american icons like MGM and and Paramount. The right wing pundits were screaming about the great sell out to the Japanese. The impetus behind the tariff was really to force americans to give old HD one more chance before they were sent to oblivion. The domination of the motorcycle market was essentially a complete victory for Honda and the other Japanese cycle manufacturers. The British and Italian bikes were also prostrate. Triumph, the last Limey bike left standing after loosing Norton and BSA, was practically out for the count. It only seemed fair that Harley get brought down too.

Late 70's Harleys were leaky, smoking, gas guzzling pig bikes that couldn't go anywhere without leaving an oily mess. You had to be a Motorcycle cop or willing to put up with shoddy workmanship and constant upkeep and maintenance costs ( in other words a rabid flag waving buy American freak) to drive a new Harley. So what do we have to show for it besides a lot of VFR 700's and other similar bikes with capacities around 700 cc? Well, we still have HARLEY DAVIDSON and now Buell. And the near death of the V twin resulted in a big nostalgia wave that brought back Indian and a whole passel of HD and Indian copy cats. I suppose that both of the ALL AMERICAN ICON bikes (HD and Indian) are filled with Mexican or Jamaican and other off shore bits and pieces, just like American cars have become. But we Americans can still point to the fact that Harley survived near extinction. That American management was able to turn the decrepid beast around to such an extent that the Japanese even got on that bandwagon. And it was due to the patriotic zeal of the management that bought out AMF and actually cleaned up the design of the V twin with innovation and good practical engineering know how. Your typical HD is no VFR, Ninja or CSX street racer, but its got a solid place in the motorcycle pantheon of design. Looks like in this case anyway, the people who asked for forebearance and extra time meant what they said and did what they said they were going to do.

Thanks for the reminder. I don't seem to mind as much as I used to.

 

this article and tariff are exactly why im so proud to own a first gen VFR (yes, my 87 is a FIRST gen, cause the 85 and older bikes are only VF). the tariff only applied to 750cc and above motors, which allowed the 748cc motor in the VFR750 to simply slide by the tariff completely, giving it the endearing surname of the "tariff beater".

its always been my favorite way anybody has said "f*** you!" to harley davidson.

 

If 748 cc slipped under the wire why is my bike a 700?

Last time I got gas, notice I did not say I filled up, the guy at the next pump was on a big fat smokyburgundy twin with a seat that looked like a black diamond shaped toilet. It was huge. I figured it for an HD but when I searched it for nonmenclature the owner told me I was looking at a Suzuki "garbled grunt". I could not tell from familiarty. Once HD got its S*** together and started selling twins that did not leak oil and which ran longer than a week before having to repair or retune, all the Japanese manufacturers started to make a twin cruisers, some larger than HD's.

If Chris71 is correct, why do I drive a 700? My knowledge of HD informs me that HD did have a pretty tough 750 cc (@47ci) class flat head that they later developed into a K or H head. That was in the late 50's and early 60's. Then Honda and the rest of the rice burners invaded and suddenly it was oil tight OHC twins and eventually OHV 4's with a few multi cylinder 2 strokes darkening the roadway as well. Next thing HD was on its back crying that it couldn't keep up. So why do I drive a 700 cc Bike again and not a 748 cc bike? Can any body clear the exhaust from this question? Is it actually 700 or just a little less than that? Why so?

 

interesting stuff here. i read about this in a Rider Mag article last summer.

 

The way I heard it and I worked for a Honda dealer back then, was the tariff was just a way to get Honda in this case a tax hit, so Honda made the 700 to get around it. It was a lot less in cost when compared to the 750, but if you wanted a 750 you could, it was just going to cost you way more as Honda forward the tariff costs. Guess what, they sold anyway. So that's all it was, a tax tariff on the manufacture, and that was in place to aid in our failing in getting a quality US made product against the mighty Japanese. I mean come on now, you can't fool the majority of the Americans, they know good shit when they see it and they'll buy it no matter what the cost.

 

It was the tarrif to save harley...750 and above got the tarrif. Honda wasn't going to play that game. with a lil tuning and dro a few CCs and you are in under the radar. The honda V4 and V2s were 700CCs I am not sure the CBs ever were a 700. I am going from memory, I think it only lasted a couple years. also at the same time they maxed the Speedo at 80MPH. The speedo mod was to try and stop riders from seeing how fast they could go. That speedio made a game of "How fast can I peg the speedo".

 

It's cuz your cylinder's are slightly smaller.

 

Yes the inlines got hit too, recall the Nighthawk 700s?

 

I had a Nighthawk 700S. If memory serves it was a CB700SC. I can remember in those days thinking what bunch of bs cutting the cc's back was. That bike sure would get up and run even being down 50cc.

 

Oh yeah, I remember those nighthawks. They were like red and black and blue and black with a smallish faring/windscreen on the front. That was a cool lil bike back then.
I bought a new in crate 82 CB750K . I wanted the 900F but couldn't aford it.

ahhhh the god old days....

 

From the article (I added the bold)

In the past two years, however, the American motorcycle market has severely contracted. The recession left many young people, the greatest motorcycle-buying age group, with less to spend. Employment in heavyweight-motorcycle production and related activities rose from 2,239 persons in 1977 to 3,110 in 1981, but (as a result of slackened demand) dropped to 1,974 in 1982. (Heavyweight motorcycles have engines with piston displacement of 700 cubic centimeters or more.)

further down in the article

In September of 1982, Harley-Davidson petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for relief from the importation of heavyweight motorcycles and power-train subassemblies (an engine part). The petition was filed under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, known as the "Escape Clause," which allows
-snip-
To provide relief, the ITC recommended the following five-year tariff plan for heavyweight motorcycles: Raise the current tariff of 4.4 percent to 49.4 percent and keep it there for a year; lower the rate to 39.4 percent in the second year, to 24.4 percent in the third year, to 19.4 percent in the fourth year, and to 14.4 percent in the fifth year. After the fifth year the tariff is to return to 4.4 percent.

And it was applied to Japan only.

On April 1, 1983, President Reagan adopted the ITC recommendation, with minor alterations. Appended were provisions to lessen the impact of the federal relief on small foreign suppliers. The order allows 5,000 West German motorcycles each year to come in without duty increases, with the allowance rising to 6,000 in the second year, 7,000 in the third year, 8,500 in the fourth year, and 10,000 in the fifth year. It also allows 4,000 units from Britain and Italy to come in at the old rate (increasing by 1,000 units annually for five years). Japan is to be permitted to send 6,000 units (increasing by 1,000 units annually) to the United States at the old duty. In 1982, 80 percent of the imported heavyweight motorcycles were Japanese. With the provisions that were added to the ITC plan, the tariff affects trade with the Japanese companies almost exclusively.

 

Hmmm, not quite ...

Hello:

Actually, the tariff applied to bikes 700cc and greater, hence the 698cc Interceptor. One could get a 750 at the time - they were available - but if one wanted to purchase a 750 he/she had to pay the tariff.

Gray Market

 

Yeah that's the ones BP. Mine was the red and black version. They were much more high tech than the 91 and up Nighthawks. It had shaft drive, triple disc brakes, and a decent suspension.

 

Wrong. The Cylinders are the same size.

The VF700's have a shorter stroke, different cams, and ignition timing.

VF750: 70.0 x 48.6 mm
VF700: 70.0 x 45.0 mm

 

HD had a good 45CID (735 CC) racer in the 50's.

Harley Davidson had made 45 CID twins (@740 CC) for decades prior to the 1983-4 tariff. After WW2 the small HD Twin was pited against the Limely 650-750cc twins in tourist trophy racing. HD had made 45 CID twins since the 20's. The mainstay american cycle prior to and in WW2 was a 45 CID flat head twin. This flat head was made for decades and in the 1950's the American Motorcycle Association sponsered Class C flat track racing, dominated by HD 45 CID flat heads state side. This class was very close to European 750 cc class cycle racing. These flat head HD racers were often fitted with overbored cylinders, worked manifolding and large valves to create 750 cc class special race models that ran in England and European cycle races. The American Motorcycle racing sanctioning body made a deal to go with the European cycle racing sanctioning body so that they could all race against each other in the 750cc class in the 50's and early 60's. Its the 45 CID twin that set the standard that defined american heavy cycles. When the decision to raise the Tariff protection for HD happened in 83 the USA decided that 45 CID was going to be the defining capacity of teriff. For good measure the cut off was placed at 700 cc just so that no mistake might be made regarding heavy (american iron) and middle weight (import alloy) (700 cc or less). By the time the tariff idea was about to take affect the original English competition was dead or dying. The real focus of the tariff was the Japanese invasion.

In the end it did not matter. HD, which had stopped making 750 cc machines in the mid to late 60's , got its 1100 cc and 1200 cc OHV cruiser twins reworked on or before the tariff went into effect. The old 45 CID (740 CC) flathead was a thing of the past. The 80's Sportster, the origin of the old tourist trophy/ C class HD 50's racer, was now a 55 CID (890 cc) ohv light twin crusier and not involved in class racing. HD was not competing in the 750 cc class, which was a middle weight bike to begin with. The smallest HD was @ 890 cc (55 CID). There was never any reason for the tariff at 700 or 750 CC. It was all just a tax on the american motorcycleist. I drive a 700 cc Honda because Congress and Republican block head jingoist anti free trade hawks wanted to tax americans for not buying a Harley. The irony is that Congress had to tax any japanese twin or 4 cyclinder starting at 700 cc and up, because a japanese 700 cc bike could best a HD 890 cc sportster. Not until 2003 ( Harleys 100th anniversary) did HD start producing a 4 valve per cylinder OHC twin.

 

I have a a broken 84/750 nighthawk parts bike (starter clutch) and an 85/700 Nighthawk that's not in bad shape, but the miles are adding up.

I was thinking about rebuilding the 700 to a 750 as a winter project.

I knew about the shorter stroke, and the different cam and timing makes sense.

Any other little differences you know about?

Thanks
Steve D.

I'd like to have a 5th Gen, but we have 4 kids to put through school so my wife says we can't afford it yet.

Up here in Canada your looking at $5-6K for a good one.

One day :smile:

 

700 to 750 swap

I can't tell you any of the details that you would have to know in order to attempt such a project. The nighthawk is laid out differently from the V4 and the people in this blog are mostly V4 nuts. You may find more help on a different blog that has to do with inline 4's. The CBXWorld blog is similar to the VFRWOrld. And one of those guys might have more experience with nighthawks. This thread may not be the one you want either. There are more technical threads than this one on the Fed Mandated tariff of 83-87. You should fish around in the other threads to see if you pick up some one in the middle of a rebuild.