Not made in Japan

[mentalboy]

Some years ago (maybe 6/7) I bought the missus a 125. After much hunting around settled for a brand new CG125. Main thing that swung it for me was the reliability of the old CG's - they just keep going. Fast forward two and half years, and it was time to get a larger beast (GPZ305).
In those two and half garaged years and fair weather riding the CG was sporting more rust than the (13 years older) GPZ. Fork top bolts, handlebars and fork stanchions being the worst.
It was at this point that I remembered being told that my Japanese Honda was actually built in Brazil.

It would seem that as the Chinese work on their Q.C and get better at it so the Japanese start to regress. Are we seeing today the demise of the mighty Japanese motorcycle empire - just as they were seen as the young upstarts in the 70's by the British industry, now today are they stagnating in a fast changing world where the throwaway society are happy with a cheap machine that'll last two years before they look to get the latest plastic styled pocket rocket?
Do you know where your machine was actually built, do you care?
The day is fast approaching when the Chinese will understand we want better grade steels and when they do will anybody be left to compete? They're great at buying old jigs/plans and copying other peoples machines but are somewhat lacking in the imagination department. Are we going to be stuck with todays styling for the next forty years because there'll be nothing to copy?
____________________
Make mine a Corona.

[Derivative]

A point to make is that often the problems with 125's stem from the fact they're cheap bikes from new.

There's a lot more room in the budget for a £10k CBR to not have to cheap out on the 'extras', versus a ~£3k CG for example. Not to mention the fact that the bigger bike is built to withstand much more as it's capable of doing two or three times the speed.

[Rogerborg]

Half of the parts on my GPz305 are proudly stamped "Made in Japan". I doubt we'll see that from Brazil, India, or China for a while. Korea, maybe, but just because they hate the Japanese so much.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[mistergixer]

[pits]

[mistergixer]

[GrumpyGuts]

Back in the good old days, where EVERYTHING was made in Japan (Japanese bikes that is), even indicator covers, every part was made with pride. It's the Japanese culture, everything was to be built perfectly. That's why the older machines tend to last longer as more care and attention was brought when building them.

Nowadays, most of what is built now is "that'll do"...there's not much soul to motorcycles anymore.
____________________
My Bikes: Lifan Beat 125cc '11 -> Suzuki B120P '76 -> Suzuki EN 125-2A '08 -> Honda CG 125 '04 -> Honda CB600F Hornet '98 -> Kawasaki ZZR 600 '99 -> Kawasaki GPZ 500S '95 (Current)
Theory test passed - 09/02/2012 >>>> Module 1 passed 24/07/2012 >>>> Module 2 passed 24/10/2012

[GrumpyGuts]

[fatpies]

[pits]

[blurredman]

[andys675]

they still made the original japanese cg125 for years after they started sending us the brazil version, and it still looked the same, someone at honda decided we should get the brazil built one instead of the japanese built one, they've also been made in turkey

have a look at the frame plate on your honda

goldwings made in USA

03/04 hornets made in italy

CB500, drum rear brake japan, disc rear brake made in italy

SLR650, vigor, some transalps made in spain (old montesa factory)

city express? belgium

innova? thailand, along with CBR125

lead 110? India!

and the list goes on, and it's not only honda
____________________
Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.