Letter From Japan

LETTER FROM Japan

Battle of the 250 Fours

There is war here in Japan. The motorcycle manufacturers are fighting it out like never before on the home front, with the fiercest conflicts taking place in the smaller classes. In Japan, the 250cc class is a hotbed of activity for the manufacturers, because those are the hottest-selling machines.

This may seem strange to riders in America. The 250 class there is relegated to beginner bikes, and the notion of an exciting 250cc street motorcycle is just beginning to catch on. But in Japan, the most advanced technology finds first expression in the small machines. And so it is that the class has V-Twin and verticalTwin four-strokes, two-stroke, racestyle rockets, and the lastest trend, the inline-Four sportbikes.

It was Yamaha that started this new trend with its 250 Phazer. This is a bike that has a dohc four-cylinder engine with a 16.000-rpm redline. It sounds much like an AMA Superbike, although a little quieter, when its engine is spinning above 12,000 rpm. It has cylinders that are canted forward at about 45 degrees much like the FZ750 sold in America, but the tiny combustion chambers are limited to four valves rather than five. It also uses twin disc brakes up front. And the bike was uniquely styled when it was first introduced, with its fairing and fuel tank being a single, molded piece.

Quite frankly, however, the Phazer’s simplicity embarrassed Honda en| rineers when they first took the Yamaha apart; they expected so much more. But Honda went to work and designed its soonto-be-released CBR250 to do direct battle with the Phazer. First seen at the most recent Tokyo Motor Show, the CBR250 also is an inline-Four, and like the Phazer, it too has a 16,000-rpm redline. Of special note is that the CBR250’s engine is similar in appearance to the Phazer’s, with forward-leaning cylinders and a downdraft intake system, all mounted in an aluminum frame.

Suzuki, on the other hand, has tried to keep up with Yamaha by updating an old bike rather than building a new one as did Honda.

The GF250 is seen by many as merely a stopgap measure for now. The hot rumor concerning Suzuki is of a GSX-R250 that should help keep the class an exciting one.

The lone exception to this 250class philosophy is Kawasaki’s GPz250, which is a Twin rather than a Four. But what is most interesting about the Kawasaki is that it has just been released in America as the 250 Ninja (see test beginning on pg.56). There are those who think that the introduction of the Ninja 250 in America is really just a test. If it sells well, then the people in the U.S. may soon get to experience the whoosh of other really high-rpm streetbikes. And if that happens, then the 250cc class there should be taken more seriously.

It is doubtful, however, that riders in America will ever get as enthusiastic about the small machines as riders in Japan. Not only are Americans bigger people than the Japanese, they have a preoccupation with large, high-horsepower motorcycles. But in Japan, with its laws that favor small motorcycles, the 250s look to keep getting better and more exciting as the year wears on.

Koichi Hirose