Motorcycle-USA’s Ken Hutchison is at the Tokyo Motor Show this week, and he’s got a round-up of the show at MC-USA;s web site. You can read it here. I have. What a bore-fest this thing sounds like.
Kawasaki’s not even there. Harley-Davidson is there, but Buell Motorcycles make up a big part of their display, which makes them look sort of stupid. Again. I’m surprised they didn’t force Erik to go, and just stand there weeping publicly, while Harley executives bashed a couple of 1125Rs with sledgehammers.
Other than that, it sounds like everybody was showing off “Green power, maaaan!” and “Save the planet, maaaan!” technology.
Over at Yamaha the big presentation featured the ‘Art of Engineering’. In this philosophy the hot topics were the Smart Power scooter and bicycle-styled experimental vehicles on display in front of the true core of Yamaha’s business: The V-Max R1, Road Star cruiser, new YZ450F and, of course, the world-conquering YZR-M1 MotoGP machine.
Apparently everybody there was really agog over this:
Yamaha ECf
Wow. I just keep looking at it, because I keep trying to think of something I hate more. And I can’t.
I have no doubt the Japanese love it, though. They probably think it’d be a really fun way to wind down after finishing their latest rape comic. Or maybe an easy way to zip home instead of being packed into the subway like sardines during their commute. Just a silent, environmentally-friendly way to get home, followed by watching a TV game show that involves contestants sitting in freezing water while their testicles are crushed in an electric vice.
Yeah, the Japanese enjoy a lot of weird crap, so I bet they adore this monstrosity.
