- NS Motorcycle
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NS Motorcycle by Narazo Shimazu 
An Early Triumph Motorcycle which provided the type of frame used by N. Shimazu to build the first Japanese motorcycleManufacturer Narazo Shimazu Model year 1908 Successor NMC Arrow First Class Standard Engine 400 cc (24 cu in) air-cooled, single-cylinder, two-cycle Frame type Triumph(UK) Suspension Spring Front, None Rear The NS was a motorcycle made by Nazao Shimazu in 1908. It is considered to be Japan's first motorcycle. Shimazu created the Japan Motor Company (NMC) in 1926 and then produced the Arrow First Motorcycle.
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Nihon Motorcycle
In 1908 Narazo Shimazu created his first motorcycle. This is generally thought to be the first motorcycle made in Japan. Shimazu produced more than 700 motorcycles with the brand name of NS and NMC.[1]
Influences
The 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller Motorrad
On January 19, 1896, the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller Motorrad (from Germany) was put on display with a trial run in Tokyo and was given the name of Petroleum Bicycle (very similar to the name of the Petroleum Reitwagen which was developed by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Germany in 1885, which was well known in Japan at this time).[1] The H&W Motorrad had been imported by Jumonji Nobosuke co-owner of the Jumonji Trading Company.
A 1900 Thomas Auto-Bi (USA)By 1901, the first American-made motorcycles began to appear. On September 17, a Thomas Auto-Bi was mentioned in a newspaper article and went on sale 11 days later, advertised in the same newspaper.[2] The Thomas had been made in Buffalo, New York. Thomas had been manufacturing a De Dion-Bouton tricycle since 1898. The Auto-Bi was in all respects a standard bicycle with 24 inch wheels. It used a De Dion-Bouton 200 cc capacity engine which produced 2.25 hp. This was an air-cooled, four-stroke cycle, with automatic intake valve, an engine weight of 11.3 kg (25 lb), and body weight of 41 kg (90 lb). The price of the Thomas was very expensive at 500 Yen.
In April 1902 the California motorcycle from the USA was advertised but may not have arrived yet. Also possible by then was the arrival of the US made Orient-Aster motorcycle.[2]
Two Mitchells, which were very similar to the E.R. Thomas Auto-Bi, were imported in 1903.[3] These motorcycle had De Dion-Bouton's air-cooled four-cycle engines of 347 cc. The frame was 23 inches and the machine weighed 55 kg (120 lb). Top speed was listed as 55 km/h (34 mph).[4] The Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company had been founded in 1900.[5]
History
In 1903, his father bought Narazo Shimazu a bicycle. That same year he was fascinated by the news of the motorcycle. He went to Tokyo for races that had featured foreign owned Thomas (USA) and Gladiator (French) made motorcycles.
In 1908 at the age of 20 Shimazu established the Shimazu Motor Research Institute. In December 1908, Shimazu created a two-cycle motorcycle engine of 400 cc capacity. He built this engine into a Triumph motorcycle frame he had purchased for that purpose. This was the first motorcycle manufactured in Japan.[6]
In 1909 he completed the construction of a four-cycle engine. He built a total of twenty of these, which he put his initials "NS" on. Customers were disappointed that the motorcycles he made often broke under their own weight while traveling on the primitive roads of that era.
In 1926 Shimazu completed a new motorcycle design called the Arrow First. Later in the year Shimazu went into bankruptcy. He helped found a new company, Japan Motors Manufactures ( Nihon Motorcycle Company NMC), in Osaka and worked to improve the Arrow First.
The new company produced a new motorcycle with an air-cooled four-cycle side valve design engine of 250 cc capacity and a two-speed transmission. Production reached 50 to 60 machines a month and eventually reached over 700 machines in three years.[7]
References
- ^ a b Centennial History of the Japanese automobile., Centennial History of the Japanese automobile.
- ^ a b Thomas Auto-Bi In Japan 1901, Thomas Auto-Bi in Japan 1901 Text and Photographs.
- ^ Six things you didn't know about the early Japanese motorcycle industry, Mitchell Motorcycles Imported into Japan 1903.
- ^ The 1902 Michell Motorcycle, The Mitchell of 1902.
- ^ Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company, Mitchell Motor Company founded 1900.
- ^ Motorcycle: evolution, design, passion by Mick Walker
- ^ Japan's Motorcycle Wars: An Industry History, By Jeffrey W. Alexander
External links
- 240 Landmarks of the Japanese Automotive Industry NS Motorcycle
- Tokyo Cool Bike History Photograph of NS Motorcycle
- Hildebrand and Wolfmüller in Japan 1896
- Thomas Auto-Bi in 1901
- Thomas and California Motorcycles in Japan
Categories:- Japanese motorcycles
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