acebars
XS650 Addict
I don't think the Hosk 500 originator of the XS650 had a license it was a copy. W-1 was BSA under licence to my knowledge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't think the Hosk 500 originator of the XS650 had a license it was a copy. W-1 was BSA under licence to my knowledge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yamaha did license/copy the Hosk design for the XS but since Hosk went under before the Yamaha engine ever saw the light of day it can't really be considered theft or copying.
the Norton felt like agricultural equipment. Crude, recalcitrant and not at all friendly. Am I expecting too much? Tell me my experience is not typical. Otherwise I don't see what all the fuss has been about. I must be missing something.
roy
you're measuring the bike against more modern machinery perhaps ? after all the technology is probably 50+ years old !
You probably wouldn't feel that way if it was a Norton cafe racer
I don't think the Hosk 500 originator of the XS650 had a license it was a copy. W-1 was BSA under licence to my knowledge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Datsun and Isuzu both got their start assembling Austins which were sent to Japan in CKD (Completely Knocked Down) form. Then as business picked up Datsun bought a company named Prince who had licensed a Mercedes engine design which is the 1600/1800/2000 ohc 4 banger that was in the 510. The motor was stretched to 6 cylinders for the 240/260/280Z. Isuzu stuck with assembling and manufacturing licensed copies of Austins for a good while but also started selling their own designs and eventually got out of the Austin business.
Yamaha did license/copy the Hosk design for the XS but since Hosk went under before the Yamaha engine ever saw the light of day it can't really be considered theft or copying. The way it worked: Daimler-Benz bought Horex and killed motorcycle production. Showa bought the rights to the engine design but didn't do anything with it, Yamaha bought Showa and with that the rights to the engine design, they tweaked it and history was made. Just in time, it hit the market at just the right time and pushed the right buttons: vertical twin like the Brit sporty bikes but OHC and unit construction like the Honda superbikes. Honda pretty much started with a clean sheet with the CB450 and CB750.
As far as Kawasaki copying the BSA design, the W1 was done very similar to the Mercedes deal with Datsun, a company called Meguro had licensed the BSA design. Kawasaki bought Meguro and with it the rights to produce a copy of the BSA engine. Like Mercedes with Datsun, BSA made money off the Meguro/Kawasaki deal without really raising a finger. Kawasaki had gotten a toehold in the US market with the W1, then built the 900 Z1 engine as a response to Honda's CB750 and everyone was off to the horsepower wars.
I am putting a 270into my BSA 1963 A-65
And the Kawasaki W-1 was a purchase too......BSA was it?