I recently read an article in Wired magazine about a shrine in Japan that specializes in giving blessings to portable electronics like cell phones, iPods, laptop computers and the like. The reasoning is that in Japan's Shinto religion all creations from rocks to people to Blackberries to motorcycles have a soul/spirit or Kami.
One look at one of the professionally-built customs out of Japan will tell you that the builders there take this whole concept seriously. Or maybe not that they take it seriously, but that its just part of the way they look at things. A really cool side-effect is that something like a third of the bikes on the street in Japan are significantly customized. On a trip there in 2002, I had to keep snapping pictures to capture all of the cool motorcycles.
So it's ironic that the earliest cruisers to come out of Japan were somewhat lacking in soulfulness. Nobody ever questioned the quality of the engineering, but rather the "feel" of the bikes. A good example, from this issue's Beginner Bike Test, is Kawasaki's Vulcan 500. Experienced riders who rode it loved the responsive brakes and engine, and thought that perhaps the beginners would find it intimidating. In fact, the beginners were unimpressed by its lack of character more than anything else.
My theory is that, back in the old days, the Japanese engineers were given a set of specifications and an American bike look as a template and asked to go to work. But working to a set of specs will take the soul out of just about any endeavor.
Cruisers, though, are a thoroughly American expression of motorcycling. In fact, in other parts of the world, they are (like football) referred to as "American-Style Cruisers." This is the birthplace of Hot Rod culture, and while we do not have a patent on it, it flows from here to the rest of the world. It could be argued that Yamaha (later Star) found their current success when design was consigned to the California offices, to put a little "American Soul" into the equation.
A designer who is passionate and connected to his work, his vision, will literally put his heart and soul into a design, and the details of that design. A desire to get every nut and bolt and angle right manifests from caring about that which you're designing. If you're told to copy someone else's design, you're less likely to throw yourself into what you perceive as a rip-off. Conversely, if you're given some parameters and given a free hand to improvise, the results show.
It shows in recent bikes like the VMAX. While debatably even a cruiser (it has a distinctly Japanese soul), it has all the marks of a bike that a whole team got excited about and spent the time to get it right. The same could be said about the American team that designed the Fury, or now the new touring bikes from Victory. While aimed at preexisting models/concepts, they all have a number of unique touches, and having spoken to some of the designers of all three, you see the gleam in their eyes when they speak about the creation process. I won't name names, but if a designer gets caught up in talking about the performance, reliability and such, that's not a passionate engineer.
I'm surprised at the number of readers of this magazine who deny the existence of a bike's spirit, character, or personality. In a more sportbike-oriented magazine, I could see it, but other than a love for forward controls or floorboards, why else would you ride a cruiser? And now with the DN-01, cruisers don't even have a monopoly on that. Those who don't believe in motosoul, will say that those who pick a bike for soul value are really just transferring their own prejudices of model origin, and are paying more for a status model. That may be less true now than ever.
Personally, I don't believe a bike's spirit in the literal sense, but in any creation, the designer puts much of their personality, preferences and fingerprints on the finished work. In some companies this manifests in a longing look into the past, while at others a glance at the past with an eye for the future. At this magazine, we specialize in bikes with great, big, beautiful Kami.
-Billy Bartels
Contact Billy at cruiser@sorc.com