Talk:Type 97 motorcycle

Japanese military motorcycles

I am currently researching the history of defunct Japanese motorcycle manufacturers from the 1930's to the 1960's. I suggest that any description of a Rikuo military model should be included in the main Rikuo motorcycles article and not in this separate stub.

According to a japanese website Rikuo News the Rikuo supplied to Japanese Imperial forces was built from 1938 to 1945. There is a brief account in English at the bottom of the webpage. [[23]] Elsewhere online there is a photo of a captured Japanese military motorcycle on Saipan in 1943. It looks to me like a H-D, so I suspect that this is a Rikuo. [[24]]

Coincidentally, in 1937 a vehicle components manufacturer in Japan called Meguro started making motorcycles. Its first model was called the Z-97. Did the "97" designation used by both Meguro and Rikuo refer to a government defence specification or contract?

The Meguro Z-97 was a 500cc overhead valve single based on a Motosacoche from Switzerland. Meguro supplied large numbers of Z-97's for military use, which helped Meguro to grow to be Japan's largest motorcycle manufacturer during and immediately after the Second World War.

Online there are various brief histories of Meguro but they provide scant information on the Z-97. There is also a US website with two photo's of a Z-97 on Okinawa in 1949-50. [[25]] [[26]]

Wikipedia has two articles on Meguro motorcycles but only in Japanese. [[27]] [[28]] The first article mentions the Z-97. The second article depicts Meguros prepared for motorcycle sport and I think that a Z-97 is amongst them.

There is a website in japanese that lists Meguro models including the Z-97 and has photo's of most of them. [[29]]

Best wishes, Motacilla (talk) 01:09, 31 March 2008 (UTC)