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Meguro motorcycles were made by Meguro Manufacturing Co motorcycle works (目黒製作所), and was founded by Hobuji Murato and a high-ranking naval officer Takaji Suzuki in 1937. It is one of the oldest Japanese motorcycle companies and it became a partner of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. Named after a district of Tokyo, it had its roots in Murato Iron Works, which was established in 1924, and had once developed a copy of a Harley-Davidson V-twin as an earlier company called Meguro Seisakusho, which was established to design and build gearboxes for the nascent Japanese motorcycle industry, with Abe Industries, which used to produce its own motorcycle and had combined with Meguro in 1931. Originally a prestige brand which supplied the Japanese government with military and police motorcycles and raced alongside Honda, Meguro (メグロ) became bankrupt after launching a range of lightweight motorcycles which sold poorly, and experiencing a yearlong labor strike. The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. rates the Meguro Z97 model introduced in 1937 as one of their ''240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology''. ==History== Although the first motorcycle arrived in Japan in 1895, it was not until the 1930s that its own motorcycle industry started to develop. After the Wall Street Crash, Meguro invested in Harley-Davidson and gained drawings, tooling and important knowledge of metal heat treatments in order to make gearboxes. These were then used in their vehicles and those of another early Japanese company called Rikuo (literally "Road King"). The resulting transfer of American intellectual property taught the Japanese how to produce motorcycles in quantity. In 1935, Murato and Suzuki built a 500 cc single Z97 model based on a Swiss Motosacoche design but work was restricted due the start of WW2,〔Popular Mechanics, Feb 1953〕 during which it supplied aircraft parts. Meguro started full production again in 1948, the Z97 being joined by 125 cc, 250 cc and 350 cc overhead valve singles. In the 1950s Meguro entered racing and built its first twin cylindered design, the T1 "Senior" with a pre-unit parallel twin engine inspired by British practice and later the K-series "Stamina" model copied from the BSA A7, one of which Meguro had bought in 1953. Its quality and engineering was superior to the BSA〔Pictorial History of Japanese Motorcycles. Cornelis Vandenheuvel. MBI Publishing Company, 18 July 1997〕 and it was described by Edward Turner, one of Britain’s most talented motorcycle designers, as "too good to be true". For the first time, the Japanese motorcycle industry was seen as a threat.〔Edward Turner: The Man Behind the Motorcycles. Jeff Clew. Veloce Publishing Ltd, 1 February 2007〕 Its other models designed in collaboration with Kawasaki were entirely of Japanese design. thumb Meguro raced the 500 cc overhead camshaft single cylinder model at the Asama Kazan speedway circuit in Tsumagoi, Gunma Prefecture.〔Mick Walker's Japanese Grand Prix Racing Motorcycle. Mick Walker. Redline Books, 1 November 2002〕 For many years, the company was only outsold by Honda.〔Japanese Production Racing Motorcycles. Mick Walker. Redline Books, 15 September 2004〕 In 1958 Meguro developed a range of 50 cc, 125 cc, 250 cc and 350 cc consumer products which failed in the market due to being too expensive.〔Japan's Motorcycle Wars: An Industry History. Jeffrey W. Alexander. UBC Press, 31 January 2009〕 In 1960, by which time it was Japan's longest running motorcycle company out of the hundreds that had once flourished producing copies of European models, the company became affiliated to the Kawasaki Aircraft company. Firstly, in 1962, it changed its name to Kawasaki-Meguro and produced the successful B8 125 cc〔 then in October 1964, seeing the commercial and marketing value of having a motorcycle producing division alongside its heavy industry services and particularly its already established sales outlets,〔The Guinness book of motorcycling facts and feats. L.J.K. Setright Guinness Superlatives, 1979〕 Kawasaki took full control of the company〔Economic Tsunami: China's Car Industry Will Sweep Away Western Car Makers. Kevin James Baker. Rosenberg Publishing, 2007〕 having learnt all it needed to know.〔 Together they started produced "Kawasaki-Meguro Works" 125 cc, 175 cc and 250 cc single cylinder vehicles. The 500 cc K-series twin cylinder model was later enlarged and developed into the 625 cc Kawasaki W series. The latter were used as official vehicles for governmental purposes.〔The Kawasaki Triples Bible: All Road Models 1968-1980, Plus H1r and H2r Racers in Profile. Alastair Walker. Veloce Publishing Ltd, 15 January 2011〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Meguro motorcycles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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