The Two-Wheeler Lesoon; H. Watkins

The quality of all the motorcycles has been vastly improved. Twenty seven years ago the best available to Americans was a noisy, vibrating, two-cylinder, oil-Ieaker that would rarely start on the first kick of the crank. Thanks to the "Oriental Ex press" we can now enjoy a cycle sym phony that starts with one press of the button. Even the Harley-David son riders should give thanks for the Big Four Japanese bikes: Honda, Su zuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha. Why? Even H-D advertising admits they have changed. Speaking of the 35,000 riders that bought H-Ds last year, their own advertising says these new riders discovered, "Har ley had not only changed for the bet ter, it had changed for the best." (Rider magazine, May 1985) In April 1983, Harley-Davidson was able to sell U.S. lawmakers the idea that Japanese bikes were un fair competition for American bikes. As a result of this pressure a tariff of 45% was levied against all im ported Japanese motorcycles with a displacement of over 700cc. Some of 523 524 THE FREEMAN the Japanese manufacturers got around this by assembling their larger models in this country, and they scaled their 750s down to just below 700cc. They want to sell to us, so they stay competitive.

Some readers might ask, "Who cares about motorcycles?" Most of you probably don't. But that's not the point of this essay. One lesson we learn from the two-wheelers is that producers can be very innovative in their efforts to supply the market, and the Japanese are currently the examples of this fact. The more important lesson for all the world to see, if they only will, is that competition is good for every body. Twenty-seven years ago Har ley-Davidson sold a few motorcycles to a limited clientele. There was vir tually no effort to increase the size of the market. (And who wanted to buy stock in H-D? It has changed hands several times in the interim.) Enter the Japanese Big Four bike makers with sophisticated research, development, innovations, constant improvement and promotion. More Americans became interested in these fancy, trouble-free two-wheel ers, and they started riding in ever increasing numbers. Harley-David son saw the handwriting on the wall: "Weighed in the balances and found wanting." Rather than quit, they de cided to learn from the competition, retool, and "get with it."

How about the car industry? It's somewhat the same story. American carmakers became fat and lazy. En ter the Japanese carmakers (and some from Europe). Wh~t has been the result? We have all been able to get more for our money, regardless of whether it is American or foreign made. No one can deny this! Who will gain if a tariff is imposed on foreign cars? Wen, the American manufacturer directly affected will be able to raise his prices. The ben efits stop here. There will be fewer cars on the market, so every poten tial car-buyer is impacted by the tar iff in a negative way. Furthermore, without open competition, quality, research, development, and innova tion begin to suffer. Who wants a basketball game where any player over six feet is out lawed? Would you pay money to see a baseball game in which it is against the rules to hit the ball more than 300 feet? Competition looks for the best-the thing we all want. Har ley-Davidson, according to my re search, made three bikes in 1903.

After fifty-five years of anemic com petition on the home front they made fewer than 13,000 in one year. Jap anese competition in the past twenty-seven years has stimulated H-D to the extent that last year in order to get just a small piece of the market they turned out over 35,000. No, maybe you don't like two wheelers, but the four-wheelers can learn something here,' too. ~ John K. Williams ~e The DiseaseFromWhich ~ CivilizationsDie SAINT AUGUSTINE once lamented that he knew precisely what he meant by the word "time" until asked to state what he meant. I sym pathize with the saint. I know full well what I mean by the noun "civ ilization," but pinning down the word is a singularly frustrating exercise. Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language-a work somewhat inordinately given to us ing the term et cetera-tells me that "civilization" is related to "social or ganization of a high order, marked by the development and use of a written language and by advances in the arts and sciences, govern ment, etc." and thus indicates "the total culture of a particular people, nation, period, etc." and "countries and peoples considered to have reached a high stage of social and cultural development." This helpsThe Reverend Doctor John K. Williams has been a teacher and is a freelance writer and lecturer based in North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He has been resident scholar at FEE for the past few months.