News feature: the history of Yoshimura

You’d have to be wearing some fairly heavy duty motorcycle blinkers if the word ‘Yoshimura’ doesn’t mean something to you.

It’s synonymous with a bloke by the name of Hideo ‘Pops’ Yoshimura, the guru Japanese tuner, craftsman and pioneer who parlayed a cottage industry tuning motorcycles for American serviceman after WWII into a multi-million aftermarket accessories company which continues to this day, overseen by his son Fujio.

And according to Fujio, who made his first trip to Australia recently to join Yoshimura Suzuki in the opening round of the 2011 Superbike World Championship, Pops not only tuned bikes for the Yanks, he also dabbled in rider training, using an airfield as his ‘range’.

With such an intimate knowledge of powered two-wheelers, combined with an unbridled passion, he eventually opened his first tuning house in Tokyo in 1954 – a primitive workshop, but one that was the genesis of an empire which would eventually see him move to America as the four-stroke ‘Superbike’ era really started to gain some momentum.

Ninety percent of his customers at that time were American servicemen, and he also continued to fettle cars as matter of business – although he never acquired a car licence.

When the AMA eventually gave the green light to a production-based national title in America, it was music to Pops’ ears, first by collaborating with Kawasaki and then Suzuki – a company which Yoshimura is still intrinsically linked with to this day.

Pops didn’t have to wait long for success, with Steve McLaughlin – who would later play a major role in the eventual inauguration of the world Superbike title -- winning the 1978 Daytona Superbike race, while Wes Cooley and Mike Baldwin prevailed in the inaugural 1978 Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan on a Suzuki GS1000, an event that has since gone onto achieve cult status.

But it wasn’t only American riders who were welcome under the Yoshimura umbrella, as antipodeans like Graeme Crosby, Rob Phillis and Shawn Giles have all raced Yoshimura Suzukis over the years – the latter aboard a wicked, race-kitted Hayabusa in the 2000 Suzuka 8 Hours.

And if you count the Moriwaki Engineering connection – Pops’ daughter married Mamaru Moriwaki – then the net suddenly becomes  a lot wider to include names like Wayne Gardner and Kevin Magee.

It’s the 1978 Suzuka 8 Hours success which ignites Fujio’s face, an event which saw the sharp-looking Pops resplendent in white pants with red lettering– an outfit which was replicated by the team for the Phillip Islands round just a few weeks ago.

But what’s so satisfying for Fujio is that the GS1000 had massive clutch problems in the lead-up to the race, which the team managed to conquer, allowing Cooley and Aldana to last the distance.

What many people don’t know is that Pops also dabbled in some competition himself, with those early drag races on the air bases planting his competitive seed.

He finished on the podium in the little known  1963 Suzuka 18 hours endurance race, but according to Fujio also managed to balance out his successes with a fair amount of crash repairs.

In the early 1970s, Pops developed the first four-into-one exhaust system, which made its debut in America. The ‘radical’ system was developed on Fujio’s own CB750.

Since then four-into-one technology has taken a quantum leap forward, with Yoshimura’s latest tri-oval pre-production unit fitted to the GSX-R1000 which Aussie Josh Waters raced at Phillip Island.

As well as aftermarket accessories for all makes and models of motorcycles, Yoshimura has also cut its teeth in producing limited-edition Suzuki custom specials, including the 1988 Tornado 1200 Bonneville (based on the GSX-R1100); the 2000 Hayabusa Y-1; the 2011 Katana 1135S (GSX11100S); the 2002 Tornado  S1 (GSX-R1000); the M450R (DR-Z400); and 2004 Tornado III (GSX-R1000).

Production has been as low as five for some models to preserve the unique flavour.

And what was the genesis of the‘Pops’ nickname? He was in fact given the moniker by US servicemen, who believed he was strict with them. That he may have been, but it’s that temperament and attention to detail which Pops brought into his business empire, which will turn 60 in 2014. Can’t wait to see the limited-edition model for that year!

Pops passed away at age 73 in 1995.