Type 97 motorcycle

Type 97 motorcycle
A Japanese Soldier Resting on his Type 97 Motorcycle
ManufacturerRikuo Nainen Company
Production1935–1945
AssemblyJapan
Engine1,274 cc (77.7 cu in) Twin-cylinder, V-shape
Power24 hp (18 kW) @ 4,000 rpm
Transmission3 forward, 1 reverse
Wheelbase1,600 mm (63 in)
DimensionsL: 2,591 mm (102.0 in)
W: 1,820 mm (72 in)
H: 1,168 mm (46.0 in)

The Type 97 motorcycle, or Rikuo, was a copy of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle produced with a sidecar from 1935 in Japan under license from Harley-Davidson by the Sankyo Company (later Rikuo Nainen Company). Some 18,000 of the machines were used by the Imperial Japanese forces during World War II. A variation was also manufactured without a side car, called the Type 93 [ja].

In the years after World War I, Harley-Davidson's US sales declined while dozens of US motorcycle brands went under, primarily as a result of the decline in the price of the Ford Model T car, triggering a national shift from motorcycles to cars for cheap transportation. Harley-Davidson sought to make up the lost sales abroad and was selling 2,000 units per year in Japan by the middle of the 1920s. In 1932 Harley-Davidson licensed Sankyo Trading Company to build complete motorcycles in Japan, under the name Rikuo, which meant King of the Road.