Meguro: Japan’s Oldest Active Motorcycle Brand Founded 100 Years Ago Meguro S1 Developers Share Their Thoughts on the Brand

From the beginning, we decided that the S1 would be developed simultaneously alongside the W230. I’d had experience in frame design for road models like the Z650, so I got the chance to be the development leader for the S1.

Since I joined Kawasaki, I’ve been involved in designing many individual parts. For me, of all the Kawasaki motorcycles the “W” series is one I’ve always admired, and I’d always hoped to be able to be involved with it someday. That’s how I got the chance to work on the S1 and W230. Actually, I’d never heard of the Meguro brand before, so the first time I saw one was when I saw the K3 we had at the office.

I was in charge of the K3 you’re talking about, and I was also responsible for the S1’s CMF design^*1. I’d love to know what you thought of the K3 from the viewpoint of a younger person like yourself, Higashikawa-san.

 I’m personally attracted to old-school style motorcycles, and the K3’s silhouette was cool for sure, but it was the silver mirror-painted tank with the Meguro emblem with the wings that caught my attention, because I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I thought it was great.

I’m glad to hear that.

Actually, I was only familiar with the K3, and it wasn’t until I became development leader that I really looked into the history of the Meguro brand. What stood out to me was the high performance and high quality of the original machines that competed in races back in the day, so I naturally wanted the S1 I was working on to be a motorcycle worthy of the Meguro name.

For the styling, I actually took part in our market research. We’d already decided to go with a classic style that followed the horizontal lines of previous generation Meguro models, but we wondered if there might be some other directions to explore, so we drew up quite a few sketches for consideration.

When I saw the final sketch, I thought it was beautiful. As the planning team, our job was to make what the designers had created a reality, and I wanted to do that without altering the design in any way.

 I know there are more than a few designers who insist on their own ideas, but I’ve been doing design for a long time so it does make sense to me. They get overexcited with it, creating wild sketches and saying, “This is what the next-generation Meguro should look like!”. They’re a bit too pleased with themselves. But what I saw from Higashikawa-san was how she was able to learn about the Meguro philosophy from older models including the K3, and despite the various restrictions, draw up the ideal “Meguro image” that people associate with the brand. I think that's why the motorcycle turned out so nice.

Thank you for saying so. I tried my best to express the right balance between “cute” and “beautiful,” and I used the W650 that Ino-san designed as a reference, and the W series and Meguro models that came before it, too.

 Wow, now it’s my turn to say thank you!

When we were deciding on wheel size, we chose to prioritize styling and use an 18-inch wheel at the front and a 17-inch wheel at the rear. Higashikawa-san also helped us a lot when we were considering the bike’s seat height and riding position.

It was mostly to check how easy it was for me to reach the ground, because I wanted riders of my height (153 cm) to be able to ride the motorcycle. So, I was happy to help.

I think Ino-san paid particular attention to the chrome plating.

The tank was the hardest part. I’d definitely say it was the biggest challenge. To get the look and quality right, we tried different roughness levels for the pre-treatment buffing. Also, depending on how the chrome turned out, we’d adjust the black paint to match it. We had countless prototypes to look at and we discussed it a lot with everyone involved.

The emblem on the tank is really nice.

It’s based on the K3’s fuel tank, but it actually has a different curve to it, so the mold we used was different. When we were developing the K3, we looked back through history at the cloisonne emblems that previous Meguro models had used, and we saw that each Meguro logo was slightly different. So, our idea was to create a logo that averaged all the older ones. Like the K3’s, the S1’s emblem is painted with five different colors, so it took a lot of time and effort to produce, and I think it gives the motorcycle a really high-quality look.

Other areas of the exterior we were particular about were the fenders and the muffler. The fenders on older Meguro models were curved slightly all along their edges, so we followed that precedent. We also paid special attention to the front and rear fenders and made them out of steel for an authentic look and feel. For the muffler, we worked hard on designing the line formed by the exhaust pipe coming out of the right side of the engine to beautifully connect into the peashooter-style^*2 silencer.

The muffler requires a catalyzer to meet emissions regulations, and I knew that if we put it in the wrong place, it could ruin the image the designers had drawn up, so our development team came up with the idea of making the exhaust pipe make a U-turn at the lower part of the engine. This part is hidden by a decorative plate, so you might not even notice it unless somebody showed you.

For the S1’s engine, we put a lot of effort into design elements like the rounded crankcase cover, newly designed cylinder head that let the exhaust pipe exit on the right side, and only giving the S1 machined fins after painting the cylinder head. But besides those, wasn't it also a challenge to find the right ride quality?

Yes, it was. Once we’d decided to use the air-cooled KLX230 single engine to make the motorcycle lightweight, the biggest issue was how to create a pleasant, pulsating feel. We tried to narrow that down through key words like “heartbeat,” “comfort,” and “rhythmical,” and we had discussions with everyone involved to figure out which parts should be changed to bring those key words out.

There’s a fine line between a nice pulsating feel and unpleasant vibration.

Right, you don’t want too much vibration, so we had test riders ride the motorcycle and look for a good balance.

We talked about the muffler design before, but you also paid special attention to the exhaust note, didn’t you?

Right. To be sure it had Kawasaki character, the idea was to give it something close to the sound of the original Meguro models. We talked to the city of Nasukarasuyama, where the Meguro factory was relocated during World War II. They are our partner for the Meguro Cannonball^*3 event, and fortunately they had an original Meguro Junior S8 250cc single that we were able to borrow.

We rode that motorcycle and recorded its exhaust note, and Kawasaki’s sound group, who are in charge of sound tuning, went through a process of trial and error to create the ideal sound while still meeting noise regulations.

This is the first time I’ve heard that story.

Also, to get that pulsating feeling, we worked with different parts and settings. We changed the crankshaft weight, lowered the compression ratio, changed the cam profile, and changed the secondary reduction ratio. We were encouraged by upper management to do as much as we possibly could, and I think the end result we achieved was thanks to each department putting their best work into it.

I wanted to highlight the high-performance nature of the Meguro brand, while also getting that ideal pulsating ride quality, where you feel like you could just take a leisurely ride and enjoy the surrounding landscape. One reason I think we were able to achieve both is because we used the KLX230 engine for the S1. Then we added a new frame and swingarm, and we revised the rigidity to get just the right kind of straightforward handling and light weight.

The S1 and W230 made their world premiere appearance at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show (JMS2023). Were you excited to see how customers would react?

The motorcycles we exhibited at the time were still in the trial stage of development, which has a flow that goes from trial model to pre-production model to pilot model, and then to the actual mass-production machine. So really, we made some minor changes afterward, but they were at a level that people wouldn’t notice.

We exhibited those under-development models as part of Kawasaki’s “Heritage and Innovation” theme at JMS2023 with the goal of letting people know what we were working on as soon as possible, and the response we got was bigger than expected. I think it was also great to show people on the development side how excited our customers were about these models.

When I was in charge of the 1999 W650’s design, I studied old British motorcycles and previous Meguro models. One of my fellow designers owned a Meguro Stamina Z7, and the impact it had on us designers was powerful. The care that went into every single component was obvious, and it was incredible. Parts that today would be finished with sheet metal were forged out of steel, and the mold for each one was highly detailed. They put the Meguro mark on even the smallest parts as a sign of their confidence. With the S1, even though we had several constraints when we developed it, the development leader did as much as possible to add in tasteful details throughout the motorcycle, and that let us express the unique character of Meguro well.

Personally, I think it would be great to add a number plate to the front fender to give it an even more classical look. It would be cool if it was available as a genuine accessory. Another idea would be a saddle-shaped seat. I’d love to propose those as additions to a model variation in the future.

I was development leader for this model, but I didn’t actually direct the manufacturing process. My role was to make sure that all the developers' vectors—styling, CMF, engine, fuel injection, chassis, sound, and others—didn’t deviate from each other. I want to make it clear that it was everyone’s attention to detail and hard work that made this project a success. 

One issue I think for those of us involved in the Meguro’s design is that we’ve already used graphics typical of Meguro for the K3 and S1. Are we going to keep using this same style, or should we try some new coloring on a new Meguro for the modern age? If we don’t get it right, we’ll damage the brand, but we also can't just continue to produce the same thing. This is an area where the CMF designers can show their skills.

That's right. What remains to be seen is how the S1 we’ve produced will be received in the market. We’ve already received some feedback from customers, some of which includes the W230, and the consensus seems to be that it’s a bike people can get on and ride quickly and easily. I hope we can use that strength to develop the Meguro brand and improve our skills further. I hope that this can be an opportunity for us to further spread the “Heritage and Trust” of the Meguro brand, its history and our commitment to these products throughout Asia, Europe and other parts of the world.