●Nathan Shiga: September 13

It’s not about the animal monkey but a legendary auto-bicycle named Monkey. A Honda product originally assembled for an entertainment park out in Tama, outside Tokyo, and later remodeled for city cruise, Monkey has earned tremendous popularity and generations of ardent fans.

Monkey is out of production now and so are Yamaha’s SR400. In fact, Yamaha is removing 9 bikes off the assembly line. Why all the big time auto-bikes all of a sudden?

The government has revised this time around the emission regulation to drastically control carbon monoxide discharge to the European level. Yamaha has thus given up production of 9 of the bike models.

The youngster’s’ fading enthusiasm for bikes also accounts for Yamaha’s decision this time. The aggregate sale of bikes peaked in 1982 at 3.27 million but dropped to 570 thousand last year. Bikes like Monkey under 50cc have dropped to 6% of peak times. A Honda technician confesses that, popular as it might be by name, “Monkey is too costly to build”.

Money was once an idol vehicle at the Tama Tech, Tokyo. It was the tiniest of all 50cc’s on the market equipped with varieties of bike-friendy devices. A rich variety of parts enchanted its users to customize their “own Monkeys”.

Yoshihisa Okada, the owner of his own bikeshop, is one of such Monkey fans. His shop handles early models (1967-75) of Monkey.

Okada recalls:

“Monkey has earned me lots of friends and chances to do things I wouldn’t have done without Money. I feel so sad to see Monkey go.”

—Sponsered Link—