We Took the Braking Test

Hi. With this much snow in Kanazawa, it hardly feels like anyone will buy a motorcycle. Even so, we set aside three days, including a reserve day, for braking tests at the Japan Automobile Research Institute in Ibaraki.

Last month's appointment was cancelled because of the weather. The tests need suitable conditions, including temperature and wind. The requirements for this visit included a temperature above 5 degrees Celsius. It is cold, but this January we finally have a suitable forecast.

I understand there are also test facilities in countries such as Germany, Italy and Sweden. They are a long way from our workshop.

Testing has to be considered again when the model changes. For this project, the cost was around 2.4 million yen at the time of writing. I had heard that only a few small Japanese businesses, including ours, were doing this work. Costs may rise further, but that was the situation for this particular project.

The driving is demanding. You must repeatedly enter at the specified speed and apply the required braking force. I asked a professional to drive.

Mr Oishida at TOMBOY in Saitama and Mr Miya at MR PROJECT in Kanazawa helped me before I became independent. Mr Miya has circuit experience, so I asked him to help with this test. I concentrated on gathering information and providing hot coffee, with a generator to help us through the cold.

The measuring equipment is impressive. I was told it cost about ten million yen. Watching the graphs is fascinating.

The loaded parking-brake test passed first.

Weights are added to achieve the required loading, taking the driver and total weight into account.

The site is enormous. I have only visited two of its courses. Testing stopped on the first day when the temperature dropped, but things had gone well up to that point. The more demanding work is still ahead on day two.

Let's keep at it.