Interview with Shoichiro Irimajiri - Father of the CBX By Mike Barone

Up front I want to tell everyone I can not substantiate this totally; but my feeling is that Shoichiro Irimajiri left Honda and neither party was that unhappy with this outcome.

We all know he played the important role in the early Honda race efforts that brought fame to Honda with the 250cc 6 cylinder, the 125cc 5 cylinder along with all the larger and smaller variants of these wonderful racers;
In the mid to late 70s he was also headed up designs that had the opposite effect for Honda. The oval piston 750cc racer and the CBX come to mind.

A friend of mine was the editor of a motorcycle publication in the early-mid 80s and decided to combine the Cincinnati Dealer show with a visit to see
Shoichiro Irimajiri while he was at Marysville. He asked me to come along so I prepped for the meeting with questions I hoped would be revealing for us all and entertaining for him....but most of all something far beyond the typical gold wing questions he might be used to.

Shoichiro Irimajiri spent three hours or so with us at Marysville and refused to answer only one question and take my word I did ask him some hard questions.

Examples:

1. Q: did Honda blame you for the failure of the CBX sales efforts?
A. No. He made a point to mention that the CBX and early v4s were in development together and it was his choice to release the CBX first.
I found this odd since the v4 came 3-4 years after the first CBX.

2. Q. How did you and Mr. Honda get along?
A. OK but a little hedging here. I could see there was stress.

3. Q. Do you think being appointed to Marysville plant manager was a demotion
for oval piston and CBX failures? A. no

4. Q. Would you ever go to work for another motorcycle company?
A. No, but he did state he might consider another non motorcycle company
which was odd given the dedication companies and employees in Japan
have toward each other and life long employment

5. Q. What will be the big surprise from Honda in the future?
A. Ceramic engines....

6. Q. What motorcycle did any competitor introduce that surprised you?
A. A very small smile but no reply. I got the impression that Honda might
have been surprised a lot more than once.

7. Q. What changes would you have made to the CBX if you could do it over?
A. Water-cooling and have it not be so quiet

8. Q. How did the failure of the oval piston affect you?
A. None. But he looked away for a second and that was the only time he did.

9. Q. If you made a 1000cc single using oval piston ceramic technology how
many valves and horsepower would it have?
A .Hmmmmmmmmm......Impossible.

10. Q. Would oval valves be possible and would this be of benefit?
A. Yes and yes but too costly.

11. Q. Do you like it here in America? A. Yes

12. Q. Would you rather be working for Honda in Japan? A. Yes

13. Q. When will you be returning to Japan? A. Soon

14. Q. What will your job be at Honda Japan?
A. I don't recall what he said but the title was not in the racing area and had
a fluff to it.

15. Q. Do you ride motorcycles? A. Yes and I like to ride very fast

This Q & A went on and on....for the three hours. My friend taped all of this, and then misplaced the tape so all of this great history and facts are lost.

In the end I left there with the idea that Shoichiro Irimajiri was a wonderful man....truthful, honest and he provided far more detail and information that we thought possible or shall I say prudent, yet for some reason I felt he was really not happy at Honda and he felt Honda was not all that happy with him....

- Mike Brown

P.S. Shoichiro Irimajiri is now the president of Sega, the video game company.