By Larry Morris
On the very day the US military occupation of Japan ended following WWII, on April 28th 1952, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper published a critical essay claiming the occupation left Japan’s people “irresponsible, obsequious and listless…unable to perceive issues in a forthright manner, which led to distorted perspectives.”

Distorted perspectives? Perhaps. Irresponsible, obsequious and listless? Hardly.



Distorted perspectives – certainly. Listless? Ha!



I asked him a few question for The Vintagent:
Larry Morris (LM): How and where did you get the nickname Ted?
Takeshi Maejima (Ted): 1996, in the USA. Americans had a tough time saying and remembering my name, Takeshi; so they began calling me Ted. I had an opportunity to move to LA for two years to help my friend Ken Awae, who had a workspace inside famed Hollywood stuntman (and top desert racer) Bud Ekins’ legendary repair shop in Los Angeles. Bud was well known as Steve McQueen’s stunt double and close friend. When McQueen wasn’t filming he was usually riding dirt bikes with Bud. By the time I arrived, Bud was retired. His son-in-law ran the shop and rented space to my friend Ken. I helped Ken fix Honda and Kawasaki street bikes.

Ted: No, when I was 20 I attended Honda’s International Technical School for two years.
LM: Ahh, this is all starting to make sense to me now. How did that come about?
Ted: Back then there were so many more kids trying to get into university than today in Japan. To be honest I didn’t do very well on my exams, so I was not accepted into university. Thats when I realized my destiny was to learn about and be around motorcycles as much as possible.

Ted: After I finished Honda Technical School I moved to Osaka and spent two years working for a guy who at that time was very well known and trusted for fixing and restoring these bikes.
LM: Tell me why these are such special motorcycles.
Ted: The Honda Hawk was the first “Sport” bike. Everything was designed and built from Honda’s victories in TT racing beginning in 1961. There was nothing better than the Hawk as a street bike. At the time the CB750 came out, it cost about $2500. The Hawk was nearly $8000. These were really the best and most advanced machines. You see this design in your beloved Laverda twins, and elsewhere. Now the world was following Japan, following Honda. This was very special to me.

Ted: I did my first race at Tsukuba on a CB77 when I was 20 years old. I’ve been racing Honda’s ever since. When I went to the States, I was very fortunate because I joined AHRMA (American Historic Race Motorcycle Association). It was there I raced with and learned about racing from some of my heroes, such as Gary Nixon and Dick Mann. I just wanted to be at racetracks and I wanted to be around racing, as much as possible.
LM: You’re 46 now. How much racing are you still doing these days?
Ted: About 8 events per year. Four LOC (Legends of Classic vintage racing) and four BOBL (Battle of Bottom Link Supercub amateur vintage racing).
LM: I’m sorry for crashing your BOBL racer. Three times.


” You meet the nicest people on a Honda ”
Goodness ….. That one will remain cemented in my memory for the rest of eternity ….
Heck … even the guys on Honda customs , choppers and bobbers back in the 70’s were a whole lot more amiable than that …. errrr … other bunch
😎
First I’ve ever read anywhere that an early CB450 was a “good handling” motorcycle. Stock tires were utter junk, as was the suspension. Eye of the beholder, I guess. Interesting piece.
Actually, I’ve literally ridden the turn signals off of them, and they do just fine – better than a CB72 or a CB750. Lots of folks race them too – of course better tires n shocks, but the stock shocks aren’t awful.
Excellent article about Honda and “Ted”. I enjoy The Vintagent. Heard of it from Bob Coy. I have a CB77, and would love to be able to buy parts for it from Ted. Have no idea how to go about it, but, plan on contacting him soon. Thanks for the article, I look forward to reading other articles. Thanks Larry