10 Best Universal Japanese Motorcycles Ever Made

In the early 1970s, the Japanese manufacturers hit upon a formula that would transform motorcycling and it's still here today

Not that many people saw it, but when Honda introduced the CB750 in 1969, a new concept of motorcycle was created that would sweep all before it and establish Japan as the center of motorcycle design and manufacture for the next 30 years.

Dubbed the Universal Japanese Motorcycle, or UJM, this was a motorcycle that had better performance and reliability, had better equipment, cost less than the British and American competition, was manufactured with precision and had a reputation for excellence. The big four Japanese manufacturers - Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha - all built very similar motorcycle models in the 1970s, which gave rise to the UJM epithet. Typically, they were all naked sports bikes with a standard riding position, an inline four-cylinder engine with overhead camshafts, disc brakes and an electric starter.

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Through the 1960s, Honda was showing signs of its intent with a fine range of 450cc twin-cylinder roadster models, that had similar performance to the British 650cc models such as the Triumph Bonneville and BSA Lightning, while being reliable, smooth and leak-free. The British were not alarmed, thinking that people would start on a small-displacement Japanese model before upgrading to the larger-engined models the Brits were making. Then came the CB750 and, in one fell swoop, made everything else on the road look - and feel - old-fashioned. Fast, smooth, reliable, leak-free, disc brakes, electric start, excellent performance. It was the perfect all-rounder.

Kawasaki had been working on their own 750cc inline four-cylinder engine but, when the CB750 arrived, Kawasaki went back to the drawing board and took three years to design the 900cc engine that would find a home in the famed Z1. In concept, it was exactly the same as the Honda, with the engine mounted transversely in a tubular steel frame, with front disc brake, electric start and an upright, or ‘standard’, riding position. 130mph was available in uncanny smoothness and the chassis could just about hold it all together. Where the Kawasaki differed from the Honda CB750, was in the use of double overhead camshafts, previously only seen on MV Agusta's, which cost more than twice the price. This feature would become the norm from that point onwards.

Related: 1973 Kawasaki Z1

If Yamaha was determined to have a slice of the sales pie, at least it tried something a little different in the engine department. Yamaha designed an inline three-cylinder engine and mated it to shaft final drive, similar to that employed by BMW: in fact, Cycle World magazine dubbed it a ‘bargain BMW’ and rated it as one of their top ten bikes in the world for 1976. The XS750 benefited from its triple-cylinder engine and sold well throughout its four-year life, when it was replaced by the XS850 from 1980. However, Yamaha saw the way the wind was blowing and realized that to fit in properly with its home rivals, had to play in the four-cylinder market.

Yamaha was no stranger to four-cylinder motorcycle engines, having built the outrageous two-stroke inline four-cylinder engine that saw service in the TZ750. The large displacement two-stroke engine was unpopular - see the Suzuki GT750 below - so Yamaha bit the bullet and designed its first four-stroke inline four-cylinder, making it 1,101cc to eclipse anything its rivals were producing. The performance was shattering, although the bike overall was heavy and the frame was on the limit to handle the available performance, a criticism that has long been aimed at Japanese motorcycles of the 1960s and ‘70s. Some testers warned that enthusiastic cornering at speed was done at the owner's risk. In one memorable quote, Cycle magazine warned its readers that the bike would "easily go, stop and steer, just never two at the same time!"

Like Yamaha, Suzuki concentrated solely on two-stroke motorcycles throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s but, seeing where motorcycle design was going, knew it had to move to four-strokes. Demonstrating the UJM principle to the maximum, the GS750 had an air-cooled, twin overhead camshaft, patterned off the Kawasaki Z1, fitted into a dual cradle, steel tube frame with telescopic forks, twin rear shocks and a front disc brake. Despite the similarities in chassis layout, the GS750 was found to handle much better than any of its contemporaries. The GS750 also started the Suzuki tradition of being over-engineered, taking all kinds of abuse, especially in racing, where the GS models excelled.

UJMs were not just large-engined models: the term was actually first coined in a 1976 road test in Cycle Magazine of the Kawasaki KZ650: ‘There is developing, after all, a kind of universal Japanese motorcycle…conceived in sameness, executed with precision and produced by the thousands.’ If many of the models differed in detail, the overall architecture was the same. But all this started to change in the 1980s as the market demanded more differentiation between models and manufacturers. Honda and Kawasaki brought out six-cylinder bikes, while V-Twins, V-Fours and turbochargers came into and went out of fashion. Fairings became popular, as did water-cooling, mono shocks and perimeter spar frames. If many of these engineering solutions were universally adopted by the Japanese manufacturers, the era of the UJM was deemed to have passed.

With the recent craze for all things retro, the Japanese have less far to look back for inspiration than their American or European rivals. That means a return to the UJM concept which, in this case, means a bike that is a good all-round motorcycle, useful and practical for the daily commute, in traffic, around town as well as entertaining out on the open road as a semi-sports model. Kawasaki has embraced the modern retro craze the fullest with the Z900, a facsimile of the original Z900, complete with inline four-cylinder engine and steel tube frame. Powerful and smooth and possessing a lot more character than you might expect, the Z900RS is a poignant reminder of the type of motorcycle that redefined motorcycling in the early 1970s.

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That the Japanese haven't completely embraced the retro movement is evidenced by the Yamaha XSR900. Based on the hugely successful MT-09, it has been given a light cosmetic makeover to create a nominally retro-looking model that has no obvious ancestor. Yes, the three-cylinder engine is a nod back to the XS750 and XS850, but that is about as far as it goes. Having said that, the UJM principles remain: an excellent all-round motorcycle with no particularly bad points (but also no stand-out features) able to fill many roles with practical efficiency and reliability.

Of all the Japanese manufacturers, Honda has been the least keen to head down the retro route. The CB1100ES is the most obvious attempt, but even that was a little half-hearted. What the Japanese are excelling in is launching simple, basic models along the lines of those first UJMs: inline four-cylinder engines in a decent but uninspired chassis, creating a motorcycle that sits fully on the fence in terms of what it is capable of doing: a true all-rounder, in fact. The CB1000R even manages to replicate the slightly gutless feel of those early Japanese four-cylinder engines, which needed to be revved hard to unlock the performance, while remaining smooth and reliable.

Sadly soon to be no more, the Suzuki SV650 is possibly the ultimate UJM in that it can be so many things to so many people but remains a simple, almost uninspired design that embodies all the qualities of the UJM with virtually no vices. If it didn't have so much character, it would be deathly dull, if virtuous, but it is saved this ignominious fate by that V-Twin engine and stark simplicity that is anathema to the modern motorcycle. A near-25-year production run is almost unheard of these days but when a motorcycle is this good and still sells well, why would Suzuki want to kill it off? The ‘replacement’ GSX-8S will undoubtedly be a ‘better’ motorcycle and will continue the concept of the UJM but whether it will provoke such affection is another matter.

Harry has been writing and talking about motorcycles for 15 years, although he's been riding them for 45 years! After a long career in music, he turned his hand to writing and television work, concentrating on his passion for all things petrol-powered. Harry has written for all major publications in South Africa, both print and digital and produced and presented his own TV show called, imaginatively, The Bike Show, for seven years. He held the position of editor of South Africa's largest circulation motorcycling magazine before devoting his time to freelance writing on motoring and motorcycling. Born and raised in England, he has lived in South Africa with his family since 2002. Harry has owned examples of Triumph, Norton, BSA, MV Agusta, Honda, BMW, Ducati, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki and Moto Morini motorcycles. He regrets selling all of them.