A unique car with a kanji name!
There are quite a few motorcycles with names that use kanji characters. Suzuki is particularly known for wild names like “Katana” (Sword) and “Hayabusa” (Falcon), but there are also some motorcycles with charming names that are just as representative of their true selves. These are “Ran” (Ran) and “Bara” (Rose), which were released in the early 1980s.
How many people can write these kanji correctly without looking? And even if you’re not a moped enthusiast, anyone who remembers those days has surely seen both of these vehicles at least once. Ran and Bara debuted in 1983 with a light and nimble appearance, similar to the Passol, Roadpal, and the first-generation Tact, which were the sparks of the HY war that broke out from the soft bike (family bike) boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Competing with low prices targeting women!
Suzuki had a wide range of leisure bikes for manual transmission (MT) mopeds, but when it came to automatic transmission (scooters), they were left behind, and although they fought hard with the high-end Gemma series and Chance, which were launched earlier, and the Love aimed at women, they were somewhat overshadowed by the first generation JOG (commonly known as the Pelican Jog), the second generation Tact and Lead series… Then, out of nowhere, Ran and Bara appeared.
The car in the photo is a rare SPL Edition (special white). This is a superb used car offered by MOTORISTS , the importer and distributor of Lambretta, Fantic, SYM, and other brands, and is on sale at their factory in Ota Ward, Tokyo!
As the beautiful flower names suggest, the content was targeted at women, and they were sold at relatively reasonable prices: Orchids 79,000 yen and Roses 69,800 yen. It is not clear how well Orchids and Roses sold, but they were long-selling books that were sold until the 1990s, and there are still surprisingly many of them on the second-hand market today, so it is likely that they sold reasonably well.
Ran-chan (Ito Ran) from the popular group Candies was chosen as the image character for Ran. Kumiko Nishiguchi’s “Ran Has Bloomed” was also used as the commercial song to promote the product in a big way!
Quick footwork! And a sense of instability?
Anyway, despite its cute appearance, the Rose is quite powerful, with a maximum output of 3.8 horsepower and a maximum torque of 0.52 kgm! The drivetrain is fixed to a single speed (AT), so it’s not good at starting, but once it gets up to speed, its light dry weight of 41 kg makes it a very brisk ride.
It is equipped with an air-cooled, 2-stroke, 49cc, single-cylinder, piston reed valve engine. The carburetor is Suzuki’s familiar Mikuni VM14mm.
The compact body and 8-inch wheels make it easy to maneuver, but the front end feels unstable, and the handling feels a bit unsettled. If you think of it as having your feet not on the ground = a floating feeling, then this is also appealing!!!
The body is slim with a total width of 625mm. The separate front fender and leg shield give it a timeless feel. Tires are 3.00-8 size front and rear.
Rather than racing at full throttle on main roads, they are more suited to short rides to the local shops or to travel through narrow alleys in residential areas. Among the scooters that make the most of their light weight are the Honda Sky and Eve series, and the Yamaha Passol, Try, and Mint.
In addition, the low seat of approximately 680 mm makes it easy for even petite women to reach the ground, and the step board is covered with a thick rubber mat, showing the attention to detail that goes into the design.
Ah, the bike of my youth! Perfect for short rides.
The rear exhaust layout with a slightly angled muffler is also a highlight.
The Bara was my first scooter (used), given to me by a neighbor when I was a teenager. At the time, I was amazed at how different it was from a bicycle! It looked old but the engine was in good condition, and it was my “partner” – or rather, my “lover” – who worked tirelessly on the hilly roads of my hometown.
In terms of utility, given the era, there was naturally no under-seat storage space, and only a rear carrier was standard equipment. The cylinder lock attached to the front of the carrier was used to secure the seat. This was introduced around 1984, the year after the bike’s debut, and was revised in the same year, with the addition of a combined electric starter/kick starter (for an additional 10,000 yen).
Another thing worth noting is that it was one of the first bikes to adopt Suzuki’s unique “safe start mechanism,” which means that the engine will not start unless you hold the left lever, whether using the starter or kick.
The rear of the fuel tank accommodates the 2-stroke oil filler and battery. Since it is a 6V model, the battery is very small.
There is a fuel tank under the seat, with a capacity of about 3 liters, the same as the first generation JOG. It’s not a lot, but if you don’t rev it up, you can get an actual fuel consumption of about 35km/h, so if you refuel frequently, it’s not a problem.
The two-stroke oil warning light is located at the bottom left of the meter. The fuel gauge is located on top of the gas tank. Please note that there is no odometer!
There’s no need for luxury. Just accept it as it is!
The Bara was a reasonably priced “clog bike” even for a new car at the time, so it didn’t have much of a luxurious feel, and it had a dim headlight that made visibility little different between day and night, and suspension that would bounce up and down even on the slightest bumps, so overall it wasn’t a luxurious bike, but now that I’ve ridden a variety of mopeds I’ve concluded that “the Bara is fine as it is!”
The headlights are 25W for both HI and Low.
Whenever I see a Passol/II with a JOG engine installed or a mischievously arranged Courrèges Tact (Cretaku), I wonder, “Why not just use roses or orchids?” But when I look at this vehicle again, I realize that the cool thing about it is to keep it as original as possible while still maintaining a “cheap and elegant” look.
