Soichiro Honda founded the Honda motorcycle
business in 1946 from the proceeds of selling his piston
ring company to Toyota. Under the name Honda
Technical Research Institute, Soichiro and his team
designed and produced tooling and creating a way to
power pedal-cycles by installing ex-military generator
engines.
The business was renamed
Honda Motor Company in 1948.
Producing his own engines
followed by frames and other
components, a range of Honda
motorcycles soon became
popular on the streets of Japan.
By 1952 six different models had
been produced and export
started. Just seven years later
the company became the
world’s largest motorcycle
producer.
