Motorcycle technicians from around the world will head to Japan on October 8, 2023, to compete in Honda’s first-ever Global Motorcycle Technician Contest.
The reason why Honda is holding an event like this is to promote healthy competition toward the betterment of Honda's service staffs’ skills. Technical personnel in the Honda roster serve as an important pillar in the customer’s journey with their Honda motorcycles. The service staff in the technical departments of the brand support the safety and security of customers around the world on a daily basis and the brand has about 89,000 professionals around the world to answer the call.
From that pool of 89,000 technicians worldwide, only 23 will go to the Honda Technical College Kanto in the Saitama Prefecture in order to compete. The skilled few that will compete will represent their own countries. Qualifying for the honor to test their skills on the global stage wasn’t a cakewalk, as each one of the 23 proved to be the best Honda Motorcycle Technician in their respective countries, with local chapters holding local competitions in order to determine who would make it to the global stage of the contest.
The contest will consist of three categories:
Knowledge Competition - Mechanisms and maintenance knowledge
Off-Vehicle Competition - Disassembly/assembly, measurement, and adjustment.
On-Vehicle Competition - Diagnosis, repair, and completion inspection
This is the first time that Big H will be holding a competition like this for its service staff, and Honda plans to have this event every four years.
“Honda motorcycles have reached a cumulative global production milestone of 400 million units, providing new value in mobility and lifestyle to approximately 20 million customers annually. Service activities such as inspections and repairs at dealerships are indispensable to ensure that motorcycles can be ridden safely, securely, and comfortably. Currently, Honda dealerships around the world receive more than 140 million service visits per year, and improving the technical skills of the service staff that support these visits is more important than ever. Through this contest, we will continue to work for further improvement of customer satisfaction around the world by sharing our service philosophy of making our customers happy,” said Noriaki Abe, the Managing Executive Officer and Chief Officer of Motorcycle and Power Products Operations.
The bikes that the Honda technicians will be working on include models like the Super Cub 110 and the Honda CB650R, and those two models will represent the two different divisions that are plotted out for the competition.
