SLEEVE!!!

About 20 years ago, I was jogging around Lake Tama when something like this suddenly caught my eye.

It was probably some kind of water pipe.
To this day, I still don’t know why it was sitting in front of someone’s entrance.

But to me, it looked exactly like an engine sleeve. Haha.

Back then, my head was completely full of sleeves.

“What if we could remove the cast iron sleeve and replace it with an aluminum plated sleeve? How amazing would that be?”

From that idea to actually making it happen, it took 12 years.

We failed many times.
We persuaded plating companies again and again.
And finally, it became a reality: ICBM® — our aluminum plated sleeve method.

It is a method performed only by Inoue Boring, anywhere in the world.

Today, we have a system that allows us to replace heavy cast iron sleeves — which wear out and do not dissipate heat well — with what I once saw as a dream: plated aluminum sleeves.

And yet, I still keep thinking:

“Shouldn’t this be used by far more people?”

As a business, the sales are not bad.
But if you ask me whether this technology, born after 12 years of effort, has truly reached the world yet, my answer is no. Not nearly enough.

I believe the information about ICBM® still hasn’t reached many of the people who really need it.

People who are struggling with worn cylinders on old motorcycles.
People who want better heat dissipation and lower sliding resistance for racing use.
People who have given up because parts are no longer available.
People who are troubled by cylinders that seize too easily.

I want those people to know:

“If you ask Inoue Boring, your cylinder can be reborn with a dream plated sleeve.”

The man who laughed at that water pipe 20 years ago is still doing this work with excitement today.

So if you know someone around you who is struggling with a cylinder problem, please let them know.

Together with my longtime partner, the Sherpa T, I’ll keep going. (^^)