They must not have thought the Japanese would do poorly. However, I feel it's important to bring out that the bridge engineers did not let anyone down with this prototype. The replacement crew enthusiastically encouraged me to put in the bridges yesterday, when I finally got around to installing everything. For a long time, I had no reason to mistrust it; I am a huge fan of the brand, and several of my friends and acquaintances also ride it. That porridge-snow doesn't slow me down one bit as I drive over it. The only place I would make a change is during the initial braking phase on dry pavement. It appeared that there was an increase in the stopping distance. However, this is most likely due to habit and should be taken into account whenever driving.