Charting the changes in the Gold Wing's evolution takes a
careful
eye. While a few changes have been sudden and obvious, most
are
harder to spot. The following guide makes it easier to tell one
year
and model from another using key sp...
In 1987, the wind of change blew across the sport bike
landscape
like a hurricane. And it would forever alter the way sport riders the
world over defined performance.
Honda's Hurricane 600 was the quickest and most powerful
middl...
1987 Hurricane 600
Honda's first-generation CBR600F established new
standards for the
middleweight class. The Hurricane's unique full-coverage
bodywork
allowed engineers to skip costly engine cosmetics and focus
development dol...
Mass Centralization
One of the central concepts that drove development of the
CBR600RR
and the RC211V is mass centralization; that is, concentrating the
component masses as close to the motorcycle's center as
possible.
When a r...
With an incomparable 40 race wins and five championships
in the
600 Supersport class, Team Honda's Miguel Duhamel knows
middleweight
sport bikes better than anyone else on the planet. So when
Miguel sat
down to give us his impressions...
At only 46 years of age, Hiroyuki Ito, Large Project Leader on
the
new CBR600RR, has already banked more than a
quarter-century of
experience working on a wide variety of Honda motorcycle
projects,
including the all-new CBR. His resum...
Honda's first CBR600 was a breakthrough machine in a
number of
ways. To start, its unique full bodywork allowed designers to
forego
the usual engine and frame cosmetics, and instead devote
development
dollars to pure performance. The ...
The blink of an eye takes about one-quarter of a second, or
250
milliseconds. At 15,000 rpm, each intake and exhaust valve of
Honda's
CBR600RR opens and closes 125 times a second, or 8
milliseconds. That
means the valves will open and...
Honda's RC211V gave Repsol Honda rider Valentino Rossi
a distinct
edge over the competition, an edge he used to win the 2002
MotoGP
world championship. There was one particular advantage,
though, he
used to devastating effect: The abi...
Honda's Hurricane 600 makes its debut the same year the
AMA
introduces the 600 SuperSport class. The two make a perfect
match,
with Honda's newly minted 600 sweeping to victory in all nine
races.
DOUG POLEN, the 600 SuperSport class' ...
The 2004 Dream 50R commemorates Honda's early racing
history and
the dream Mr. Honda had for international competition.
Model History
In 1962, Honda stunned the racing world by displaying its
first
50cc-class works machine, the RC110...
Versatility--it's the key to any engine's operation. Early
engines
had carburetors without throttles, so they always ran wide-open.
As
internal-combustion-engine design progressed, adjustable
components
let engines produce power over ...
Beginning with its debut in 1983, the Honda Interceptor®
earned
landmark status in dual arenas, notching credentials as a sport
bike
with the uncanny depth of its street-going capabilities, as well as
building its reputation as an ...
1983 VF750F Interceptor
Honda's original VF750F Interceptor® rewrote the rules in
the
sport bike class. With its liquid-cooled 90° V-4 engine and
race-bred chassis, the Interceptor was the quickest 750 on the
market, and...
1979 CB750F
Before being drafted as Honda's first Superbike in 1980, the
CB750F broke some new technological ground of its own.
Patterned
after the Honda RCB endurance racers that won three European
endurance crowns, a new twin-cam 16-...
The arrival of Honda's newest Superbike racing creation for
the
2000 season, the RC51™, created a cosmic convergence of
sorts.
First, 2000 marked the 30th anniversary of Honda's first AMA
victory
in America's most illustri...
The long-standing truism that racing improves the breed
serves as
the perfect watchword for Honda's RC51™. How so? In the
year 2000,
Honda unveiled the RC51 as a purpose-built racing platform
designed
to battle in Superbike comp...
Honda® invented the transverse inline-four motorcycle concept
with the CB750K0, and forged the very foundation of motorcycling for
generations to come. The mighty CB750K0 and all-new CBR®1000RR
serve as technological bookends ...
Steering dampers are not new to the motorcycling scene. For
decades, riders have resorted to using steering dampers, most often
for extreme-use high-speed racing conditions in off-road competition
as well as road racing. Regardless of...
The CBR®1000RR boasts a truly world-class powerplant, an all-new
liquid-cooled 998cc inline four-cylinder engine carefully designed to
also enhance handling. Begin by comparing the overall silhouette of
the new 1000 and the CBR954...
Look at the CBR®1000RR chassis and see Honda's hard-earned
knowledge gained in the ferocious MotoGP wars. This all-new chassis
incorporates the engine as an integral frame member, for example, and
larger items such as the fuel tan...
Consider this: Unlike the majority of new-model motorcycles, the
lineage of the 2004 Honda® CBR®1000RR doesn't really reach into
the past. True, Honda has crafted many other large-displacement
transverse inline four-cylinder m...