Honda Super Cub
How could you not start with the Super Cub ? Introduced in 1955, it has sold over 100 million units worldwide and the marketing campaign in the particular U. S. – You Meet The Nicest People On a Honda – was responsible for not only changing people’s perception of motorcycles but paved the way for Japanese domination of motorcycling into the 1970s and beyond.
In designing the Extremely Cub, Honda founder Soichiro Honda’s concept was a two-wheeler with regard to everyman, one that would appeal to both developed and developing countries, urban and rural. The new motorcycle needed to be technologically simple to survive in places without up-to-date know-how plus access to advanced tools or reliable spare parts supplies. The common consumer complaints of noise, poor reliability, especially in the electrics, and general difficulty associated with use were addressed.
In contrast to European scooters, the Super Cub had large motorcycle-type wheels making it safe in order to ride on bad roads, and the clutchless manual gearbox, easy for anyone to ride. The plastic enclosure of the mechanical bits, including the drive chain, and the leg shields kept the rider clean.
Also different has been placing the particular engine in the traditional position in the frame and not in the unit with the rear wheel, as on most European scooters. This helped with unsprung weight and weight distribution and therefore handling, because well since having benefits for engine cooling.
Cheap to produce plus therefore, buy, easy to ride and maintain, the fact that so many have been built and are still being built in largely unchanged form proves that Honda got it right the first time plus deserved the particular success.
RC166
In the 1960s, Ford went racing in Europe in a big way, seeing not just the particular marketing potential but also using racing as a test bed regarding technologies that would trickle down to road machines.
As early as 1959, Honda had been building a 250cc inline-four cylinder race engine intended for the RC160 motorcycle. In 1964, the company staggered the racing world with the particular appearance of the 250cc inline-six cylinder RC164, an incredible feat associated with engineering miniaturization.
In 1966, Honda tempted Mike Hailwood away from MV Agusta and constructed the RC166 for him to ride within the 250cc World Championship, again featuring a six-cylinder engine that could rev in order to 20, 000rpm. On this bike, Hailwood won ten from the 12 rounds to take the championship easily. He repeated the feat in 1967, although not really without strong competition through Phil Read on his Yamaha.
The writing was on the particular wall to get Honda and the company pulled out of racing at the end of the 1967 season. The F. I. M, the world governing body pertaining to motorcycle race, soon slapped restrictions upon the number of cylinders to be used in each class in order to curb spiraling development costs and the particular world might never again see the likes of the Honda six-cylinder racing engines.
CB77 Super Hawk
If Honda’s racing machinery incorporated insane engineering, the road bikes had been slightly more mundane, if no less important to the organization.
After the particular Super Cub put Ford on the road bike map, it was time to upscale plus attract a new audience. The particular resulting 305cc Super Hawk defined future motorcycling as much as the later CB750.
For the first time, a Ford had the steel tubular frame within place associated with the pressed steel chassis used on the Super Cub, along with telescopic front forks. The engine was a parallel twin but, unlike similar British designs, it experienced a 180° crankshaft, not the 360° crank on Triumphs, BSAs and Nortons. This made it smoother running but, more importantly, the Extremely Hawk has been fast, beating larger-engined British bikes while also becoming much a lot more reliable and oil-tight. The engine had been a load-bearing element of the framework and even got an electric starter.
Elvis Presley rode a Super Hawk in the movie Roustabout, and Robert M Pirsig rode 1 on the particular trip that will inspired their seminal book, Zen plus the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
CB750
The motorbike with which the term ‘superbike’ was coined. By the late 1960s, the British acquired become lazy and complacent, thinking nothing could challenge their dominance within the motorcycle markets associated with the globe.
Honda had challenged that dominance in the smaller capacities but, in 1969, it again staggered the planet with the four-cylinder CB750 . Here was a motorcycle that had a smooth, non-vibrating engine that was reliable, didn’t leak oil and experienced electric start! The CB750 was even fitted along with a front disc brake! Commonplace now but space-aged thinking back then.
At a single stroke, it made every other motorbike on the planet look old-fashioned and set the particular template meant for motorcycles for the next 50+ years.
Gold Wing
In the early 1972s, Honda wanted to build the ultimate sports motorcycle and introduced the GL1000 Gold Wing, featuring the first Japanese water-cooled four-cylinder motor, this time of a flat four configuration.
The bike was big and heavy and Honda soon realized that owners were covering huge mileages on their Gold Wings, using it because a touring bike more than a sports bicycle. Honda decided to attempt to create the ultimate touring bike plus, fitting the particular Gold Side with the huge fairing, panniers, and a top box, along with a large, comfortable seat, did just that will.
Over the years, the Gold Wing just obtained larger, heavier, and even more comfy. Eventually, the particular engine became a flat-six cylinder plus increased in order to 1800cc to cope with the ever-increasing weight. Within 2018, Ford revealed a completely new Gold Side , with a new engine, frame, electronics, and a whole brand new dynamic feel.
Arguably a single of the best traveling bikes in the world.
CBX1000
If Honda got abandoned six-cylinder engines designed for racing, the business certainly hadn’t forgotten about them. In 1978, it revealed the CBX1000, with the DOHC, 24-valve cylinder head engine mounted within a conventional frame along with telescopic forks and twin-shock rear.
Although the transversely-mounted motor looks hugely wide, it is actually only two inches wider than the particular four-cylinder engine within the CB750.
Comparing the CBX in order to the CB900F, renowned journalist LJK Setright said, “The CBX feels better and goes better, and the particular difference is greater than the difference in price, so the particular costlier bike is actually the better bargain…. The CBX engine is as responsive as a racer, the particular nicest cycle motor to ever reach the street. “.
NR
Honda has gone down some interesting technical alleyways throughout its existence but the NR must rank as one of the most bizarre.
Absent from motorcycle Grand Prix race for the whole of the 1970s, arguing that the particular then-dominant two-stroke engine technology wasn’t in line with its road-going motorcycles which usually exclusively used four-stroke technologies, Honda determined to return to racing on its own terms.
At that time, regulations restricted 500cc engines to a maximum of four combustion chambers. Honda’s philosophy acquired always been more power through more cylinders (see the RC166 above) so the engineers came up with a way of making a V8 with only four combustion chambers.
They did this particular by making an motor with four large oval pistons, every containing 2 spark plugs and 4 valves per spark plug and inlet. Within the letter from the law, there were still only four combustion chambers. Each piston had 4 connecting rods and there was a total of 32 valves. And it was only 500cc, don’t forget. The particular engine continued the miniaturization which was 1st seen in the particular 1960s.
It was utterly unsuccessful like a GP race bike along with a 750cc version were produced for endurance racing. 300 examples of a road version, called simply the NR, were built and was the majority of expensive production motorcycle at the time, costing $50, 000 in the early 1990s.
Following the disaster associated with the 500cc NR, Honda relented plus turned in order to two-stroke technology for its Great Prix bikes, to devastating effect.
Fireblade
From the 1990s, 1000cc+ sports bikes were being manufactured by every Japanese manufacturer. The just problem has been that they were large and heavy, which had knock-on effects on the performance plus handling.
Ford took a long, hard appear and created the CBR900RR Fireblade . At the stroke, this re-wrote the particular sports bike rules. Even if the engine displacement was ‘only’ 893cc, this was significantly lighter than its rivals and the particular twin-spar aluminum frame offered new levels of stiffness, allowing the suspension to do its job much more effectively.
Both these attributes enabled the particular Fireblade to run rings around the opposition and it wasn’t long before rivals had been copying the design lead set by Honda.
Once once again, Honda arranged the template for sports activities bikes that exists to this day.
CBR1100XX Super Blackbird
Speed for speed’s sake! By the mid-1990s, Kawasaki held the title of fastest production motorbike with the Ninja ZX11. Honda had been determined to wrest the name from Kawasaki’s grasp and win the particular publicity war.
The name was a reference to the Lockheed SR-71 jet, the quickest ‘plane in the world. When tested by Sport Rider magazine, the Extremely Blackbird achieved a best speed of 178. 5mph, beating the Kawasaki by about 3mph.
The arrival of the particular Super Blackbird to problem Kawasaki prompted Suzuki in order to enter the competition and produce the Hayabusa, which took the top speed title along with a speed of 194mph. The name Hayabusa translates to Peregrine Falcon, a species associated with raptor that will preys upon blackbirds!
This boom within speed frightened the manufacturers, who feared that European legislators would outlaw such performance bikes so they entered into a gentlemen’s agreement to limit top speed to 186mph (300km/h).
RC213V-S
The RC213V-S is essentially a MotoGP bike with lights and is the closest thing to riding a MotoGP bike as most of us will ever get, in case you actually get your hands on one particular, that is.
Released in 2015, it is quite simply the ultimate sports bicycle, being fantastically light (374 pounds) and with ridiculously top-spec components. In road trim, the 90° V-4 engine pushes away 159 horses but there is an optional Sports Kit that will push the power up in order to 215 horses.
The Sports activities Kit comprises a revised ECU, the front ram duct, a revised exhaust, different spark plugs, the quickshifter, a data logger, a cooler thermostat, plus even the bespoke cover.
If you have to ask how much one might cost now, then you can’t afford it. But it does show that, behind the corporate façade, Ford still offers a passion for creating the best motorcycle.
FAQs
Which is the best Honda motorbike?
That depends on what you are using it for: commuting, adventure driving, track days, touring? The great point about Honda is that will there’s a bike in the model lineup that fits each conceivable use.
What is Honda’s most powerful motorcycle?
Currently, the many powerful Honda is the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade, the particular engine of which produces 215 horsepower.
Why Honda motorcycles are the best?
Honda has a great reputation for engineering quality and reliability. Of all four motorbike manufacturers, Ford has already been making motorbikes longer compared to the other three — Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki – although the company itself is the lot younger. There will be something just for everyone within Honda’s line-up.