Honda starting to flex it's muscles again?

So what!...Some KLR 650's have oval cylinders by accident!

So do some BSAs...

The NR750 was seriously crazy though! This actually worked! Well, kinda...

+1 +1 +1

Every moto event I attend, I say these things to Honda NA, my local Honda shops and anyone else who I can corner. We never saw the Varadero line in the USA and so far we've been skipped by the CrossTourer and CrossRunner lines. Whenever I leave the USA, I pick up local Honda product brochures. It is painful to see what we miss.

First bike after college: 1976 Honda CB760F
Last 3 Hondas: 2001,2002,2003 Honda XR650R's

And that's all until Honda brings something good and interesting here!

I agree 100% Kace, if anyone can do it, Honda can....

I (as well as thousands of others no doubt) would also like to see a mid-weight (6-800cc), more off-road biased adventure bike from Honda for around $8-10k.

I've been extremely fortunate to have had the chance to ride a friend's 1997 Honda RD07 Africa Twin for a short time... Even though that particular bike is 15 years old now, the overall way it worked was awesome! The engine, while not rip-roaring extreme, had plenty of power and torque and was fun to use, the chassis felt planted and the handling was neutral and forgiving, belaying the size of the bike. Overall, it was just flat out perfect IMHO.

It's both an awesome and horrible to ride a bike like that, as it's forbidden fruit and owning one here is near impossible.

I really liked the idea of the last Honda Transalp 700 as well. Although it was a little more street-biased, it still looks like a fun bike:



Even though Honda has a ways to go yet, I'm happy to see the direction they're going in. Just like you said, I'd love to see the CB1300 come over here. I would have loved to see the Honda CB750 concept they teased us with a few years back to come to life as well....

I've been riding Hondas for the last 30 some years, ever since my first ride on a '79 CBX. I now ride a BMW. Why? Because Honda keeps trotting out these "marvels" that are totally irrelevant. I don't need or want a road going GP bike, or a chopper, or an automatic transmission.

Honda can have me back tomorrow...just sell me a CB1300. Please, just sell us the bikes we've been asking for, no need to reinvent the wheel. Build us a standard with modern fuel injection, suspension, and brakes. My 919 was a step in the right direction, now build us a bike with no apologies, no motors detuned for torque.

Oh, while we're at it. Where's our modernized street legal XR650R? To get that I had to buy a KTM.

As nice as the Beemer and KTM are they've got their quirks and are just not Hondas.

it has to be true, it is illegal to lie on the internet...

Suzuki tried with the B1250, they didn't sell.

Considering how well the CB1000 sold, can't say that I blame them for not bringing the 13 over.

In order for the Japanese to bring these bikes over, we have to buy them THE YEAR THEY COME OUT.

The sales numbers for these bikes say that most of the people that want these bikes are cheap cunt douchenozzles that don't put their money where their mouth is. Instead, they wait until the bikes have been sitting on dealer floors for 2 years before they make their purchase. Not a good formula for making money.

The numbers just aren't there for a large company to bother with niche motorcycles. Yamaha does it a little bit but unless Big Red wants to adopt the same kind of distribution model that Yam has with the Super Ten it simply isn't going to happen.

I was thinking about this earlier today. Honda builds cars and things here, why dont they build bikes? Presumably that'd keep costs down, steal Harley's thunder to a degree and maybe with roots here their moto engineers would actually ride our roads and talk to our riders. I fear they just look through flip books with beautifully colored glossy charts and diagrams of demographics and lack any realistic understanding of the modern american motorcycle consumer.

It seems like every year they lose more ground, and they lose more hondas. Where is the modern "You meet the nicest people on a honda."

They built Goldwings, Valks, and I think Shadow 1100 ACEs here at the Marysville plant.

Plant was closed a few years ago.

They didn't close the plant, they just quit making motorcycles there (cars only now).

This is a link to an article in Japanese where they interview one of the engineers.
They started off with a chopped in half Fit(or Jazz) engine and added a few modifications.

"A few" may be a bit of an understatement.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19601441&postcount=3167

I have to belive that they would sell more standards than DN-01's, or DCT VFR's, or Fury's. I just wish Honda would listen to it's customer base. Take the VFR1200 for example, all Honda had to do was cruise the VFR forums to know that all the VFR guys wanted was their bike with a little more displacement and not the bike that Honda ultimately produced.

It looks to me like Honda is on the move. They are going back to their roots, which is a very good idea in my opinion. Over the last 2-3 years, they have come out with little 250 Ninja killer. Now they have a new CRF250, which should be a success. The NC700 is a runaway hit (Bike of the year?). Now they have the PC150X (?not sure what they called it) but it gets over 100 mpg and is hiway legal. I think all these bikes are very desirable and reasonably priced.

I hope they sell the shit out of the NC700s.

The only Honda that interests me. I figure they could sell 10 or 15 a year!!




Which is exactly why they won't build it!

:) The bike guys getting at the automobile guys.
The Fit(Jazz) was a bit of a hit and I think the 2 wheel division was getting a bit of flack about lacking fuel efficiency.

I've a feeling the bore and stroke are the same, and... thats about it...

Although the crankshaft speed is 3 times higher than the rotor speed, so 10K RPM is only 3333.3 rotor speed.

Rod