Honda preparing Dakar assault

[Brodovitch]

Props to Gian for these, all I got this morning was this:





Off the top of my head:

- the front tank set up looks similar to what Helder was trying to play around with on his YZ. single refuel cap on the front, and feeds to the front sides via tubing...

- Nav tower looks like it's been fabricated similar to the frame: ultra strong

- I have no idea if the frame is similar to a spec CRF, maybe some Honda owners can chime in...

- conventional subframe on the rear (no single rear tank/subframe unit)

- the Showa forks look 48mm? Obviously works, I would have expected some fancy anti-friction treatment on the lowers...?

- Ditto the rear shock. Reservoir looks surprisingly small, can't tell if it's got both low & high speed clickers. Maybe not the final unit yet

- they kept the front fairing transparent, homage to the exp2?

- 2 seperate radiators. Good.

- looks like the air filter is in its' conventional place in the airbox behind the motor/in front of the shock

- NON-hydraulic clutch??? wtf? Also note the 2 map switch

- I see no steering damper fitted... yet

- Pirelli sponsor stickers...! Tyres only or tyres + mousses? Discuss....

- I was really hoping to see this with RNS instruments...

OK let the nit picking begin!


EDIT: Some extra info came up, Johnny Campbell is on board the team... ACE!
Also, the bike will use Honda's PGM-FI fuel injection, to "further explore Honda's commitment to fuel saving technologies". Hmmm

[Brodovitch]

Team HRC Rally website

Twitter


Honda has unveiled its CRF450 Rally model at the 2012 International Motorcycle, Scooter and Bike Fair in Cologne, Germany. The new machine will compete in the motorcycle class in the 2013 Dakar Rally to be held next January.

From 1981, Honda competed nine times in the forerunner of the current Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally. Cyril Neveu from France rode Honda to its first victory in 1982 in the race's fourth year and, from 1986 to 1989, Honda won four consecutive titles for an overall record of five victories in nine years.

Honda will compete in the forthcoming Dakar Rally, the world's toughest race, with the aim of putting the fuel efficiency and endurance technology developed for its commercial vehicles to new challenges and, in turn, use the technology acquired from the race in commercial applications.

The CRF450 Rally, based on Honda's commercial CRF450X enduro racing model, is fitted with Honda's Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI*) electronic fuel injection system to ensure fuel efficiency and durability. Honda will be aiming for its first rally victory with a model based on a production machine.

Johnny Campbell (USA), an 11-time US Baja 1000 champion, will join the four riders already announced for Honda's 2013 Dakar challenge - Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Felipe Zanol (Brazil), Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina) - to complete the five-man Honda team.

The CRF450 Rally model currently under development has already undergone testing in Japan and will be ridden in its first race at the Morocco Rally 2012 from 14 October. The five riders set to compete in the Dakar Rally will ride the Morocco Rally mainly to gather data, identify any problems with the machine under race conditions, and pinpoint any operational issues.

For news updates, blogs, images and videos, visit www.TeamHRCrally.com and follow the team on Twitter @TeamHRCrally.

[640 Armageddon]

The hand protectors are also on the thin side ...
I would like to see also RNS instruments. At least is nice to see that they changed from the MD norm to something else

I don't recall seeing a longer side stand spring before... you could use it as a side stand in case of an emergency

The engine protection seems gigantic compered to other designs ...

Overall I like it

[doyle]

Woohoo, better than I expected.

[Bounder]

Is that a steering damper mount welded to the L side of the headstock?
I think the handguards are a bit flimsy as well, they would hardly protect the levers in the event of a crash?

[doyle]

Interesting that Johnny Campbell is listed as the secretive fifth rider. I wonder if Honda funded his co-driving last year?

[michael1968]

Hey they copied!



OK, so it's slightly better exicuted than mine.

[rmhrc628]

So the new 450x has efi.

[scobes]

Would be nice to see the motor, x model with efi or new design? And more importantley how much and when will the public be able to buy them!

[Gian]

Originally Posted by 640 Armageddon

The hand protectors are also on the thin side ...
I would like to see also RNS instruments. At least is nice to see that they changed from the MD norm to something else

I don't recall seeing a longer side stand spring before... you could use it as a side stand in case of an emergency

The engine protection seems gigantic compered to other designs ...

Overall I like it

Helder Rodrigues own Roadbook holder, it looks
http://www.migtecmotos.com/pt_prod_roadbook.html

[Bluebull2007]

More .... Beautiful!

[rmhrc628]

Ok

Wtf is that snow plough bash plate?

How close is it to the off the shelf 450x?

I have seen the efi 450x and it's not really a huge difference to the carbed model.

Will the efi stand up to Dakar ?

[Deadly99]

Johnny Campbell riding for HRC at Dakar....badass


Bike looks great and appears very promising as a contender


Did I mention how cool it is that JC is racing
I sincerely thought we were going to see Quinn Cody as the fifth rider, can't help but feel he had bad timing leaving red for orange.

[xr400r]

I'll take two!!! Suckas!!!!

[Deadly99]

If the two front lower fuel tanks are feed via fuel lines from above (which looks to be the case), how long will it take to fuel up the bike or am I missing something?

Bike looks great, loving the design. Top notch

Edit: maybe those tubes are from fuel pumps and the tanks are connected to the top tank "behind" the tanks...