What do the letters mean???

[Griffin]

Ok this may earn for the dumbest question of the month but Ive been riding for 6 months and I thought I would eventually work it out by myself but so far I am still no wiser.

Can someone tell me what the letters in a bikes name represent. The numbers obviously reflect the engine capacity. Do the letters actually have a meaning or are they just to make it sound cooler?

[Ixion]

BSA: Initial letter indicates engine type (not necessarily size) A=parallel twin, B is big single C= small sinle four stroke D=bantam series, M=sidevalve etc. DBDnn indicates a Gold Star

Triumph : number followed by letter (6T , 5T), indicates touring tune. T followed by a number (T120, T100) indicates sports tune. Except for the Tiger Cub, T20, which should be 2T. Trailing R, SS etc not very meaningful . TRW is trail series.

Matchless: Dunno really , basically indicates engine series

Norton. Didnt use letters much. ES2 is 500 single.

Velocette : M is OHV , other letter sindicate size and tune. K is OHC

Renfield Gawd only knows

Hope that helps

[James Deuce]

What ever the manufacturer wants them to.

XV has always been used on Yamaha's V-Twins. Similarly, XS has been used on Yamaha's parallel twins, transverse triples, and transverse 4s.

Z has been used on Kawasaki's street bikes, GPX on their sports tourers, KLX on their dual purpose bikes, and ZX on their sports bikes.

GSX is a Suzuki nomenclature for standards and sports tourers. Make it GSXR and it's a sports bike, GSXxxxR is reserved for the Hayabusa and a bunch of street oriented 250s and 400s.

[Griffin]

So there isnt a 'national standard' then - it is dependant on the manufacturers own set of criteria...

I had been looking at the Suzuki Boulevards and had figured that for instance in C50T - C = Cruiser, T = Touring; M50 - M = Muscle; S83 - S = Sports but wasnt 100% sure that I was correct... and then assuming I was correct I would look at a Honda CBX250RS and couldnt work out how the 'C' could stand for Cruiser (considering it def no cruiser) or the 'S' for sport and it was getting a bit confusing.

[johan]

Ducati Superbikes usually comes in five flavors

Simplified explanation:

xxx - base model
xxxs - upgraded suspension etc
xxxr - street version of the race bikes to comply with the homologation rules
xxxrs - race bike, not road legal, used by selected satellite teams
xxxf-08 - factory race bike, Ducati corse (Baylis et al)

The difference between the base model and the rs or f is like night and day, can't really compare them.

[rainman]

So is anyone going to explain the naming standards for Harley models?

[Maha]

Ok this may earn for the dumbest question of the month but Ive been riding for 6 months and I thought I would eventually work it out by myself but so far I am still no wiser.

Can someone tell me what the letters in a bikes name represent. The numbers obviously reflect the engine capacity. Do the letters actually have a meaning or are they just to make it sound cooler?

Have a squiz through this thread, I asked the same question a few weeks ago, some good replies and the normal wanky ones....

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=72896

[McJim]

Ducati Continued.......

And then there's the Mxxx (Monster Desmodue)
and the xxxSS (Supersport Desmodue)

[Griffin]

Have a squiz through this thread, I asked the same question a few weeks ago, some good replies and the normal wanky ones....

Gee it is REALLY hard to start an 'original' thread around here - but Im glad to know Im not the only one who was wondering

[Whynot]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_..._cbr_stand_for

just so everyone who posted in the other thread knows how wrong they actually are ....

[hellkat]

Its easier to just look at the bike and ignore the letters, and go:
"I want that one"

[MSTRS:Me]

So is anyone going to explain the naming standards for Harley models?

Or more to the point...explain their existence at all?

[sunhuntin]

So is anyone going to explain the naming standards for Harley models?

harleys are the easiest to understand [from my point of view] but ive only got like 1gb of brain storage, so new info is always replacing the old. as such, its been so long since ive thought of harley initials, that its been replaced.

but yeh, bike initials, and what they stand for, is totally company dependant.

[The Pastor]

RR stands for race replica. Or race ready lol

[xwhatsit]

The `RS' in my bike's name CB250RS stands for `Rigid Schlong'.