Honda Love

[Edbear]

http://world.honda.com/history/limit...g/text/01.html

[willytheekid]

...So who is going to let me have a go on an RC45?

I wish I could help you there mate(sadly Im just not rich enough)
....My RC36II is as close as I can offer you sir (Just don't flip it!)

[Bassmatt]

All they do or ever have done it to copy or slightly improve on things that others have already done.

Yep its the Japanese way.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Two words for you Kim:

RC30

[ducatilover]

I wish I could help you there mate(sadly Im just not rich enough)
....My RC36II is as close as I can offer you sir (Just don't flip it!)

That works for me I promise not to flip it

[Flip]

Who is going to Flip what?

Thanks Honda for what? Destroying almost every other motorcycle maker in the world?

[Paulo]

UMMMmmmmmmm... I ride a Guzzi

I thanked My honda today, since the Guzzi shat it's clutch and gearbox at least the little GB gets me to work whilst Luigi finds some parts.

(i don't need to tell you what I prefer to ride though)

[dangerous]

I thanked My honda today, since the Guzzi shat it's clutch and gearbox at least the little GB gets me to work whilst Luigi finds some parts.

(i don't need to tell you what I prefer to ride though)

orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr some you poor farker

[AllanB]

Who is going to Flip what?

Thanks Honda for what? Destroying almost every other motorcycle maker in the world?

Many were producing crap .............

Triumph was indeed killed - some blame the Japanese but really it was the inability of the company to drag their arses into the modern world. I'm pretty sure they were still using coal fired machinery ......... I'll back that up by introducing any of the current lineup of most excellent Triumphs. Indeed the current (carbed) Bonnie has very little in the engineering department that Triumph could not have made in the 70's.

It is indeed a shame that Laverda is not producing kick arse big bore triples any more.

Harley Davidson - I note you ride one and fine machines the new Hogs - yet another maker who almost died in the AMF era and righly so with the crap they were churning out. The very best of your HD can be linked back to the Japanese, not to mention the dozens of Japanses parts on it. I'd not hesitate to own a new HD.

Ducatis current realibility is a result of public demand, a public who have been reared on push button run without problems bikes from Japan.

Interesting comments and good posts by all.

I may have to start a post on cruisers and Japans inability to break out of the HD immitations. I have a vision of a serious IL4 or triple cruiser as I fail to see why they have to be V twins. Shit Japan had great success with some (suspectly styled..) 80's 'cruisers'.

[caseye]

That works for me I promise not to flip it

Willy! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Wife owns a nonda, NV400Custom, starts easy runs well, cant fault it.
Thanks Mr Honda.

[Laava]

Honda's CB750 came out in 68 not 69,also Kawasaki was taking a break from building ships an had their Z900 on the drawing board already.
Japan was simply following a trend that would of happened anyway and in fact has always been happening,,,and they were taught that by the yanks.
So you should really be thanking the Americans because with out their helping to rebuild japan after having bombed them into the real world,,they would still be living in the 16th century and attacking the Chinese,which is what got them in the shit and in turn dragged them out of the dark ages in the first place.
Frankly,I thank the Japanese for nothing because building a better version of some other persons idea counts for nothing,it's still a copy no matter how you twist it.
Even brother brain damage bleats on about the japs sharing things and returning to alternative closer to nature life styles like it's something new and actually "their" idea,,,,well the hippys beat them to that by 40 years .
All they do or ever have done it to copy or slightly improve on things that others have already done.
Plus if you ride Brittish like you should,,,they become pretty much a non event anyway.

Geez, I hope you took a breath in the midst of all that!

I had a 1972 Laverda 750 that the eyeties unashamedly copied directly off a Honda CB72. So, yeah, thanks Soichiro!
Also, looking like my next project will be based around a 1972 SL125. That's a Honda BTW

[spanner spinner]

Honda didn't kill off the british bikes they did it to them self. The managment of triumph stopped a over head cam four from being developed, a prototype was made but no more delelopment was done as new tooling would have to be bought. The poor engineers where told to go back and try again but to design some thing that could be made with the exsisting machine tools, so we got the orginal trident. A Bonneville with a extra cylinder in the middle, all the Bonneville problems with a extra cylinder worth thrown in for good measure. And the machine tools where on there last legs due to years of underinvestment. If you make a shit product and some one comes along and makes a good product the public soon decides what it want's to buy.
Norton did the same with there rortary, it was running in prototype form in the late 60's due to some help from DKW but got canned, they just carried on building there twin with no plans of what to replace it with untill no one wanted to buy it anymore. A 800cc rotary in the early 70's would have given a TZ750 a run for it's money, pity in never happened had to wait till the 80's to see the rotary developed and then it was to late.

[GrayWolf]

Many were producing crap .............

Triumph was indeed killed - some blame the Japanese but really it was the inability of the company to drag their arses into the modern world. I'm pretty sure they were still using coal fired machinery ......... I'll back that up by introducing any of the current lineup of most excellent Triumphs. Indeed the current (carbed) Bonnie has very little in the engineering department that Triumph could not have made in the 70's.

It is indeed a shame that Laverda is not producing kick arse big bore triples any more.

Harley Davidson - I note you ride one and fine machines the new Hogs - yet another maker who almost died in the AMF era and righly so with the crap they were churning out. The very best of your HD can be linked back to the Japanese, not to mention the dozens of Japanses parts on it. I'd not hesitate to own a new HD.

Ducatis current realibility is a result of public demand, a public who have been reared on push button run without problems bikes from Japan.

Interesting comments and good posts by all.

I may have to start a post on cruisers and Japans inability to break out of the HD immitations. I have a vision of a serious IL4 or triple cruiser as I fail to see why they have to be V twins. Shit Japan had great success with some (suspectly styled..) 80's 'cruisers'.

TRIUMPH was indeed 'killed'... Norton Villiers Triumph was the final death throe for the two major marques. Management killed off the triple.. which there were also a 900cc version built, and if it survived the fire at Birmingham, they had a Norton 900 triple on display.. Norton 850 interstate chassis, 900cc triple motor. Norman Hyde of the trident aftermarket bits, was involved in several development tweaks around the triple, most of which he built his 'empire' on sans the demise. Somehow the NVT management saw the 650/750 twin as the best bike... FFS. There was also a 350 fury twin and a rumoured 500cc Norton, which could almost, to match the japanese bikes performance of the same capacity... the fury was rushed into a limited prduction, and failed... it was rushed and not developed fully. The 500cc Norton was rumoured to have had a prototype engine made, then canned. There had been talk of a forged 120 degree crank for the trident. in reality the trident was as good (almost) in performance to the Nonda 750.
Kawasaki had indeed been developing 'new your steak' Z650/750, and more advanced than the honda DOHC as opposed to SOHC, just honda struck first, so KHI had to up the anti with a redesign to 900cc. BMW had a reputation for longevity and reliability, but at a high price, so the average rider couldnt justify/afford such an outlay.
In reality... Honda DID make their reputation on highly reliable 4 strokes.. the little old CB175, was a fantastic learner bike, and was thrashed day in day out,, and built a fantastic reputation for being robust in the hands of many learners. Yamaha built fast 2 strokes... as did Suzuki.. different markets, different engines and technical 'know how' to produce good ones.

[GrayWolf]

Honda didn't kill off the british bikes they did it to them self. The managment of triumph stopped a over head cam four from being developed, a prototype was made but no more delelopment was done as new tooling would have to be bought. The poor engineers where told to go back and try again but to design some thing that could be made with the exsisting machine tools, so we got the orginal trident. A Bonneville with a extra cylinder in the middle, all the Bonneville problems with a extra cylinder worth thrown in for good measure. And the machine tools where on there last legs due to years of underinvestment. If you make a shit product and some one comes along and makes a good product the public soon decides what it want's to buy.
Norton did the same with there rortary, it was running in prototype form in the late 60's due to some help from DKW but got canned, they just carried on building there twin with no plans of what to replace it with untill no one wanted to buy it anymore. A 800cc rotary in the early 70's would have given a TZ750 a run for it's money, pity in never happened had to wait till the 80's to see the rotary developed and then it was to late.

The Trident/rocket was a speed twin 500 + a half, not a bonneville. There were fixes produced 'in house' by the race team for the trident.. Norman Hyde and co. What also did for Meridan, was the huge debts left by NVT with the suppliers... they were often unable to produce bikes in any number as they were literally living hand to mouth towards the end. When the Norton Rotary DID prove successful, the japanese simply lobbied it out of contention for Formula 1. This has always been the arguement around a rotary.. is it a 1300cc like the Mazda RX8 claims, or is it really a 3.9litre engine, as in effect a rotary operates like a 2T, and fires 3 times for every revolution...

[nudemetalz]

....
I had a 1972 Laverda 750 that the eyeties unashamedly copied directly off a Honda CB72. So, yeah, thanks Soichiro!.....

What ya mean by that??