Honda Motorcycles

About Honda

Honda is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan and has been since it started production in 1955. At its peak in 1982, Honda manufactured almost three million motorcycles annually. By 2006 this figure had reduced to around 550,000 but was still higher than its three domestic competitors.

Soichiro Honda began producing motorcycles in 1946 to satisfy a thirst for cheap transportation in war devastated Japan. Honda began his effort by installing military surplus engines in bicycles. As Honda became more prosperous, he designed his own 50cc engine for the bicycles. The first motorcycle that featured a completely Honda designed motor and frame was produced in 1949. It was called the Model D for Dream. Soon Model J Benly appeared.

Honda wanted to sell a more powerful motorcycle that led to the 146cc over head valve four-stroke E-Type Dream with a top speed of 50mph. The motorcycle featured Honda's own designed frame and suspension on both wheels.

In 1952 Honda began producing the Cub with two-stroke engine. Its big sales became basis for future development.

In 1953 Honda began producing a four-stroke single powered motorcycle featuring more engineering sophistication. This small motorcycle was also called a Benly and featured a three-speed gearbox, pressed steel Frame, rear suspension with the engine and swinging arm on a sprung pivot, and telescopic front suspension and produced 3.8bhp.

A revolution in the motorcycle industry began in 1958 when Honda brought the C100 Super Club to the American market. It was the first Honda motorcycle sold in the U.S. The small step through design was easy to ride reliable bike. It was featured in the famous “you meet the nicest people on a Honda” marketing campaign that eventually made the C100 motorcycle the best selling motorcycle of all times. Eventually more than 30 million would be built.

CB models included the CA72 (250cc) and followed by the CA77 (305cc). The parallel twin engines proved very reliable, however their stamped steel welded frames handled poorly at higher speeds.

Performance and handling improved when the company bolted the little parallel twin engines to a steel tubular frame and added twin carburetors for more power. The motorcycles were known as the CB 72 and 77 super hawk models and gained a reputation of reliability.

The first commercially successful large motorcycle was the CB450, brought out in 1965 and called the black bomber. This innovative engine featured torsion bar valve springs that allowed high rpm and was the first serious effort by Honda to challenge English dominance in the American marketplace.

This was followed in 1969 with the Honda CB750 four. A powerful and reliable motorcycle that dominated the motorcycle market. The success of the CB 750 4 cylinder Honda led to a series of smaller Honda motorcycles with 350, 400, 550 cc motors and ushered in the era of the universal Japanese motorcycle.

This design would reach its fruition when it morphed into the cult classic inline 6 cylinder CBX in 1978.

The reliability and power of the four cylinder Honda 750 soon led to a new kind of motorcyclist, the long distance touring rider. Craig Vetter designed a full fairing for the motorcycle called a Windjammer. Before long thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts were touring the countryside on their motorcycles behind a Windjammer.

In 1974 Honda brought out the GL1000 Gold Wing. The motorcycle featured a flat four cylinder 999cc a water cooled engine with power delivered through a driveshaft. It proved to be as reliable as the cars of the day. Soon thousands of Goldwings were bought up and converted to touring motorcycles by their new owners.

With interest running so high for touring models, Honda brought out the Interstate model in 1980. This was the first Japanese produced motorcycle to roll off the assembly line as a complete touring motorcycle. The motorcycle featured a full fairing, trunk and saddlebags.

In addition to touring motorcycles, Honda began developing a series of V-four engines in the 1970s. This led to the production of the Honda Sabre and Magna in 1980. These two models led to a whole series of VF designated high performance motorcycles ranging between 400cc and 1000cc. But due to mechanical problems the VF line was unable to sustain itself.

Following the VF was the new VFR series of motorcycles. The VFR 750R was a sport touring motorcycle with lots of power, good balance and reliability. In 1996 Honda produced the fastest motorcycle in production with the CBR1100XX Super Blackbird (1137cc). The motorcycle became popular with the long range high speed touring crowd.

Soichiro Honda died on August 5, 1991 of liver failure.

Honda's entry into the U.S. motorcycle market during the 1960s is used as a case study for teaching introductory strategy at business schools worldwide. There are a few theories explaining their great success.

Moto blog

Helmet Law Upheld in Ontario

A Sikh in Ontario, Canada, has lost his challenge to the $110 ticket he received back in September 2005 for not wearing a helmet while riding his Honda Shadow.  Baljinder Badesha, 39, claims the Ontario helmet law is “100 per cent” discrimination no matter what the safety issues are when riding without a helmet. We cannot put anything over the turban, it is against our religion.  Mr. Badesha said outside court.

Happy 50th Anniversary Honda America!

Wow, Honda, that’s quite an achievement! 2009 marks Honda’s fiftieth year of operations in the U.S. Our success in the global marketplace is the result of our commitment to continued investment in America’s future.

Honda Motorcycle Technology

For all you gearheads out there, Honda has opened a new Motorcycle Technology Picturebook site, an easy to understand guide to Honda’s advanced motorcycle technologies.  You can find anything from the engine idling stop system to Honda’s new automatic transmission system for motorcycles or the HFT (Human-Friendly Transmission) pictured above. This site will be updated regularly, check it out now!

Does your 2010 Honda Fury have Sloppy Welds?

The 2010 Honda Fury Chopper has been out for a few weeks now and people have been buying them up all across North America.  A local Honda dealer revealed to us that he only received 4 choppers from Honda and sold them before they even arrived at his shop. The Fury is at a great price for those who want a stylish chopper look, but are you sacrificing quality for a bargain chopper?  Do sloppy welds break your heart or can you tough it out and live with them knowing you got a unique looking bike at an affordable price? See the full post for pictures and opinions.

Mac Motorcycles

British motorcycle design studio Xenophya Design and product designer Ellis Pitt have teamed up to produce a new company, Mac Motorcycles. Based out of Upton-Upon-Severn in Worcestershire, England, Mac Motorcycles will produce a line of bikes powered by Buell’s air-cooled single cylinder 492cc engines used in the Blast, with a tubular backbone frame. On the company’s website, Pitt describes its bikes as being simple to maintain, include references and details from choppers and bobbers and feature “Harley posture, flat-track manners, Ducati handling”.

New Honda Fury TV Spot is Scary [Video]

Ok, it’s not THAT new… Somehow it slipped passed me back in April.  I guess I was too busy watching people do wheelies on scooters. The new 2010 Honda Fury TV spot has a lot of quick edits of intense scenes including a shark jumping up at your face and various animals and people screaming at you.  Let’s not forget the dude getting punched in the face and people getting blown around by a tornado. Ya, it’s INTENSE and kind of scary.  You don’t see too much of the bike except for it standing stationary near the end.

Official 2010 Honda Fury Pricing

We know you guys have been wondering and asking and pondering the pricing of the 2010 Honda Fury Chopper so I thought I’d make a post to flat out state how much you’ll have to dish out for the Fury. There are three different price points that Honda has announced and they are between $12,999 and $13,999. See the full post for details!

Cool Cycles Ice Cream

John Gibson had a vision 15 years ago to sell ice cream from a motorcycle sidecar, inspired while running as he listening to motivational guru, Tony Robins. After years of experimenting with different bikes and setups, including using the Russian made Ural (he once owned a Ural dealership), Gibson, finally settled on the Honda 750 Shadow and the Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster. The Cool Cycles Ice Cream Company is open for business, the headquarters are located in Tacoma, WA where they will start selling franchises within a 100 mile radius, the Los Angeles area will be next and Las Vegas to follow.

2010 Honda SH150i

The Honda SH150i has been a big seller in Europe for years and will finally be coming to the U.S. in May. Honda might be arriving a year late, missing the huge demand from last years gas spike and is a little pricey at $4,499 considering you can get a Kawasaki Ninja 250R for $500 less.

Honda CG150 TITAN MIX

While there are certain countries around the globe that are known for their significant contribution to technological innovation within the motorcycle industry, Brazil has never been one of them. Until now, it seems. Brazilian Honda subsidiary Moto Honda da Amazonia Ltda., recently began sales of the CG150 TITAN MIX, a 150cc bike with the world’s first production flexible-fuel technology.