Honda CRF® Motorcycles, page #71

Moto blog

2012 Honda Gold Wing Tour: Day 1

The Honda Gold Wing is a veritable icon among touring motorcycles, offering an unrivaled blend of two-up luxury conveyance and a level of sporting prowess unheard of from a 900-pound bike. More than 640,000 have been sold since its introduction way back in 1975. The latest generation debuted in 2001, boasting an aluminum-framed chassis and stout and smooth six-cylinder engine that made it king of the long roads.

Pedrosa: most wins, least successful

Should Dani Pedrosa win at Le Mans this coming weekend he will become the most successful rider In the premier-class not to win the coveted title. After his triumph in Estoril the Repsol Honda rider currently finds himself on 13 wins and in joint first and a win, at a circuit that sees him rank as one of riders with the most victories in all classes, would make him a clear leader. Joining Pedrosa at the top of the ranking is Max Biaggi and Randy Mamola, two riders who became associated with the number two.

Maybe the Evo class is the future for WSB?

Did we see the future of World Superbike racing last weekend at the BSB event? Possibly, but only if everyone is on Evo spec machines in 2012. By setting the 2nd fastest lap in race one and running second for a while in race two, the brilliant Alex Lowes proved that with a good grid position an Evo spec machine can be competitive for part race distance at least.

Do you remember Honda's EVO Blade?

I can remember exactly where I was when I first saw Honda's TT100 Evolution Fireblade: at the dinner table, reading MCN as a 16-year old lad and being told to put the paper down and get on with my dinner! I'm sure you appreciate why the lamb chops had to wait.. It was created by Honda to celebrate their 100th TT victory, however I'm pretty sure Honda had another agenda: to homologate it so they could put it up against the mighty new Yamaha R1 at the TT.

Morocco by bike

If you've never been to Morocco, you have missed out, big time. If you were going to go to Morocco on a bike, we'd suggest going along with a living legend like Mick Extance, a five time finisher of the Dakar rally. Maybe the video will whet your appetite.

If you thought the license test was hard in America…

I’ll be the first to admit that the procedure to get a motorcycle endorsement (and a car license for that matter) in this country is incredibly easy. If you’re smart, you sit in a classroom for a few hours, answer some basic questions, learn all the controls, perform a simple riding test, and you’re off to the races.  Look at what the Japanese have to do to get their certification! Check out the video after the jump.

Stats ahead of Estoril MotoGP round

The MotoGP circus moves into it's tenth appearance at the Estoril circuit, with the Portugease circuit playing host to a Grand Prix event in each of the previous nine years since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP formula at in 2002. Below is a reminder of the highlights of the previous nine MotoGP races held at Estoril: 2002 – Having won the last 500cc GP race at Estoril in 2001, Valentino Rossi (Honda) won the first of the MotoGP races held at the circuit. This was a race that was run in very wet conditions and Sete Gibernau had led for most of the race only to crash out with four laps to go.

Jefferies' TT V&M R1 for sale

We got a tip-off about a former David Jefferies TT R1 for sale on eBay. The owner says it's from the 1998 TT but I'm pretty sure it was the one he raced in 1999. Here's a little bit more background about the V&M TT effort in 1999: In 1990 Jack Valentine gave up racing to concentrate on running V&M Racing, and after being sacked by Honda at the end of the 1998 season, the team set about to do some giant killing.

Honda CBR250R top speed run

The Cope Law states that: the capacity of the bike you're riding is inversely proportional to your chances of a crash. Never was it more true than on the launch of Honda's CBR125R and CBR250R where a handful of UK journos were riding elbow to elbow for a couple of hours, with laughter flowing from everyone's lid as we all took turns to back in to roundabouts, burnout through town and wheelie from the lights.. This video shows me chasing Trevor Franklin of MCN fame on a top speed run.

BMW 1000RR and the Honda C70, are they indestructible?

I’ve managed 1374 miles on the Michelin Power Pures (mostly on track) and although we’ve had some decent temperatures they still look like new so there’s plenty meat left for another month at least. I’ve been running them at 30psi front and 32psi rear and find they warm up after a few miles but I wouldn’t say the temperature comes any quicker than any of the competition so it has to be four miles before I get brave. I’ve had a few out the seat moments with my BMW but I have got the rear suspension  set pretty hard (8 rebound,8 compression, two turns on pre load) and in slick mode, so 190bhp in first gear at the Knockhill hairpin is always going to be dodgy.