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

2014 AMA Supercross – Anaheim 1 Results

KTM rookie Ken Roczen captured his first 450 class win in the AMA Supercross world championship, taking the season opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. An audience of 45,050 fans watched a clean race from the rookie while errors by veterans like James Stewart and three-time reigning champion Ryan Villopoto knocked them out of contention. Villopoto had a strong start, taking the holeshot and leading the first eight laps, just like the Kawasaki rider had done so often the last few seasons.

Team HRC CRF450 Rally Prototype Video

In a just released video HRC Team Director Katsumi Yamazaki describes Honda’s Dakar weapon, the CRF450 Rally. Warning: Yamazaki-san’s monotone delivery manages to snuff the excitement factor of what is an incredibly trick motorcycle, but it’s still interesting to watch. Honda returned to the Dakar Rally for the first time in 24 years in January 2013.

Dakar Begins This Sunday!

Dakar is an international, bad-ass, multi-day off-road event and if you’re not a fan you should be. Crossing the borders of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile the route takes motorcycle and ATV competitors through more than 5400 miles of extreme riding conditions. Competing cars and trucks go even farther.

2014 Monster Energy Supercross Season Preview – Video

The highly anticipated 2014 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, gets underway this Saturday at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., as three-time 450SX Class Championship Ryan Villopoto will stage his title defense against the deepest field of riders the sport has ever seen. Live coverage will begin at 10:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

Classic Race Finishes: 1991 250cc Misano Grand Prix – Video

More than just a medium to view countless hours of cat videos, YouTube allows us to look back at classic motorcycle races otherwise lost to the depths of the VHS tape. This time around features the no-holds-barred, back-and-forth action between Luca Cadalora, aboard the Rothmans Honda NSR250 and Helmut Bradl, father of current MotoGP rider, Stefan Bradl, riding the HB Honda NSR250. The stage is the 1991 250cc Italian Grand Prix at Misano — back when it was run in the correct, counter-clockwise, direction.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Groms

We’re big fans of the Honda Grom, not just because of the grin-inducing experience it offers but also for its potential for customization. Just look at the RC-X Mini Vintage Racer for an example of the Grom’s ability to transform. MORE: Top 10 Modified Honda Groms It’s no surprise then that Honda would present some more special Groms for the upcoming Tokyo Auto Salon, an annual showcase for automotive performance and customization similar to the SEMA show here in the U.S.

Honda Team HRC To Compete In 2014 Dakar Rally

Today Honda announced that through its official racing arm, Team HRC, the company will be tackling the 2014 Dakar Rally, one of the most grueling off-road races in the world. The race starts on January 5 and lasts until January 18. Five riders—Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom), Javier Pizzolito (Argentina), Joan Barreda (Spain), and Paulo Goncalves (Portugal)—will ride the CRF450 Rally, a rally-racing bike specially developed for the 2014 Dakar.

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.

Taliban Magazine Condemns America but Praises Honda

Manufacturers are usually glad to hear positive reviews of their products, but we’ve got a feeling Honda is not happy about the ringing endorsement it received from the latest issue of the Taliban-published magazine “Azan“. The English-language magazine is a pro-Jihadist quarterly; pure propaganda designed to recruit impressionable and disillusioned Muslims in the West. It’s somewhat jarring then to find buried within the radical rhetoric a full page spread on a 125cc Honda as one of the Taliban’s “Steeds of War”.

Honda CG110 – the $630 Motorcycle for Africa

Honda is introducing a new motorcycle for the African market that will be priced at about US$630. Produced in Nigeria for sale across the continent, the new Honda CG110 is designed to offer good fuel economy and durability while meeting the challenge of Nigerian road conditions. Honda plans to sell 40,000 units per year at a price of 100,000 Nigerian naira.