2004 Honda 100 on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Having a Randy Mamola moment

Back in 1985 Randy Mamola was captured on film performing the most miraculous save of all time, hanging on for dear life as his Honda NSR500 tried to fling him from his seat. Recently, we've seen some impromptu homages to the original with Jonathan Rea at Assen and the near-save from Jakub Kornfeil in the Moto3 race at Jerez. Now we have on-board footage of American racer Genki Hagata calming a high-side at the Infineon Raceway in California.

Stoner explains the tank slapper

Casey Stoner looked all set to win at Motegi, after translating his pole position into an early race-lead. But coming over the crest on the back straight his bike momentarily lost control in a tank slapper. Regaining composure the championship leader was forced to pump his brakes to get the pads back in place, with the rear-wheel bouncing in the air he ran out of time and space to make the 90 degree right hander and was forced to run into the gravel.

Honda has patented a technical solution from the arsenal of the Gold Wing tourer.

The modern Honda Gold Wing is equipped with a double wishbone front suspension, which not only increases ride comfort, but also allows the geometry of the motorcycle not to change during acceleration and braking. Lever suspension, which stabilizes the bahavior, may appear on other models of the company in the future. This is hinted at by patent images of similar systems integrated into the design of completely different motorcycles - the “classic” CB1100 and the small-capacity C125 Super Cub.