HONDA HORNET 2000

Honda Hornet 2000

  By looking at the following recipe, see if you can guess what we're cooking up today: Take a class-leading lightweight super-sports bike, keep the engine and brakes but remove all the body work. Cobble together a new chassis and add the wheels from a top hyper-sports machine and what do you reckon the resulting dish will be? It's a standard though some call it a roadster. Call it what you will or call it a Hornet, as Honda prefers you do.
It might seem like a strange recipe to use when you want to build a bike to slot neatly into the ever-growing roadster market but, nonetheless, it's one that works well.

Just like its cousin, the CBR600F4, the Hornet has proved a hit in Britain and it's easy to see why. Here's a bike with instant mass-market appeal.
Honda was very shrewd; when they made this bike, they managed to launch a brand new motorcycle that had enough components from one of their longest running and most successful models to ensure that the bike buyer wouldn't be concerned about becoming a prototype guinea pig. The use of the old model CBR600 powerplant - an engine that's well proven on both road and track - ensures instant piece of mind for the user.
Honda was also clever with the styling. Or perhaps brave is the correct word? The ultra-up-swept exhaust pipe isn't everyone's cup of carbon monoxide but it is distinctive. It ensures that the Hornet will not just blend in against a background of Bandits and Zephyrs. There's no fairing on the standard model, just a traditional round head lamp (remember those?) and a pair of clocks complete with the regulation chrome bodies, just like an early Z1 Kawasaki.
For this season Honda added a half fairing on the "S" model which is sold alongside the standard Hornet. The jury is out as far as the styling of the "S" is concerned and the naked Hornet still sells very well, seemingly untroubled by the presence of its flashier brother. Honda has also increased the wheelbase by five mm to 1425 mm and increased the diameter of the front wheel to 17 inches. This has given the Hornet more stability which is nice since many testers complained that the original version was too twitchy.

"The Hornet is a budget bike and has been built down to a price, rather than up to a specification."
The test model that Honda supplied to Motorcycle Online was almost brand new, barely run-in and all still very shiny.
The finish looked good but I have heard complaints about finish from another magazine tester who rode a bike supplied from a dealership. That bike, which had obviously been outside more and had not been prepared to quite the same (extremely high) standard as our test bike, was already sporting signs of corrosion.
The Hornet is a budget bike and has been built down to a price, rather than up to a specification. It might take a bit of tender loving care to keep it all bright and shipshape, especially if you intend to make it your ride-to-work hack. Nevertheless, our test bike looked great in bright yellow. It may be a roadster but there's a subtle look of aggression about it which is accented by the sporty tail-piece and the high-level silencer.
"The Hornet is an easy bike to ride and it's a doddle to throw into a bend."
Although fitted with a former CBR600 motor that has been re-tuned for extra torque, the Hornet is still no grunt-master. It's a four-cylinder four-stroke with only 600 cc of motive power. It's not a V-twin and even the slower SV650 from Suzuki actually feels like it has more poke. The truth of the matter is the Hornet will out-perform the SV650 in a straight line but it does so without feeling quite as exciting. And the Honda pilot will have to use all the six-speeds supplied in the sweet little gearbox to keep the Hornet buzzing. Vibration is typical of the genre; four-cylinder bikes do vibrate but it isn't usually that intrusive. The Hornet is no different as you can tell it's running, but it won't loosen fillings.
I passed the bike on to Graham, my neighbor and faithful gofer, for a ride. Graham has not been effected by the, "I'm a Superstar road tester," syndrome and is a good barometer of how a bike feels to a guy who still works for his living.

Graham has owned a CBR600F in the past and his first comment was, "I feel like I'm back with an old friend!" Indeed, the CB600 is a lot like the bike it's derived from, despite the slight shifting of the ponies down the rev-range. It still needs to be stirred quite hard to get the best out of it but it delivers the goods in a fuss-free manner which is instantly accessible to riders of all levels of experience.
The Hornet is an easy bike to ride and it's a doddle to throw into a bend, especially since it's endowed with plenty of leverage from the real handlebars. You know, the type made of a single piece of chromed tube? The upright riding position combined with the sporty geometry provides a quick steering bike that still verges on the twitchy side when pushed hard through bumpy corners. At speed it's a little nervous, though it's more of a spring thing than a geometry problem since the soft front end means the bike will move around a tad. Fear not, however, since the upright riding position means your head will be ripped off by the wind long before the bars twitch out of your hands in a speed wobble.

This isn't a bike for 120 mph motorway blasts, France-and-back-in-16-hours style. It will tour; the riding position is plenty comfortable enough for long jaunts as is the wide saddle. The tiny petrol capacity - only 16 litres - will be a pain for the adventurous cross-continent touring types, though. More to the point, this is a bike for good old-fashioned backroad fun, or simple ride-to-work chores. It's a genuine all-rounder.
The willing engine and eager handling are backed up with good brakes. They are the same as you'll see on older CBR600Fs and they are adequate without being stunning. If you ride the Hornet alongside the latest version of the CBR600F4, you might wish for the CBR's better braking and suspension set-up. But, ridden in isolation, the Hornet's stoppers perform well enough. The front end gets a bit squirrelly if you insist on using the brakes very hard, especially deep into a corner; it's short on damping and long on dive. The rear shock is more competent, with better damping and springing. But if you really want class-leading handling then you should choose the CBR, not the Hornet.

The Hornet is a friendly bike. The lack of body-plastic means the inevitable parking lot spills won't hammer the pocket-plastic so hard. The low seat height, upright handlebars and relatively low weight will mean that the spills will happen less often, even if your legs aren't as long as most bike designers think they should be. No surprise, then, that the Hornet has proved popular with the female population.
Complaints are few. I don't like the switch gear and found the indicator switch a long stretch even for my giant thumb. It needs to be a little lower on the switch module. The short front mudguard may be stylish but it means the naked engine is getting doused by water, mud and stones, especially if you ride the bike in Britain. That'll make short work of those down-pipes.
"Honda. It stands for reliability, quality and excellent after-sales support."
The petrol tank's lack of capacity almost caught me out during one jaunt. The bike ran onto reserve, but I decided to try to make it for 20 more miles to use my favorite local supermarket fuel point, rather than the high-priced one that came up first. It proved a mistake as the three liter reserve was almost exhausted by the time I rode into the chosen petrol station. The bike coughed and spluttered onto the fore-court with the tank bone dry and the motor running on what was left in the float bowls. The Hornet may have smaller carbs than the CBR (34mm compared to 36mm) but it still likes to guzzle gas if ridden very hard.

The Hornet has followed the CBR600F into sales success. It hasn't set the market aflame nor has it dominated the charts like the CBR did. But this isn't due to any problem with the bike; it's more to do with the depth of the competition which includes cheaper bikes like the SV650 and sportier bikes like Yamaha's excellent Fazer.
The Hornet does have a number of advantages over the competition, though. The first being the name on the tank: Honda. It stands for reliability, quality and excellent after-sales support. The second is that, unlike the SV650, it's based on a well-proven engine, although the Thundercat-derived Fazer can make this boast too. When it comes to buying the choice is down to the individual, it's impossible to say which bike suits your taste best, that choice has to be down to you. But it is possible to say that the Hornet recipe will suit most people's tastes most of the time. And who can ask for much more in a bike than that?
CB600F Hornet Specifications

Engine: Liquid-cooled 4-stroke,
16-valve DOHC inline-4
Bore x Stroke: 65 x 45.2mm
Displacement: 599cc
Compression Ratio: 12:1
Carburetors: Four 34mm downdraft
flat-slide CV-type
Max. Power Output : 88bhp@11,750rpm
Max. Torque: 45lb/ft@9,250rpm
Ignition: Computer-controlled digital
transistorized with electronic advance
Starter: Electric
Transmission: 6-speed
Final Drive: ‘O'-ring sealed chain
Dimensions: H 2,095 x 740 x 1,065mm
Wheelbase: 1,425mm
Seat Height: 790mm
Ground Clearance: 140mm
Fuel Capacity: 16 liters (including 
three-litre reserve)
Wheels Front: 17 x MT3.50 hollow-
section triple-spoke cast aluminum
Rear:  17 x MT5.50 hollow-section
triple-spoke cast aluminum
Tyres: Front 120/70 ZR17
Rear 180/55 ZR17
Suspension Front: 41mm telescopic
fork, 120mm axle travel
Rear: Monoshock damper with 7-step
adjustable pre-load, 128mm axle travel
Brakes Front: 296 x 4.5mm dual hydraulic
disc with dual-piston calipers fitted with
sintered metal pads and gripping floating steel rotors
Rear: 220 x 5mm hydraulic disc with
single-piston caliper and sintered metal pads
Dry Weight: 176kg

Honda Motorcycle History

Honda Motorcycle History

Honda was founded in the late 1940s as Japan struggled to rebuild following the second World War. Company founder Soichiro Honda first began manufacturing piston rings before turning his attention to inexpensive motorcycles. Mr. Honda always had a passion for engineering, and this became evident by the wild sales success of his motorcycles in the 1960s and by competing head-to-head against the world’s best on racetracks. Today, Honda is a juggernaut, offering class-leading machines in most every category. 

• 1906 Soichiro Honda is born in Hamamatsu, Japan. His father owns a blacksmith shop that also repairs bicycles. As a young man, Honda is an apprentice in an automotive garage in Tokyo.
   
• 1928 Honda returns to Hamamatsu to open his own auto repair shop. Enamored with speed, he builds his own race car.
   
• 1936 Honda is injured in an auto racing accident.
   
• 1937 He forms a company to manufacture piston rings. After a shaky start (owing mostly to his complete lack of formal training in metallurgy) his company becomes successful. He is a key supplier to Toyota, which starts manufacturing cars at about the same time.
   
• 1946 Soichiro Honda sells his piston-ring business. Japan is struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy, after having been bombed flat at the end of WWII. Honda realizes the need for affordable transportation and begins grafting war-surplus two-stroke motors onto bicycles. (The motors had originally been intended for use on portable generators for military radios.)
   
• 1948 Honda Motor Co. Ltd is incorporated. Soichiro Honda focuses on the engineering side of the business, while financial operations are controlled by Takeo Fujisawa.
   
• 1949 The company produces its first real motorcycle, powered by a 98cc a two-stroke motor. When an employee sees the first one assembled and it is ridden outside the factory, he says, “It’s like a dream.” The name “Dream” was adopted for the bike, officially known as Model D. 
   
• 1951 Mr. Honda is infuriated by the noise, smell and fumes from the two-stroke motorbikes (including his own) that crowd Japanese city streets. In response, the company creates its first four-stroke motorcycle, the Dream E (146cc).
   
• 1952 Despite the fact that he despises such “primitive” powerplants, Honda flirts with his original notion of auxiliary motors for bicycles. The Cub F (two-stroke, 50cc) clip-on motor is sold through thousands of independent bicycle shops across Japan. It is only manufactured for two years, but it introduces the “Cub” trademark, which will be popular for decades in various guises.
   
• 1953 The Benly J (4-stroke, 90cc) is released. At least some of these were sold with “Benly” tank-badges, and carried the Honda name on engine cases only. The Benly series also lasted a long time, and ushered in an era of improved performance. They were immediately popular with Japan’s amateur racers.
   
• 1954 Soichiro Honda shares his own dream, of success in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. He writes, “My childhood dream was to be a champion of motor racing with a machine built by myself. However, before becoming world champion, it is strongly required to establish a stable corporate structure, provided with precise production facilities and superior product design. From this point of view we have been concentrating on providing high quality products to meet Japanese domestic consumer demand and we have not had enough time to pour our efforts in motor cycle racing until now… I here avow my intention that I will participate in the TT race and I proclaim with my fellow employees that I will pour all my energy and creative powers into winning.” Mr. Honda attended the Isle of Man races as an observer that year, paying particular attention to the German-made NSU motorcycles that dominated the 125 and 250 classes. Although it is widely believed Honda “copied” these machines, it is not true; the NSU racers were singles with bevel-drive cams–nothing like the early Honda racers.
  
  
   
• 1957 The leading Italian manufacturers, including MV Agusta, Gilera, and Mondial announce that they will withdraw from World Championship racing, citing increasing costs. MV Agusta will renege on this agreement and continue racing. Honda buys one of the last Mondial race bikes. The Japanese company doesn’t copy the Italian bike, but it does use it as a source of inspiration and an example of the standard they need to reach.
   
• 1958 The Super Cub (aka C100, aka CA100, aka simply “the Honda 50”) hits the market. It features a pressed-steel frame, leading-link fork, step-through design and a 50cc four-stroke motor. It is destined to be sold under various names, and will later grow to 70cc, and finally 90cc. It will become the most popular motorcycle–indeed, the most popular motor vehicle of any kind.
   
• 1959 Honda enters the famed Isle of Man TT races for the first time. The company fields five machines in the 125cc “Ultra-lightweight” class. The bikes are 125cc twins, of the type raced the previous year in Japanese national competition. Naomi Tanaguchi achieves the team’s the best TT result, finishing sixth. Honda wins the manufacturer’s trophy in the class. Honda opens American Honda Motor Co. in Los Angeles.
  
  
   
• 1961 Honda dominates both the 125cc and 250cc classes at the TT. Mike Hailwood wins both races, with Hondas finishing 1st through 5th positions in each case. The Isle of Man Examiner newspaper says simply, “It was a devastating win for the Orient.”
   
• 1963 This year, Honda focuses on F-1 car racing, and the motorcycle racing program suffers. Sales of street bikes remain strong, however: the Super Cub is awarded the French Mode Cup; Honda opens its first overseas plant in Belgium; Grey Advertising unveils the famous “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” campaign. Early the following year, Honda buys commercial time in the Academy Awards for a “nicest people” television ad featuring the Super Cub.
   
• 1964 Two-stroke motors begin to dominate the smaller-displacement racing classes. In order to remain competitive in the 250cc classes, while still relying on four-stroke motors, Honda produces a six-cylinder 250, the 3RC164. This engineering marvel dazzles the racing world, but it is not enough to prevent Phil Read from winning the championship on his Yamaha ’stroker. In ’66 and ’67, however, Mike Hailwood will use the six to win the 250cc World Championship.
   
• 1968 19 years after the company’s first two-wheeler rolled out of the factory, Honda produces its 10 millionth motorcycle.
   
• 1969 Honda unveiled the CB750 at the Tokyo Motor Show in late ’68, but it didn’t hit the market until early ’69. It is impossible to overstate the impact this bike made, as the first modern mass-market four, and the first mass-market bike to come with a disc brake. Until well into 1970, CB750s were made with sand-cast, not die-cast engine cases. In truth, die-cast cases were lighter, stronger, and more oil tight. But it’s the sand-cast models that are prized by collectors.
   
• 1970 Honda entered four riders in the Daytona 200, but only one–Dick Mann–finished. The three DNFs were completely overshadowed by Mann’s victory. It was a huge win for Honda in America. That year, the 200 grid also included all-new triples from Triumph and BSA, and the first XR750 Harley-Davidsons. Although the factory bikes are often referred to as CR750 models, the CR750 was never sold as a complete motorcycle; it was only a kit of parts to be assembled on a CB750 donor bike. The factory racers were built by Honda’s Racing Services Center (the predecessor of today’s HRC) and officially designated “CB750 Racing Type.”
   
• 1972 Honda finally admits that in order to build a competitive 250cc motocrosser, the company has to make another two-stroke motor. CR250 “Elsinore” reaches the U.S. in early ’73. It is immediately the most effective production race bike in its class, and Gary Jones wins the AMA motocross championship on it in its first year.
   
• 1973 Soichiro Honda retires as the company President. He remains on the Board of Directors, which grant him the honorific title ‘Supreme Advisor’ in 1983.
   
• 1974 The first Gold Wing, the GL1000, is introduced at Cologne. It reaches the U.S. market in early ’75. The ’wing is the first Japanese production four-stroke to be water-cooled. It also features shaft drive and is one of the first production bikes to be fitted with a fuel pump. The pump is required because the “tank” in the normal position is actually an electronics bay and conceals the radiator overflow, while the real fuel tank is under the seat, to help keep the center of gravity low.
   
• 1978 In an effort to build a competitive four-stroke motorcycle for the 500GP World Championship, Honda produces the oval-piston NR500. It was effectively a “four-cylinder V-8, with 8 connecting rods and 32 valves. It is a technological tour-de-force, but manufacturing challenges prevent it from racing until late in the ’79 season. Honda persists with the machine through the ’81 season, but even Freddie Spencer can’t manage to win on it.
   
• 1981 Honda Gold Wing production moves from Japan to a new factory in Ohio.
   
• 1983 Freddie Spencer wins the 500cc World Championship. For the first time, Honda wins the “blue riband” championship. (The company first won the Manufacturer’s Championship in the 500cc class in 1966.)
   
• 1986 After a shaky start, the V-four “VF” series of road bikes is redeemed with the redesigned VFR750F “Interceptor”. Its gear-drive overhead cams once and for all banish cam drive and wear problems, and the model is generally acknowledged as being the “best all-’round road bike” for most of the next ten years.
   
• 1987 The CBR600F “Hurricane” is Honda’s first fully-faired, four-cylinder street bike.
   
• 1990 The VFR750R (aka RC30) finally arrives in the U.S., three years after it is first sold in Japan. It’s a true homologation special, and a genuine race bike for the street, selling for twice the price of a stock Interceptor.
   
• 1991 The company mourns the death of Soichiro Honda.
   
• 1992 200 units of the legendary NR (aka NR 750) are produced. This is a street-legal version of the ill-fated NR500 Grand Prix racer, which sells for a breathtaking $60,000. It’s loaded with ahead-of-its-time features including carbon-fiber bodywork, a digital dash, underseat exhaust, a single-sided swingarm, and fuel injection. In spite of lavish use of carbon and light alloy, it weighs nearly 500 pounds, and most of the people who have ridden it (still a small statistical sample!) are underwhelmed.
   
• 1993 The CBR900RR stuns the sportbike world. Designed by Tadao Baba, the “Fireblade” combines the power of an open-class motorcycle with the weight and handling of a 600.
   
• 1995 The radical EXP-2 (two-stroke 400cc) wins its class in the Granada-Dakar rally. The bike is the proof-of-concept for a cleaner burning and more powerful two-stroke engine concept that uses a pivoting “valve” to close the exhaust port.
   
• 2001 Valentino Rossi wins the last ever 500cc World Championship on the NSR500 two-stroke.
   
• 2002 All change. Or not. Rossi wins the first World Championship in the 990cc MotoGP era, on the five-cylinder four-stroke RC211V. Valentino Rossi wins the last ever 500cc World Championship on the NSR500 two-stroke.
   
• 2004 Honda prototypes a motorcycle powered by a fuel cell.
   
• 2006 The 50,000,000th Super Cub is sold.
   
• 2007 Honda is the first manufacturer to offer a motorcycle with air bag crash protection.
   

Redding hails Motegi circuit

Redding hails Motegi circuit

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Briton declares himself fan of Japanese track.

He may not have had the best result at Twin Ring Motegi on his circuit debut, but Scott Redding is full of praise for the Japanese track where he took eighth place in 2008. The Blusens Aprilia rider is relishing the opportunity to get back to the far east, eager to earn not only a higher placing than at last year’s race, but to earn further points after an anticlimactic opener in Qatar.

“The Motegi circuit is one of the most beautiful in the World Championship,” states the Briton in anticipation of this weekend’s 125cc clash. “Last year’s race did not go very well for me, but overall it was not too bad. I think that this year, on the Aprilia RSA, things should be much better.”

The youngest ever Grand Prix winner, Redding is keen for a sequel with his new factory bike, although preseason testing was not entirely satisfactory for him. Qualifying eleventh and dropping down two places in the four-lap Qatar race has, if anything, only made him more motivated.

“We are hoping for better weather and to be able to work comfortably. I can’t wait to race there (in Motegi) because what happened in Qatar was very strange, at the end I was a bit upset and really disappointed.”
TAGS

* Qatar

UPDATE MOTO GP CALENDAR

Update to 2010 provisional MotoGP calendar

Monday, 16 November 2009
The FIM have announced that the provisional date of the 2010 Czech Republic Grand Prix has been moved to August 15th.

The FIM have today announced an amendment to the provisional calendar for the 2010 MotoGP World Championship, with the Czech Republic Grand Prix to be held a week earlier than originally scheduled.

Date Grand Prix (Circuit)
April 11th* Qatar (Losail)
April 25th Japan (Motegi)
May 2nd Spain (Jerez)
May 23rd France (Le Mans)
June 6th Italy (Mugello)
June 20th Great Britain (Silverstone)
June 26th** Netherlands (Assen)
July 4th Catalunya (Catalunya)
July 18th Germany (Sachsenring)
July 25th*** United States (Laguna Seca)
August 15th Czech Republic (Brno)
August 29th Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
September 5th San Marino & Riviera di Rimini (Misano)
September 19th Hungary (Balatonring)
October 10th Malaysia (Sepang)
October 17th Australia (Phillip Island)
October 31st Portugal (Estoril)
November 7th Valencia (Ricardo Tormo Valencia)

Reserve Circuit: Motorland Aragon Circuit

* Evening race
** Saturday race
*** Only MotoGP class