BrokenBiker
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- Thread starter BrokenBiker
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the snooper
getting older by the day
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hmm a pointless video
norlander
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pointless to some-but not to motorcycle afficionados. The 6 cylinder 250 Honda was (is) almost a piece of automotive jewellry-tiny pistons and con rods etc. Sochiro Hondas philosophy was geared to the 4 stroke engine so they built the 250 multi to compete with the advance of the 2 stroke racing machines which became all conquering-and Honda had to capitulate and build 2stroke GP500 bikes etc.
Hearing the bike being warmed up is all many enthusiasts will get to hear now-but the best was hearing Hailwood approaching a corner then giving it the berries and wazzing off-ditto the MV Augustas.
More recently, in superbikes, you could hear a full on Ducati Corsa steaming up to the hairpin at Mallory-a great sound and sight-not to mention the smell of high octane racing fuel-not on a par with Castrol R of course.
Sochiro Honda has passed on now so he has missed the introduction of the 4 stroke engine into the premium motorcycle racing class which would have made him happy-the 2 strokes were not beaten it was pollution regs that really did for them .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soichiro_Honda
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Now I've always blamed Honda for being partially responsible for the demise of 2 strokes as they couldn't compete with Suzuki & Yamaha so convinced every one 2 strokes were the spawn of the devil and would bring about the end of the world.
gordon stephenson
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Does anybody remember the V16 1.5ltr 600BHP engine made by BRM in the early 50s.
chunkolini
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Hideously painful, al those tiny pistons and valves. Makes me cringe.
Was there a 125 6 as well?
Was there a 125 6 as well?
chunkolini
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There was a 125.
18000rpm. in 1966.
That had me gritting my teeth.
Power band between 21k and 22k, no power anywhere else, bore 30mm, stroke 28mm and four valves per pot! fancy servicing that?
18000rpm. in 1966.
That had me gritting my teeth.
chunkolini
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The australian mechanics did struggle from what I have read.
The valves must be ditty lttle things. I have just measured 30mm. Bonkers
The valves must be ditty lttle things. I have just measured 30mm. Bonkers
julianthegypsy
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IIRC the 125 was a four pot. Even so, the pistons would be smaller than the 250/6 pistons. They must have been tiny!
Wendelspanswick
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Proper Flat Trackers/Board Trackers with pedals and no clutches. I have a JAP 650cc side valve magneto engine from an old Howard rotovator that I plan on sticking in a rigid frame and making a Board Tracker. I am going to cheat though and fit a Burman 3 speed gearbox/clutch unit on. Don't fancy having to stall the bike at every set of lights and bump start it away again!
octo0072000
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bit about V16 it here
http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/history/roebucks-legends-brm-v16/
video here
norlander
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I think you could be right-but all the rising sun manufacturers must have seen the writng on the wall for the road going strokers-and a lot of folks like to buy a machine for the road which has some tenous link to the high end race machine-2S road machines are pretty much dead meat now so having 2S race machines would not be relative to whats in the showrooms. The daft thing is though,IIRC, when Moto GP was conceived, the bikes had to be one off prototypes so there was (is?- I don't keep up with it now) no relation to a machine you could buy in the showroom anyway.
Another factor -possibly-that shocked the elitist 2S crowd was Troy Corser equalling the 500 GP (2S bikes) lap times at Donington on a Ducati-and that was on the 8 valve "tractor"- Ducati had the Testastretta motor yet to come.Maybe a wake up call that the "diesels" performance was closing the gap.
daleyd
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I think the writing was on the wall for 2 strokes from the early 90s, maybe earlier. (Super bikes started around 1988, this was probably the beginning of the end)
The development of the 2s engine had been restricted to gp racing as there were no real road going bikes other than the RGv Suzuki and kr1 kwacker 250 bikes(in the U.K. At any rate, I know Japan had some awesome 2s bikes that were never officially imported here) whereas 4s engines had benefited from not only the multitude of road/race bikes around, but also from years of development in the car world.
The 80s were great for 2stroke bikes though, would have loved one of the 500s, most people prefer the rg but I always had a thing for the rd 500 . if I could have only 1 bike in my garage it would be Eddie Lawson's 1989 rothmans honda nsr500 - simply awesome
norlander
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if I could have only 1 bike in my garage it would be Eddie Lawson's 1989 rothmans honda nsr500 - simply awesome
for me it would be a street version of the TZ750 Flat Tracker (and the testicles to ride it)
