Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; - • .... Da Da t co f' O'l C'J .... QJ by Lane Campbell .c a QJ :> 0 Z - (Opp. pg. clockw. from left I The new whee l on a 750; te sting with wetsuit and telemetry backpack; shrouded-engine XL; one of 28 super-isolated dyno rooms. (This pg.l Composite wheel in flex-test; whe re it all goes on paper; balance beam determines 750's C.G.; Sophia was everywhere - she's under contract to push Road Pals in Europe. reducin g ro c ker a nn en d p lay , or p u tt ing a p re load was her so mew he re to stop a tiny engine compo ne nt fr om ra ttling. This is h ow th e y find t h e tro u b le spots. The y we re also work ing on breadbo ard e le ctronics; putting " rno c ku ps" of n ew solid -sta te co n tro ls through t hei r p aces . • This is the beginning of su ch things a s th e back -up ligh ti n g system on the GL- IOOO. Lo ok fo r m o re b la ck . b oxes with brains to become p ar t of the tourin g b ike lin e, as sa fet y or co n veni e nc e features. • Next doo r , t hey were pu tt in g a co m p o sit e wheel t hrough cy cl ic stress, both to rq ue (as would co m e fro m thro ttle or braking) a nd side loads (as fro m ab ru pt co rnerin g). They weren ' t ju st tr y in g to break th e whee ls, bu t to ge t a st iff ne ss jfl e xu re pro file on th em und er d iffe rent kinds o f lo ad . Th is is im p orta n t, fo r w he n se tt in g u p the " sprin g ra te ' of suspe nsion. an yt hin g t h at flexes, eve n the ti niest bit, m u st b e known. O therwise . sp rin gs, wheels. a nd tires won 't wo rk together. Try pu tt ing radial tires o n an o lder car whose suspension is not "tuned" for rad ia ls, a nd yo u 'll see th e co n n ec tion . T he com po sit e wh eel s t he ms el ves (w h ich yo u 'll see on some b ig 19 77 Ho n d a m o del s) are so m e th ing th at's b een a ro u n d aw h ile in th e car wo rl d . TIley are sta m ped steel ce n ters rive ted to a llo y rims. In t erms of flex a n d stability , th ey fall so mewhe re between a co nven t ion al wi re wheel an d a cast alloy one. The ca st (" mag " ) wheel 's absolute rigidit y tu rn s out to be a m ix ed bless in g, at times ; esp ecially in terms o f w ha t happens when y ou clobber a c ur b. The co m p o si te wheels arc expected to be cheaper, sa fer (in terms o f possible b rittle fra cture ) and mo re likely to work w ith exist in g tire /suspension syste ms (in term s of flex stiffness) . By wa y o f useful li fe , t h e y are m an y ti m es m o re stable in tru en ess than com parab le "wir es", As a m ass-pro du cti o n it em, t h ey a ren' t q u it e as p rett y as a se t o f m ags, bu t they ' ll even tually co sl less to produce th an wire w heels. In an other building are sp ecializ ed test cells. One of th em is a minicomputer-controlled now ben ch, used t o c h ec k fu e l-a ir now ra t e s on co m p let e ca r h /m an ifo ld sy stems. Very tri ck little ite m . Ano the r is an in t e rim e m i s s io n test dy no . It ' s preprogrammed/m an ua l con tro lled . T he operator sit s th e hike a nd works the th rottle , vary ing e ng ine speed un de r load ac co rd in g to a n EPA -spe cified d u ty cy cle. There's a m ovin g st rip chart wi th a zig-zag b lack line o n it that give s hi m his "target " . His job is to keep a m ovin g cro ss-hair " gu nsight" (ge ar ed to ro ad speed) o n that target lin e. Crude, compared to wh at the y're . doi n g in other b ays of this build ing, but this m ul t i-k ilob u c k (o r megga yen ) d y no with its co m p lex exhaust-gas co llec t o rs a n d an alyz ers en igm a tic ally shrouded in grey sheet m e tal is strictly "temp orary " . That's be cause EPA an d Hon da a re p laying a gam e . Honda says, "We ca n ' t o rde r p enna nent facil it ies. co m m it a ll th at m oney fo r so p h istica te d equip men t un t il yo u tell u s, in fin al form, w h at the test pa ramete rs a re to b e ." Fo r so m e reason , EPA wasn' t p layi n g bal l. Thin gs lik e d u ty c y cles , defin itions of useful life, types of cer t ificat ion eq u ip men t required , degrees o f a ccu ra cy . needed, a ll were still bein g haggled o ver as re cent ly as t his summer. EPA's sp okesmen sim p ly say the ind u stry kn ows en ou gh about the co m ing emission regs to go ah ea d an d o rd er equipme n t in a dvance. Hon d a sa y s No ; a nd ma y b e bold e noug h to ask fo r a delay in fin a l regula t io n s on gr ou n ds o f ins u f fic ient le ad ti me if th e h agglin g st ill goes on . In terest in g poker ga me. Honda does h ave a point. You d on't buy equip ment lik e t h is o ffsh e1f like you do dry goods. It doesn ' t exist . You have to get head s together w it h wh o ever is selling y o u t he stu ff a nd design it fro m scrat ch. From poin t-of-sa le of an ap p ro ved design t o on-site d elivery can ra ng e from a m a tter of months to a m a tter of years, depending on th e com p lex it y of th e p iece (o r pi eces) of eq uip ment. If you do n 't know exact ly w hat you're testi ng for a co u p le of years a head o f w h e n yo u n eed th e st u ff, y o u ta ke a SWA G (Scient ific Wild Ass G ue ss) and o rder so me t h ing y o u figure ' w ill be b etter (more p owerful, m ore accu rat e, greate r lo ad cap aci t y . wh atever). Su p pose y ou ai m t o o h igh. Su ppose the govern me n t throws you a cu rve , c han ges t h e te st p a ra meter s such that yo u 've just spent 52 million on an e lep h an t gun to hunt m ice. As I said , in te resti n g poker ga me. Wo nde r w h o 'll fli n ch first . - 29

• Cover