Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126072
Indulging fantasies 8 tasting the future 7000 RPM O'l I-< Il) 3 ..D S Il) ;;- 3 o Z 7500 RPM By Lane Campbell There's no sun quite . so magic, so golden, as the SUI). that first breaks through after.days of rain. For the nine moto-journalists on ' Honda's R &D O pen Ho use tour, it was , like a deliverance as we stepped out onto the train platform at . . S uzuka, The ~~vement wasdrymg, Mechanics hover and-editon drool over the machine that has dominated the 1976 Coupe d'Endurance . Absolute show quality throughout, and wondrous to ride. (Above right! Circuit diagram of Suzuka. with shift points dialed in for a street 750. separate into mock-hostile road race or moto",:oss camps and go fc:>r our gear. The dirt guys. grab sand~ches. and a co ld one behind the pits while we would-be scratchers gei the course tour the bus was :WaItmg, the effect on all of in a company bus. There's plenty of us was ele ctric, . ' water in sta n din g or running patches We knew ~e were here to" ride some still on the track; we will be shown each ~ondas :u:d htt.le. more. Our ho.sts had . one. A deceptively fast half-blind right bid us bnng ndmg gear for . dirt and hander: our co urse director says "A lot road; told us we'd be seeing some new of good riders have come off here." We and interesting motorcycles - then le t note the huge billboard in the us guess. The o lder hands. am ong us background and nod, fixing in our knew .the plac~ we were gomg to, .the minds an aiming point just to its "righ t ~zuki ' ~IfCUIt . complex - . elg~t edge. ~t the course underpass there's kilometer international ro adr ace CIfCUlt, water m dark shadow, and lo t s of it international motocross circuit, adjacent running in sheets across the hairpin. theme park/hotel, all on land owned Suzuka is u n usual in that it's a rough and developed by a Honda subsidiary. figure-S that crosses under itself. Has Pict.ure a ro~d cir cu it laid in green so mething esoteric t o do with equalizing rollmg foo thill co u ntry next to a r i g h t ' and le ft tire wear. Out of the J a panese Disneyland. Yo u got it . hairpin t heir di m in utive test rider says We 'r e give n Xeroxed diagrams of the through an interpreter, "Yo u can track as we're reunit ed with our ridin g , accelerate through he re "; and t he course equip m ent, and treated to a diagram, drawn fo r a 75 0K6 , shows you se m i-m ilitary briefing by Raeing Service going 3/4/5 righ t around t he half-blind Cen te r's unifo rmed d irector. It 's h ar d to rig ht. Then a two-stage decreasing left kee p eyes o ff the bikes. hook with standin~ wet spots running But first th ings first. We quickly parallel to t he good lin e. Getting interesting. I want a street K model first to learn the course . This circuit is complex enough, it'll warrant the extra time. Ride One: 1977 CB750K7 Outwardly . the machine has ' only styling changes, and the four pipes loo k vaguely different in contour. We're told that both '77s have five to ten horsepower up on last year's 750s, yet ar e about 3 db(a) quieter. Mine certain ly is quiet, smooth, cushy , and Gawd, does it drag things! First tum right off the pit straight is a two stage decreasing right , easy into the tight hook because there's water, slam the pipes and/or peg on the ground just before the water, straighten up and slippy-slide a bit going through, tucking in behind Phil Schilling while watching two hot dogs (I think Paul Dean and Rich Cox) disappear. The course crew warned us that the K models we re not suitable for racing - an un derst at emen t ! I hang off to make u p fo r grou nd clea rance, and every t im e I change sides (which is in rapid successio n, in t he esses behind the p it s goi ng u p hill t o ward t h e Dun lop tire bridge) t he th in g wobbles vicious ly . I q uic kly learn t o hold m y b u tt well back in t he seat; t hat keeps t he head up and hel p s settle i t d o wn . A rhyt h m of sorts begins to develop, a nd on the second la p I p ass Schillin g. Secon ds later , gassing up the "back " straight, it pop s out of fifth gear . Thin king I'd spit t he chain bac k at Phil, I slow in wo rried co nfusion; see he 's O K, figure out what re all y happen ed , ban g it back in t o gea r an d ro ll on in . t he 1977 F2 (t he Ir onicall y , black-ta n ked Sport w ith four-in t o-one an d Honda 's new composite d isc wheels) did exactly -t he same thing to Rich Cox, only going a lot faster, fo r it winged past I I gra nd and swallowed a valve . Bad luck for both engines to come from the same pre-production lot with th e same defect. . Really .u n fo rt u nate: ; because according to Rich. the F2 lacked many of the K model's bad handling habits. And aecording to t~e gu ys on the 76s, the horsepower difference was real enough; Rich had · cooked by them as if they'd stepped off to eye the scenery. Ride Two: RCB 1000 (H.E.R.T.) racer Mechanics are still swarming over it. One throttle. butterfly stuck open on Joe Parkhurst, causin g him a moment 's reverse pucker o ut there . It uses fou r ganged vacuum-slide CV carburetors, un u su al for a race bike . The DOHC cam covers look too slick to be just' one-off sand castings; and they're detailed au t show-quality, with "Honda" in b right raised characters o n each side, standing out against t he flat black finish . T he visual detailing is su pe rb . Of co urse , it's t o be crated an d flown fo r showi ng in the Sta tes as soon as we fin ish , t hen it goes to Europ e to se rve as a t ea m spare . S till, th is is n ot your expected rough prototype, n o t q uite .. . All buttoned up; it's ready. T he re's a kic kstarter fitted, and it comes to life wit h t wo quick, short p rods. It does not - want to id le cleanly at all. Chunk! In to first, conventional shift pattern and ease the clutch . It's geared tall, out the wet clutch is silky and low end is richly abundant. Very q uic kly we 're in third gear a nd bending into that first co m p o u nd right. The tires are t readed Dunlops, seem to be CR91 -based endurance racing covers. They pay little heed ' to- the . first water; with rising confidence, I feel my way uphill through ' the esses, past that ominous billboard (no t so bad, long as you remember where the ro ad goes), faster under the Dunlop bridge, then for the first ti me hard on the brakes for a ' right-hander. [ eez I The re ar brake is almost unmanageable . Use it hard, and the rea r end just goes crazy, bouncing and skittering from side to side. Best to rely on the I dual front discs almost exclusively, and th e y a re superb. Altogether, t he b ike fee ls great, especially under power. Excl uding th e rear brake (which is fixab le) th e RC B 10 00 is wonderfully easy to ri de. T urbine-smooth, very little p ipeyness, good m id-ran ge throttle co n tro l and willing to t e» p ast 9500 a tremen dously strong, fl exi b le engine. Handlin g is solid yet quick for suc h a big bike ; no wobb les -, no bou nces, no clearance proble ms -, At speed it treat s rough sp o ts wi th brutish disdain, t rackin g perfe ctly , riding comfo rtably: I (Continued on page 30) 11