Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GNEW BIKES 1992 Hondal ! RadicalCBR900 tops the fleet I""""i "' ~ ~ V ..0 o ...... U o ' £ter several down years , American Honda enjoyed increased sales figures in 1991 and hopes that sales momemtum increases in 1992. Major ch an ges in its 1992 lineup should he lp them do j ust that. Those cha nges include th e release of the radical new CBR900 race-replica sport bike, an exp anded dual-sport line, plus the introducti on of an an ti-lock brake system for the STIOOO sporttourer. In additio n, a multipl e - and we mean multiple - cho ice of color co m b i na tio ns are o ffe re d for th e Sh adow I 100. Customers will hav e to wa it for a few of the n ew models, however, since H onda won 't releas e th em un til A midseason (next spring) and th ey'll be designated as 1993 models. Honda rea lized th at th eir past efforts hav e been co ncentrated on introducing people to motorcycling and th at core en th usiasts have felt abando ned. For '92, Honda pl an s a more bal an ced approach . The new cu stom ers will still , be needed to help maintain H onda 's sal es surge. After numerous years of decreasing motorcycle sales thro ug ho ut the industry, Honda reports that its retail sal es for th e first half of 1991 are up by nearly 25% over last year. Honda also says tha t th e relati on ship with its deal ers is the strongest it's been in more th an four years, and tha t after several years the shrinking number of Honda dealers has leveled out so that th e current dealer network is sufficient to meet demand. . And i f th e su ccess of th e ' 9 1 CBR600F2, which sold out at most deal ers, and returns to the '92 lineup un ch an ged, is an y indicat ion, there ' will be great demand for the all-new · CBR900R R . The o pen-clas s sport bike feat ures a com pact 893cc liquid-coo led eng ine prod uci ng a cla imed 120 horse powe r, ' a n a l u m in u m tw in -spar fra me , a nd a swinga rm whi ch is man u fac tu red with special metal forming techniques, simila r to those app lied to co m ponents of Honda's GP roa d racers and the Acu ra NSX au to- (Above) The all -new CBR900RR is an Open class sport bike with nearl y the same weig ht. and dimen sions as the popu la r CBR600F2. (Below) H ond a's dua.l-sport line will be expanded when the electric-sta rt XR650L is released in May. 26 mobile. The CBR900RR's weight and dimensions are very close to th e CBR600F2 . Although it is a high-performance, race-oriented ma chine, Honda engineers designed the CBR900RR to be ' as comfortable as possib le. A retail pr ice hasn 't been determined, but Honda says that when the CBR900RR reaches dealer showrooms in March as a 1993 model - it will be competitively priced wi th other Open class sport bikes . Honda recogn izes a viab le market for Japan ese cus to m-style motorcycles, and in an effort to capture more of that market purch asers of the Shadow 1100 will be able to choose from ' a mindboggling 24 co mbinations of color s and logos, The four basic colors will be black, red , silver and teal, and th e Sha dow 's pr ice will range from $6399'$6799. Deta ils of th e or dering process for the wide range of availa ble color com bina tio ns ha ve not as yet been iro ned out. Paint is also a major new featu re o n th e '92 Gold Win g to uri ng lineup , as the to p-of-the-line SE now comes in a metallic teal color whi ch is alrea dy in hi gh deman d o n the early-release model. The Aspe nca de and Interstate also get new red or blue colo r sch emes, and th e Interstate has an updated stereo systesn. For the spo rt -touring ent hus iasts, Honda will wa it until spring to release a speci al vers ion o f th e STIIOO, equ ipped with a n elec t ro n ica llyco ntrolled anti-loc k braki ng system. Som e of the ABS com po nents are also used for what H onda is calling the Tra ct ion Cont ro l Syst em . H onda spo kesmen wouldn 't pro vide 'fur ther details, The standard STI 100 will still be available for $9199. H onda attem p ted to lure former motorcyclists back to riding last year with th e sta ndard Nighthawk 750, whi ch met H onda's expecta tio ns as a steady seller, and it returns in th e '92 lin eup sporting a standard black finish in addi tio n to last year's red . The Ni ghthawk's price also jumped $200 to $4199. H onda will also offer a 250cc version for $2299. Last year Honda returned to the co n ti n u a ll y growing dua l-sport market with,th e XR250L, and in . May th e 250 will get a bigger bro ther in th e form of the XR650R, another '93· designa ted model. The big XR will feature an electric-start mo tor taken from th(lfold NX line and put into an XR600 ch assis. No price ha s been announced. ' After an absence of several years, th e 250cc H elix, what many consider ,to be the Gold Wing of scooters, ' will return to the '92 ' lineup in January withnew cast aluminum wh eels and an upgraded front tire. Although th e CBRIOOO, Hawk GT and som e o ther mod els aren 't in th e '92 lineup, they haven't necessarily been dropped. Honda elected to skip production of th ose ma chines th is year since what th ey a ppa rently feel is a year's supply of th e '9 1 units remains in Honda 's inventory. Several models should already be in Ho nda showrooms. They a re th e $ 14,199 Gold Win g SE , $ 12,099$12,299 Gold Wing Aspen cade, Nig h thawk 750 and Nighthawk 250, $5499 CBR 600F2, $3999 Shadow VLX, $3299 XR250L and com p lete off-road XR lineup , $1249 CT70 and the com ple te CR mo tocros s line. ' The $9199-$9399 Gold Wing Inter. state, $9199 ST I IOO, Sh adow 1100 and $7299 VFR750F ar e scheduled to be re leas ed in Novemb er, while th e CBR900RR, XR650L, STIOOABS and He lix will reach Honda dealers in eN. 1992.

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