Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

be just so l), the NR750 is a wh opping 88 pounds heavier th an H onda's o the r V-4 sports bike, the RC30 - th at's th e one with round p istons, in case you forgot . Yet th e NR steers, handl es, stops and starts better than a ny o the r ro ad bike ever. Honestl y. The massive 45mm upsid e down Showa forks a nd nitro(gen )-boosted rea r shock giv e soft yet con trolled, comp lia n t yet taut suspension. H onda may just have posed th em selves th e tiniest litt le problem here, because quite hon estl y, while everyo ne 's wetting th eir pants a bo u t the NR 750 having 32 valves and eigh t co nrods, wha t the y've actu all y go ne a nd done is set new sta ndards for street bike handling with this bike. And th a t's rea l world technology , not th e kind th a t o n ly Ni gel a nd his ilk a re interested in. Chassis designer Shinj i H agewara has very quietly pulled a very clever stunt here, a nd all cred it to him. You realize this when yo u a ttac k the R icard tra ck's famous 'P if-Paf' with as much determinati on as you ca n muster a board a m otorcycle with th is p ri ce tag - th ough co me to thi n k of it, it 's practi ca lly a ba rgai n co m pared to so me of the bikes seen in ac tio n in classic racing th ese da ys. Though you sit wi thi n th e N R as op posed to bei ng perched a top th e RC30, it's ac tually as ligh t and quick to change d irecti on o n, a lbeit a t th e 'cost o f so me p hysical effort: th is is a bike tha t needs the rider to do his bi t as well. Rou gh road a hea d? No worries, rider-san: we' ll just ta ke it all in o u r stride , includi ng th a t farcica l bump righ t on th e a pex of th e first tum after th e pi ts. Yet o n a ball sout fast sweeper li ke the fifth -gear Signes at th e en d of the Mistra le strai gh t, th e NR sails through just g lued to the track. T his is a bi ke wh ich can be ridden to a very high degree o f co m m itme nt w ith con fidence a nd safety, a nd if a hefty part o f th e pr esumab ly astro nomi c develop ment budget was spe nt all o w ing H a g ewara -san a n d h is co horts to ach ieve th is, it's bee n money well spen t. Fu n ny , rea lly: here we a ll ro ll up expec ting to marvel a t th e ovalpisto n engine's performance, and it' s that o utward ly con ven tio nal-loo king but so effective chassis th at rea lly im p resses. Okay, H onda - I ad mit it: I was suc kered . .. Seduced, too - by the NR 's superla ti ve fini sh fo r a p re-p ro du cti on motorcycle, resplendent with a host of deta il to uches th at add to th e perception o f ad ded value. Carbon fiber faci ngs to reinforce th e lig h tweig h t p la sti c bod ywo rk ; heavily-sh ro uded twin silencers nestling in th e sea t ta il for th e heavy 8-4-2-1-2 sta in less steel . . exha ust system - a t least it' ll never rust; fold -away flaps dis g uisin g th e so litary side -sta n d - ca ll ou t the NR750 m ech anic assi gn ed to every co u ntry wh er e th e m o d el is so ld excl usively to pamper th e well -heeled owners, if you need to cha nge a tire; even the n, he won't ha ve too m uch exa spe ra tio n , than ks to th e singlesided rear swinga rm and its complime ntary wheel, enscribed with the joint sta temen ts " H igh technol ogy for the New Age" a nd " T he Resu lt o f a Decad e's Perfection". Bit much , that last o ne, especially to a nyo ne whose hea rt cried o ut for 'Zoo m ing T a xi ' Katayama as he frittered his 500cc GP career away failing to finish GP races o n the NR500 - but no matter : a t least H onda had th e balls no t to gi ve in. H ow ma n y othe r mo torcycle com panies co u ld, or even wo uld, ha ve done what H on da did in p rod uci ng th e NR750 for the road? As HRC bossm an Takeo Fuku i, perso nally in volved in the NR project for the past decade a nd a half, declared at the G eneva la u nch o f th e NR750, this is th e kind o f motorcycle th at was dear to th e heart o f the recent ly departe d H onda-san himself. Which is pe rhaps wh y we a nd Ni gel - can buy one today. An d wh ich is a lso why we ha ve th e ri ght to expect tha t the NR 750 shou ld be more impressive, more exci ting, more of a - well , more of a crack th a n it fran kly is to rid e. Le t's get o ne th ing clea r straightaway, though : this is not the famed 'tall poppie' syndrome as th ey ca ll it in Oz, where j us t because it 's ex o tic a nd ex pensive and I've ridden it and you haven ' t a nd probably can' t ever, I'm going to slag it o ff. No. It 's j ust that in bending over backw ar ds to p roduce a bike that - as th ey've told us ad na usea m in every p iece of company-so urced promotional literatu re rela ting to the NR 750 - is not a race replica , is not a ha rd-edged performa nce bike, doe s no t co ntest the p ow er! pe rformance! a cc eI e r a ti on s ta ke s, and ins tea d represents the union of two distin ct conce p ts, Dynamism a nd Elegance (i t says so here), H onda has a lso frankly m ad e the NR750 rather boring. And th at 's a sha me. Which is not to say th at engine designer Suguru Kan ezawa couldn ' t have co me u p wit h the same kind o f bri o-inducing a p peal as a Lamborgh ini Diabl o , a Cezeta V-16 - o r a Du ca ti 888 SP3 - has, but which by a ll accou n ts the majority of test dr ivers have fou nd H orida 's own NSX budget Ferr ari not to possess. As so meo n e wh o has worked on th e NR project since th e ea rly da ys under Mr . Irimaj iri in the m id-70s, Kan ezawa holds a u n iq ue key to the kn owledge o f ova l-piston eng ine ering's po tentia l to exci te as well as imp ress. But H onda mangement, in wrestl in g for as long as th ey d id with t h e th orn y quest io n of whether the NR conc ep t should ever be productionized , and in wh at form , were a t least as fearful o f th e po tential eco logica l backlash aga ins t a H yper Sports NR , as they were ea ger to exploi t its techno-commercial benefits. Close-up examination of the NR750 , sans the plastic bodywork, reveals an attention to detail. Honda has taken out over 200 patents on vari ous aspects of the NR ; 25% of th em relate to the chrorne-nitrided cast-iron piston rings. With the first of th e more than 200 pate nts H on da h as ta ke n out o n vari ous aspects of the NR (arou nd 25% of which rela te to th e chrome -n itrided cas t-iron piston rings alo ne ) abou t to start expiring a t th e end of th is year, the crun ch came a nd H onda took th e mid dle cou rse. Yes, we will sell a n ova l-p iston bike - bu t with major engine cha nges l ik e .t h e us e o f constantly-cu rving ell iptical p istons in a gO-degree V-4 engine, ra the r th an' th e flat-sided, true oval p istons used in the p revious 85-degree V-4 NR750 which raced a t Le Mans and, in th e Australian SwannSeries (with su ccess) five years ago. That way, we'll retain some o f the most intricate tech no logy in-house. Bu t no - we wo n' t produce a stree t vers ion o f the Le Mans endurance racer wit h the new spec engine; instead, o ur oval-piston roadster will embody Dyna m ism and Elega nce, and del iver performance that is adequate 21

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