Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

!"" "J '-' • r-, 0'\ 0'\ ,-< M .... OJ ..0 E OJ u OJ c 22 ~~' fJ ] 5i1 RACER TEST r..... throu gh a g ain . Same as th e Ducali mechanics, we'd like a conven tional se t of adjusters like Fred Merkel had yea rs ago on his RC30 - he sa id it was a big help in ge tting the bike d ialed in qui ckly, and tha t'd be top o f o ur wish list for '98.''' Eve n so, I thou g h t while ridin g th e Kocins ki Honda that the rear shock W(lS set up to o soft for my ex tra po und s, Mo use of the way it wo bbled if I hit a bump cranked over hard o n the gas. Then I saw the tape of the Sentul races, and realized it was doing it to him, too. Even so, the 27.5mm offsets Jo hn uses for the 47mm Showa upside-down forks give 102mm of trai l, for added stability in a straight line, and the Honda seems pretty fo rgiv i ng. The wobbles never reall y got o u t of ha nd , n o t even the h umo ngous tan k- s la p p e r I suffered most laps over the bu mp in the flat-out left befor e the firs t chicane . Maybe th e champ was being sma rt and a voiding it, something I couldn't figure out how to do. Th e result was th at I arri ved there m o re th an o nce w ith the front-b rak e pa ds knocked a good way back, necessitating a good pump to ge t them to work properly . Still, it's all jus t part of life's rich pageant if you' re really going for it, I guess - bu t w he n I swapped to Aaron's bike, I have to ad mit I didn't ha ve the sa me problem. For a star t, the Slig ht b i ke feels qui te differen t . It seems longer and lo w er , with a d r o pp ed rear ride heigh t, less trail, a longer wheelbase and m ore kicked-out head ang le, a ll of which ma kes i t feel b etter-b alan ced and m o re s ta b le. But i t's als o a bit harder. work to cha ng e d ir ecti on with, thoug h it tips in nicel y w hen you come off th e b rak es . Th e bi g difference is und er braking, tho ug h, where in sp ite of using th e same braking points and more o r less th e same re vs, Aaron' s RC45 kep t both wheels o n th e ground, didn't suffer loss of front-tire grip, and s top ped just as well as the ot her bike maybe better, becau se now th e back w heel was s tay ing put. I felt sa fe in usi ng q u ite a lot of engi ne brakin g , w hich th e Honda's s prag clutch all ows yo u to d o, w itho u t lo cki ng th e. back wh eel. H owever, I've go t to ad mit it: Maybe th is CBS linked -brake sys tem works, at that. I rem ember Sito Pon s telling me off one ti me I tested his World-title-winnin g NS R250, because I was using th e fron t brake only to stop with, and not as he did - using the back stopper first to encourage pro-squat suspensio n response and make the bike more stable and poised under heavy bra king . Well, that's probably what the CBS does for the Slight superbikc, and if it is, quite apart from the way it seems to set the bike up nicely for the tum, I'm a believer! One t h in g I didn't care for on Aaron's bike wa s his speed-shifter setting , w hich felt much notchier and not as slick as 1.K.'s smooth o pe rato r - bu t that's obvious ly a q uestion of persona l taste. Aa ron's own cha nge-up techn ique I have ye t to learn. But this meant that, ra ther tha n u pset the bike's att itude by u nhooki ng th e d rive changi ng u p cranked over, I ended u p short-shifting w hile still relatively upri ght, like in the middle of the two chicanes. That proved how big a payoff there is in revving the Honda hard (a fact that apparently took John Kocinski by su r p r is e , when he swapped to the Honda this year from the Ducati), by the amount of acceleration I sacrificed in doing so: Sure, the RC45 still pulls cleanly out of the turn o nly not nearly so ha rd. Ride it like a The Castrol Honda RC45s - (Letl) Peer ing into the cockp it reveals the large tach. whIch sees t he high s ide of 14,000 rpm during competition . (Below) Shown naked , the right si de of the bike exposes the fact tha t the RC45 still utilizes a wet c lutch, favori ng inc reas ed reliabi lity over redu ced drag on the motor. two-stroke - an d a screamer, at that, not a big-banger. However, th e ve ry fac t I ha d to d o this emp hasizes anoth er factor, w hich is th a t fo r th e first ti me in three years, accord ing to Neil Tu xwort h, the Hon d as were ru nn ing 17·inc h rear tires at Sentul , where the new surface "lets us run any tir e we like - they all work the same." Hond a only ran 16.5-inch rears twice in 1997, at Phillip Island an d Doning to n, where there are corners wi th hig h rolling speeds and Mi chelin's smaller-diameter tires excel. But they d on't give such good grip cranked over o n the gas o ut of tu rn s, w here th e ir Dun lop rivals' 16.5-inchers, by con tras t, d o excel. But thi s wo u ld n' t en ti rely account for th e only handling glitch r felt on both Ho ndas, wh ich on the exit of turns seemed to und er st eer noti ceabl y on th e ga s, runni ng wide. a little w ith th e back end s it ting down a bit, eve n on Kocinski's bik e. Taking weight" o ff the front end forces you to wait until you pull it back before you can ge t ha rd on the throttle. Pro babl y John or Aaron wo uld have steered it on the gas - but I wasn' t that bra ve, Still, 1 d on't reckon my extra weight was so much a factor in this as was th e Honda's in trins ic pro blem wit h th e Vfour engin e's locati on that I first expericnced five years ago. This was accen tua ted when I rod e Yanagawa's wo rks Kawasaki on the same track a cou ple of d ays later, and had no suc h difficu lties, cou pled wit h the better grip of the Dunlop ru bber cranked over on the gas underlined by watching l he Crafar / Kocinski Sentul scrap which, er , ended in tears. I might not hav e had to short-shift with one of thos e on the back - but then I also maybe wouldn't have felt so confident in the fast 5-bend after the sta rt wall, until I met up w it h my fou r-legged Ind onesian friend ...! Still, Honda won the World Superbike title this season with a bike th at was simply the bes t. John Kocinski took fu ll a d van ta g e of the breaks he was given by the several wet races, usi ng his pee rless ra in-raci ng skills to the full on a bike wh ose nat torq ue curve and easy low- do wn pow er delivery mu st ma ke it a d ream bik e to race in th e wet - even wi thout a w ho le lot of weight on the fron t wheel. Bu t he also excelled in the d ry , an d a nyone who watched him catch the pack and pass them to win at Assen knows he deserved the title. But if JK hadn't done it, there's a good chance his teammate might have, ins tead. So, will 1998 be Aaron Slight's year at las t? Honda has such an edge at present with this V-four ultrnbikc. th e odd s must be in his favor... and anyway, it's f':\ Aa ron 's tum! Castrol Honda RC45 Specification Engine _ . .....Water-coo led OOHC 9O-degree v -toor four-stro ke with offset gear cam shaft drive and four valve s per cyfinder Dimensions 72 x 46rnm Capacity _ Output , __. _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _.. _ 748cc Over 180 bhp a t 14,750 rpm (a t gearboxJ Compression ratio Fuel s y s t em . _... ... .. • ... . .13.2:1 ._ Hondo PGM Fl electroni c as indirect fuel injec tion with 4 x 4 6mm thrott le bod tc c and two injec tio ns per cylinder Ignition .. . . . Gearbox C lut c h . _.. _. . . _ ChOlssis Nlppodcns o digital electronic COl ........ _ . .Six-speed WIth HRC power-shifter Nine-plate oil-bath sprag-type (with 'back-torque limite r ) Extruded-alummum twin -spar frame with cast-alloy steerinq head and swingarm pivot S u spen 9ion Front Rear .. .47mm Showa inverted telescopic forks ._ . _. Cast-aluminum Pro-Arm Single-sided swingorm with rising -rate linkAge end single ShoWB shock Hea d ang le _ Wheelbas e _. . _. __ . . . . . . . . . .. . __ ........•...... . _ Trail . _ 24 degree s _ _ 1390mm 102mm (Kocinski's bike) W e ight . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ W eight distribution 16 2 kg w ith oil/water, no fuel , _ 54/ 46 percent B rakes Front .2 x 320mm Brembo cast-s tainless diSCS w ith four-piston Brembo calipers Rea r _ _. . 1 x 196 mm HAC stainless-steel drec With two- piston HRC calipe r with Racing CTS integrated brake system Wheels/ types Front _. . 12/60-17 Michetin radial on 3.50-inch Marcheslru wtteel Rear . To p speed Y e a r o f man u fac t u re Owner . _.. _ .18/6 7-17 MIchelin radrel on 6.00-inch Ma rchcsim wheel . . .304 kph (Hockenhelm) . . 199 7 Honda Racing Corporation , Saitama . Japan

• Cover