Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wrapped to eit her side of the steering head , inco rporated in the chassis co nstruction and d ou b li ng as the fairing mount. I Lots of tho ught obviously has gone in to crea ti ng this b ike as a basis fo r Hond a' s twin-cylinder superbike conten d er - yet it'll be sold as a volume pro- du cti on mod el a t a price under cuttin g th e It ali an V- tw in m a fi a : less th a n $10,000. And the HRC race kit to transform it into a su perbike contender will be eq ually (and unaccustom edl y!) we llpri ced , at less tha n $30,000 - under the proposed 2001 SBK kit-bike rules . For those fascina ted by fou rs ra the r than tric ked ou t on tw ins, Honda also launch ed th e a ll- new CBR900R R a t Milan (agai n, confusingly, known as the CBR929RR in the u.s.). This is the lon gawaite d rip oste from Ho nda to the Rl Yamah a, altho ugh no t in terms of looks. Unlike the distinctive Yamaha R-family look, the new CBR's bodvwork comes s traigh t out of th e Hond-a s tyli ng- bynu m b e rs manual , promp ting so me design -conscious Europeans at Milan to dismiss it as looking five years old a t b irth . One French magaz ine even likened the wide, triple-head la m p / single reflector "face" of the CBR as resembli ng Jack Nicholson's Joker in "Batman." . It' s a p ity that Hond a d idn ' t ta ke a leaf ou t of John Keogh's Hond a Britai n Evo Blade facelift for the new bike. Still. underneath the deri vative looks is some wonderful eng ineeri ng, combini ng a class-leading claimed cra nksha ft p ower ou tp u t of 152 hp a t 11,000 rpm from the all-new 74 x 54m m 929cc DOHC eng ine - 22 hp mor e tha n the old CBR900. Hond a ha s resi s ted making a full one-li ter bike, so as to continue milking the und en iable s howroom p resti ge of th e CBR900RR ta g (well, every w he re excep t Ame rica ),. but co u pled with an a mazing ly light claimed d ry weight of 374 pounds (28.6 pounds less than the old CBR, a nd a crucial 11 pounds lighter t han t he la tes t Rl ), th is produces a defi nitive power to weight ratio of more than 880 hp per ton. Honda hopes thi s helps them regain sportbike su premacy from Yamaha . To achieve this, Honda has resist ed u sing ram -air in d uc tio n on th e ne w CBR, but has also now ado p ted an integra ted PGM-Fl electro nic fuel-injection p a ck a g e o n the new engi n e , w h os e much s ho rter s troke co mpared to the old b ike h el p s d eliver m ore top-end power thro ugh high er revs and bigger va lves . Howev er, t o co u n te r t h e p eak y n ature o f s uc h an e ng ine, Honda has fitted its own equivalen t of Yamaha's EXUP valve to the titanium ex ha us t system (w hich also features a three-way catalyst as sta ndard), th us restoring vital midrange punc h to the high-revving mot or . Chassis-wise, the big d iffer ence is that the swingarm again pivots in the engine as well as the frame, for added rigidity in a chassis claim ed to be 30 percent stiffer tha n the old bike 's . And the 16-inch front wh eel that was so controversial a featu re on the old model has bee n re p laced by a 17- incher o n the new one, mat ching th e u p s id ed o w n fo rk s a lso mak in g t h e ir deb u t, and 20mm bigger 330mm fron t discs. Yama ha may have moved the goalposts wi th the Rl - but now it looks lik e Ho nd a ha s fou nd how to kick goals thr ou gh them aga in. Al o ng si de the h a lf- fa ir e d vers io n of t h e 60 0c c H o rn et w hic h wi ll permit it to riv al Yama ha ' s be tter-selli ng Fazer, Honda ' s fa mou s five also included the X-I I muscle-cruis- (Below) Cagiva gave its new mega-Monster Ju ras sic looks and appropriately dubbed it the "V-Raptor: ' Ski champion Alberto Tomba (right) seemed to approve. er - im med iately dubbed the Rottweiler of motorcycles at Milan, on account of its aggressive look s. The X-ll 's 138-bh p fuel-injected 1137cc four-cylin der engi ne is transplanted from the CBRllOOXX, to d eli ver I SO mph p ow e r-cru is ing fo r anyone stro ng enou gh to ho ld on tight eno u gh aboa rd the un-fa ir ed b ike a t those speeds - ther e' s no half-faired optio n as wit h the sma ller Hornet. With it s Bla ckbi rd -d erived tw in -s p a r a luminum chassis, the X-II is a cruiser with a lt i tu de, w h o s e per fo r ma nce b ite p romises to be a t least as stro ng as its styling bark. Finally at Milan (but three mor e new models are promised for the Bol ogna Show in Decem ber ), Ho nda un veiled its long-awaited new-generation big-si ngle off-road bike - the XR650R replacement for the long -li ved XR600 fa mily. Th e bike is com plete with the 100 x 82.6mm wa te r-cooled, five -speed, four-valve engi ne tha t Honda is known to have had under development for some time. Delive ring 61 hp at 6750 rpm, this is ho used in a lightweight semi-cradle aluminum frame whose tubu lar bac kbo ne d oubles as an oil tan k for the d ry su mp motor, help ing to deliver the bike's ligh t 268-po u nd d ry weight , co m ple te wi th lighting equ ip me n t. Expect a family of bikes built around this compact big sing le motor to e vo lve ove r th e co mi ng years. In the face of the Honda ons laug h t, Suzu ki preferred to keep all thei r powd er d ry ti ll Pa ris, as d id Ka w a saki excep t for an updated version of the ZX9R. Thi s features d etail im provements to th e e n g in e (h ig h e r co m p ress io n, 2pound ligh ter cylinder b lock, revised cam timing, etc. - bumping crank out pu t up 5 hp to 147 hp j, bu t most notably a restyled front fairing delivering a more a ggres si vel ook, w it h twin Rl -esq ue headl am ps su rm ou n ting a mea n-look ing s ha rk-mo ut h inta ke for the . en en en ~ cD ~ '" ..c Aprilia continues to expand its V-twin line, with this new half-falred, Rotaxpowered SL1000 Falco an examp le. .2 u o 35

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