Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ . • ( " _ without visible exhaust systems are a t risk of looking a bit bland . But Hond a has do ne su ch an excelle nt job of crossbreeding a jet fighter wit h a Gold Wing that th e la ck of s hi ny chrome- p la te d muffler s is a forgivable omission. And jet fighters d on' t have mufflers, anyway. The in tegration of function within the body was extended to the passenger footpegs. When no t in use, the footpegs retract within the upper bod y elements, preser vin g the clean styling lines from the side. According to Tako-san, the X-Wing derives its name from the side-view lines of the bike. The upper edges of the "X" are defi ned by the lower edge of the seat and the trailing edge of the upper fairing cowling, the lower edges are defined by the large black triangle in the bellypan. The "X" theme was sneaked into a few othe r tidbi ts: If you looked closely, you could see Xs in the lenses of the turn-signal lam ps and ta il lam ps. In terms of rider comfort, Honda left no thing off the list with the X-Wing. With a push of a button, the seat height can be raised or lowered, an d the "butt res t" can be moved fore or aft. The ha ndl eb ar gri ps are "gun grips," in Takosans words, meaning that they resemble the grip of a pistol. Buttons on the right ha ndlebar control gear changes of the tran smi ssion. . On th e gas tank a re button s ga lore for the seat con tro l and fair ing control, a n d m or e bu tt on s fo r switch ing th e large LCD flat-pa ne l display from GPS naviga tion to rad io tu ning to Int ernet su rfing. Int ernet su rfing? Flat pan el di splay? Wh at !?! Actu all y, th e X-Win g d oesn' t have a lar ge LCD flat-pan el d ispl ay - it has thr ee. The cen ter display supports the GPS navigation, rad io functions and Int ern et function s. An d if you think that Intern et activities and mot or cycle sport tourin g d on ' t mi x, w ell , think again . Spo rt touring is don e out on open roads, and wi thin half an hou r, yo u are out of range for goo d radio reception; Changing tape s o r aud io C Ds is a rg uably much more d iffi cult on a mot orcy cle than a ca r. Hence, so meth ing without distance or time boundaries: the Int ernet. With the X-Wing, you can ride from coas t to coas t and listen to, for instance, KFOG fro m San Francisco, one of over 2000 rad io sta tions on the Net. The other tw o flat-panel disp lays are high-tech rearview mirrors. Ch eck th e pictures an d yo u ' ll notice that Hon da left the mirrors off the X-Wing. Ins tead, Honda placed small CCD vid eo cameras in each sad d le bag , pointed rearward . No more blind spots, n o more buzzy mirrors. Thank you, Honda. The X-Win g runs o n a cha ss is that (Above) The Hon da Boss Cat combine s a stepthroug h des ig n with Harley-esque styling to cre ate a fashi on statement. (Right) The Boss Cub is ano ther step -through fr om Honda , featuring a 250cc, liquid-cool ed fo ur-s troke single taken fr om one of Honda's top -of-the-Iine scooters. (Below) Yamaha's star of the sho w wa s th e MT-01 a beefed-up V-Max? The exhaust pipes and mufflers on th e MT-01 were deliberate ly routed und er the seat to all ow th e rider to feel th e " exhaust vibration, th e pulse feeli ng - and the sound." ••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••• ..........,..,. . ... . incorporat es the single-s ided sus pension sys tems from the Elf 500cc Grand Prix racer of the midd le an d late 1980s, technology th at is loved more in Europe than in the Uni ted States. This includes the inside-ou t front -b rake d is c and caliper, where the large-diame ter d isc is attached to th e ri m of the fro n t wheel, rather than the hub. The fro nt d isc, as well as th e rear disc, is ve ntilated to improve heat d issipation. Will an X-Wing-like mot orcycle ever become a product in Honda' s line up, or is it just an other tease? Honda' s press release said, "stro ng hint of motorcycle sty les for the nea r futu re," and Take-san was eager to take on the task of preparing the X-Wing conce pt for a p rod uction mod el. "Yes, definitely, I wou ld lov e to do this!" Parked on either side of the X-Wing w er e co ncept m ot orcycles th a t were similar to each other, but a world away from the X-Wing. The euphemism at Honda for the old 50cc Honda step- throu gh motorcycles wit h which America fell in lov e in the ,. • • • • • • • • • • • ••••••••••• 1960s a n d w hi ch a re s ti ll w h iz z i n g thro ug h the streets of Saigon and Shanghai tod ay is "business-class" mot orcycles . While the engi nes of so me of these models ha ve grow n to 100cc, g ive o r take, the class remains steadfastly fixed a t th e bo ttom o f t he sca le in terms of performance (save for fuel-economy figures) . If consu me rs want higher perfo rmance from a s tep-through b ik e, the only option is a full-bodied, little-w heel scoo ter. To so me folks, those jus t aren' t real motorcycles. Ho nda show ed that they are giving this sit uation so me serious thought, and disp layed tw o bik es th at foll ow the theme of the s tep- through m ot orcycle yet push the bou ndaries of the class to new limits. Th e s ma ller of th e tw o bi g s te pthrou gh m otorcycl es presente.d b y Honda was the "Boss Cub." This motorcycle utili z es a 250cc liquid-co ol ed, layed-dow n, four -stroke, sing le-cylinder engine snatched from on e of Honda's top-of- the-line scooters, com p lete with cons tantly vari able belt-d rive transmission. The res t of the bike is true to tradi- tionaI Honda Cub s tep-through architecture, including leg shields and superlong seat. Honda modernized a few things, tho ugh, such as one -piece cast wheels and a disc brake for the front wheel. The Boss Cub is aimed at adults who enjoy leisurely weekend riding . The other step-through Honda displayed as a concept bike was also ta rge ted fo r weekend riding - but probably after the sun goes down. amed the "Boss Cat," Honda combined step-through design layout with Harley-esque styling to create a motorcycle th at is, if nothin g else, a fashion stateme n t. The eng ine is a 400cc liqu id cooled, four-stroke parallel twin, slightly incli ned from ver tica l and w i t h ample cylinder finni ng to at leas t so mewhat resem ble half of a V-twin. The cy linders sit on a cra nkcase th at looks like it was stretched out to ei ther make the mot orcycle look bigger, or copy the chunky cases normally seen on cruiser bikes. Honda ca lls the Boss Ca t a "s treetcomm u ter" and ot her medi a migh t call it a cruiser, bu t th e Boss Ca t is pu re chop per: s ky- hig h s tee ri ng h e a d , inclined tea rdrop gas tank, floorboa rds, fa t tir es, long exhaust pip es with oxy moron m egaphone m ufflers, pullback handlebars, big chrome head larnp, and a raked -out fork. The perfect bike for the day-glow hair crowd in Japan to cru ise the famous biku street in Tokyo's Ueno district. Ho nd a r~ached bac k int o its past to crea te another prototype for the Tokyo Motor Show, the "CB Four." Commemora ting the 30 years since they brought o u t th e CB 750 Fo u r, o ne of m otorcycli ng's all-time significan t m od el s, :>O Honda has mad e a CBT Four replica. Th is tim e the en gine is just 400cc, but air-cooled like the original. Honda d evia ted here and .there on d etails - the CB Four is a d oubl e-overhead-cam eng ine, whereas the orig inal had a single-overh ead cam; th e C B Four ha s n o kick starte r whereas the original had a kicks tar t lever - but th e final product will sure ly cause anyone who experi enced th e original CB750 Four series to stop c:5 Q; .c E ~ z 7

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