Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Colin Edwards' 2002 World Superbike Championship-winning Honda VTR1000 SP-2W the so-smooth SP-2. Ease of changing direction on the Honda is its strong suit, doubtless thanks to a combination of its compact build, lower cee of gee, and more centralized mass, even with Colin Edwards' preference for quite conservative chassis geometry in search of faster turn speeds and extra front wheel grip. Yet in spite of that, handling is very neutral: The Honda feels well balanced and doesn't run wide exiting a turn hard on the gas - there's no understeer, and it doesn't push the front wheel even when you crack the throttle hard open leaned right over. However, back off the gas too much entering a sweeping tum, and be prepared to tulve to work a little harder tcstop it washing the front wheel out. l'bat's the only time you encounter "'.m:ee:r - off the throttle, which is t'lM! opposite of most other bikes, and e9Idently reflects the nature of the ~'s new chassis package couwith Edwards' chosen geometry. One factor 19 - . peerless setup that helpr. g is the Honda's ~._,. __tnty under heavy brakinother is its more forgiving re if you miss an apex and have to turn back in tighter to get back on line again - always a problem for me when I get carried away trying to pretend I'm the Texas Tornado, not! The combinatioll of the less rigid, more responsive chassis and completely new Sbowa fork internals means that the "02 Honda is a more forgiving as well as more responsive bike - so that when I missed my braking point and went in too deep to Suzuka's Degner Turn, or got the line wrong for the fast right sweeper running down from the hairpin to Spoon Curve, I could pull it back on line without haVing to back off the gas more than a tDUdfr ~ correct. This is, by so~ most responsive a Superbike I've y though it's not as the Aprilia • turns - it is tum or to right down behind it along the Suzuka straights. Must be a great bike for the long haul - not only is it solid-feeling and unburstable, the V-twin Honda is forgiving and comfortable to ride, too, rather than giving the imp~ession of a tightly-wound coil spring of a bike that you have to constantly assert your mastery over, as the Ducati frankly is in .h,andling terms. That would get tiring over an eight-hour stretch - maybe- one reason Ducati doesn't do Endurance... The World Champion Honda is a very impressive bike, especially compared to its 2001 predecessor, and now I can appreciate how Colin got the better of Troy in that Imola shootout, in spite of the Aussie very visibly riding the wheels off his Italian bike while the Japanese V-twin just molDled. Truly, those clever folks at HRC have built a better Ducati. Hc:mda really stepped up a level with V-twin four-litroke development with this :versIon of the SP-2W and j e.11ges every credit for tran8lormlng t€ radically com~ to tl'ie:p I rode. and wasn't a year reliev·ea._at tlng out Wodt"SriIilerb'lke for a seaso" before retumiDg with the new foUr\: cylinc$llr ReB in 2004, J reckon even w ·9!ll9Jlri:fii have hacllts "'·~~,~_;t Edwards/SP·2W <:OifMii" the two stuck ·1\I1:MlIl!'1rotQill beI;'.I/I. ... never~~~~~~=~J~ son. But we'll one reason or a~ ed otherwise. Maybe it makes setlllle W' you're ahead. QI..,..IIe·; America) streetbike in measuring 100 x 63.6mm, for 999cc, with camdrive via a train of three gears driven off the end of the crank, operating the twin overhead camshafts in each cylinder head. The big bore allows a set of oversize valves per cylinder, each WIth two valve springs and set at a flat included angle of 24 degrees to each other. Valves and buckets (the latter coated with a low'-friction covering for greater reliability at higher revs) are all made from titanium, as are the conrods, which are fitted with three-ring pistons after Honda suffered oil blow-by problems in testing with two-ring ones such as Ducati now U5eS. With oil consumption a factor in the Suzuka 8 Hours, HRC engineers opted to stick with the three-ring ones in developing the race engine, which is essentially the same spec for both endurance and sprint racing. Maybe that's another reason Ducati doesn't do Endurance... While the pair of Keihin throttle bodies fitted to the 2002-model SP-2 streetbike measure a diameter of 62mm at the butterfly, the works Superbike began the season with I\eWIy homologated 64mm kit throttle bodies for its PGM-Fl fuel injection. As in previous years, these incorpoBted twin injectors per cylinder, set opposite each other before the throttle butterfly, controlled by a fully integrated engine management system incorporating the EFI. The much larger airbox (compared to Honda's original 2000-model SP-l V-twin) is still fed by the same triangular central airduct in the nose of the fairing via ducting cleverly incorporated in the alloy steering head casting of the chassis, to deliver a straight hit of cool ram air to the airbox, while keeping the bike slim and aerody- namic. However, the Cabin Honda which won the Suzuka 8 Hours in the hands of Edwards and Katoh incorporated a new engine specification which substantially improved power all through the revband, and was transferred to

• Cover