Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128240
Yamaha showed its XT660X Supennotard bike at th e show. The Honda RN01 racing downhill mounta in bike _n the fourth round of the Japanese Mountain Bike Championship and w ill go on sale In the near future, according to Honda personnel at the show. Japanese Sc ooters. T oday the manu fac turers are takin g the sc ooter mark et very serio usly - and in the c ase of on e Japanese manufacturer, ma y be more ser iousl y than the m otorc ycl e ma rket. Sc oot er s a re getting b igg er a nd bet t er , fa st er an d flashi er. And we are start ing to see sc ooter product s t argeted fo r c om m utin g, touring and sport. " I th ink t h e r easo n h e variou s manufa ct urer s are tak i ng_~imila d ire cti s is th at scooter s are easy to ri de a nd sa fe t o ride - mu ch sa fe r t h a n ever, " said Honda ' s K e n j i Kaw ag uchi. chief enginee r in prod uct pl ann i n g . "I t h in k t h e Jap an e se scooter ma rket wi ll become diversi fied , just as it was for th e motorcycle. T he 2 50cc sc ooter s are now repla c ing th e 250 cc m ot o rc ycles." A t th e T ok y o M o t or Sh ow on e would ex pec t m ajor m ot or c ycle (a nd s c o ot e r ) pr odu ct a n no u nce ments from fo ur manufacturers . What you wo uld not have expected was o ne of th e m a nu f a c tu r er s to be a non J apanese company . best of the sco oter and the best of the m otorcycl e wi th a new design . " T he sco oter ha s th r e e g o od poi nts," continu ed Ka tag iri. " O ne i s the cargo space, where yo u can store thi ngs. The other is that it is very low . And, of course , it has the auto mati c transmiss ion . A s for a motorc y cl e, th e good po ints of the m ot orcycl e are b ig w heels and a short wh ee lb ase. It m a es the hanaling very ma lleab le, - very easy to tum. e combined all these good po ints to gether." Alm o st voi d of any regular geo me tric sha pe , the G r i ff o n ' s avant ga rde styli ng was out of thi s world . Th e m o re you loo k ed at it , th e more you liked it. " We w anted a f orm th at l o ok ed n e ith er li k e a m otorcycle o r lik e a scooter, but wa s a dramati c form , a rev o lution ar y st yl in g," sai d Kat ag iri. HONDA F o r th e Tokyo Motor Sh ow. Hond a com bined its corporate "T he Power of Drea m s" slogan wi t h it s trademark wing ico n t o cre a te the t he me " D ream Wi ngs. " Hond a alway s p rese nts o ne stu nning con c ept m otor c y cl e at th e Tokyo Mot or Show ; thi s time aroun d the concept wa s ca lle d " Griffo n. " T he name Griffon c omes from the mythica l Greek creature whi ch ha s th e bod y of a l ion and th e h ead of a n eagle. It was an appropriat e name, as the Griff on was a fusion of motorcycle sportin ess with sco ot er c o nv en ience and comfort. " I wa nted to cre ate some thi ng th at l o o k e d neith er l i k e a scooter or motorbike, b ut had the best of both of the m ," ex p lained Kiyoshi K at ag ir i from the design departmen t that ere ated Griffo n. " I tried to c o m b ine the Th e Yamah a XR500 Max scooter. Power fo r the Griffon is from a ho ri (I HCC), no w available in some Honda zontally opposed , four- cy linder 750cc c ars. Th i s syste m m on it o rs d ri v ing engine eq ui pped w ith VTEC va ria ble p aram eters and th e ve hi c le ahead valve ti ming fo r better power charac and regul ates the vehicle' s spe ed to teristic s and fue l consumptio n. K atama in ta in a safe foll owi ng d istance. T h e Gri ffo n a lso i n c o r p o r a te s g i ri a g reed that the e n g ine l ook ed Honda 's Sm art Key . The Smart K ey sim ilar to th e eng ine in Honda 's El ysi um c oncept scoo t er from t he l ast uses a radi o fre quency identi fi c ati o n Tokyo Motor Show but insisted th at chi p in p lace of a conventional ke y . the Griffon had a new eng ine. The vehicle auto m aticall y locks its el f Engine power is achieve d rough when the Sm art K ey is ou t of range " a e Sm a a tra sm iss ion t a t is selecta bl..... "T'--; n Cl u n l otk i se lf wh en be tween autom at ic and manual operK ey is pro x im at e t he veh icl e. Th i s ation. Sixteen -i nch w h eel s are suseliminate s th e key slot from the ve hipended on a monofork and Unit Pro c1e and makes op eration more con Link mono swinga rm. A large venient. diameter rim -mount ed di sc brake was Instrum entati on i s rela tive ly lo w fi tte d o n th e fro nt wh eel, o perated by tech , w ith all gauges displayed w ithin o ne larg e di ameter ci rcular gauge. " Co m b ine d ABS : a co m b ina t io n o f anti -l ock br aking and ABS . " I like this typ e of watch , wi th lot s Th e Griffon incorporates Hond a' s of m eters ," said Katag iri , pointing to hi s Br eitl in g wrist watc h . " So I In t ell i g ent H i ghwa y C ru ise Co n t ro l designed th e in struments close to my wristwatc h. T here are rea r-v ie w m oni tors on the side, with two CCD c am eras on the back ." T he rear -view monitors ca n. at th e rider's discretion . be sw itc h ed to a n avigat ion system displa y . The l eg cowling s bel ow the ha n dle bars featu re la rg e volume sto rage co ntainers. Th e right and left co ntainer eac h have enough space for a fu ll face hel m e t. St o ra g e space i s an im port ant prod uc t specification in the scooter ma rket. No rma lly this space is prov id ed under th e seat, but in the Gr iff on th e sto rage space is ac cess ible wi thout requ ir in g the rid er to dis m ount. The fro nt cowli ng al so features an LED headlamp th at snakes along th e lead ing edge of th e cowli ng . It's doubtful that th e Griffon will eve r see p r oducti on in th e form shown by Ho nda at the To ky o Mo to r Show . But make no mistake tha t we will see scooters in the nea r fu ture with 750cc or even lOOOcc engines , and much bigger wheels . Ma ny in the new genera tion of riders have all of -- c ue I e n e vv S • N OVEM BER 1 2 , 2003 19