Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The 37th Tokyo Motor Show their rid ing ex perience on scooters , with little or no experience on how to use a clutch , gear change , an d rear wheel foot br ak e. For those rid ers Honda showed a new Forza scooter with the fi rst com prehensive design updating since th e model was intr oduced four years ago . " We have a lot of com peti t ion from the Yamaha Maj est y an d the Suzuki Skywave, " sa id It su o K imura from Honda's Technical Coo rd ination Center. " T h e 250cc sc o o t er market is growing." The sylish Forza now features a Check out Suzuki's G St rid er, another fuel-injected 250cc liquid -cooled sin co ncept scooter that's half motorcycle, gle and an electron ically controlled ha lf scooter. "Sportmatic" transmission. A rocker swi tch on the left handlebar allows the rid er to upshift or downshift the transmission at his discretion. two helmets - or eve n golf clubs can "T here is not a drastic change in fit in. Yes, golf clubs." terms of engine performance ," said When th e new For za is released in Kenji Kawaguchi , chief engineer for the spring of 2004, it will feature the the Forza . "However , we made a Smart Key sys tem, as on the Griffon. change in the transmission . Basicall y , A key fob carried by the rid er will dis scooters are equipped with fully autoarm th e security system and allow matic transmissions. However, equipthe ri de r to turn on an "On" switch ping the new Forza with an electroni and start the scooter. cally controlled transmission, the user "Sm art-key system is very much can select automatic or manua l new for Forza." said Kimura. "Theft is transm ission . Previousl y , the auto a b ig pr o ble m . Ever y y e ar o ve r matic t ransm iss ion did not allow 200 ,000 m o t orcycles are stol en in engin e brak ing. Now , b y equipping Japan . It' s mostly small scooters and the new Forza with a manua l trans 400 c c su pers po r t bikes th a t a re mission option , the user can obtain stolen ." engine bra ki ng. S e c o nd l y , w h e n Honda offered a nu m ber of options 'mbing a hill , t he user can change on the old Forza an I n ' ated is ears to p ovid better cce eTa_-_ _'w n the . new Fo rza, tion." al so . Th is in cludes an audio ys te m The old Forza was targeted for th e with tw o large yet dis crete speakers tand em rid ing c ro w d; howeve r , it in the fron t co wling. Honda is wo rk ing lacked storage space for two full-fa ce on sp eed- sen sitive volume c o nt ro l helmets - someth ing offered by th e aud io syste ms with co m p ac t pow er competition . Th e new Forza now amplifiers and subwoofers for sco ot boasts 60 liters of storage space. ers; wh eth er th is technol ogy will be " St o rag ewi se, thi s is very mu ch available on the Forza audio syste m improved," said Kimura . "It can ta k e is a wait -an d -see question. , -: -_.-""" 20 N OV EMBER 12, 2003' c ue • e --.:::;;:;;;;.... ",' n eVIl's For the Gen eration Y skateboard crowd, Honda d isplayed a funky PS250 scooter. Th is is the fifth prod uct to come out of Honda 's " N" Project, a product development group headed by young people who Honda feels have a better understanding of the needs and wan ts of the new gen er ati on . Prev ious projects released from this group are the fat -t ire Ape motorcycle and Zoomer scooter, th e minimalist Bite scooter, and th e very retro Solo m ot orcy cl e. e PS250 lOOKS l ik e a scooter originall m Of h m il' a an th en pa inted canary ye ll ow at th e la st m inute. Th e c ushy seat is forward / ba ckwa rd adjustable over an 80mm (th ree- inch) range , and it has a back rest that folds down to act as th e seat for a pill ion passenger. Honda call s t he PS250 "th e pi c k -up t r uc k of scooter s" to em phasize th e availabl e st orag e spa ce in th e scooter . A t t he sm a II end of th e scoo ter spec t rum, Honda announce d th e Dio Z4 FI, Hond a ' s f ir st 50 c c powe re d vehicle with a fuel-injected engine. Together witb a four-va lve cylinder head, the co mpact fuel -injection system is claimed by Honda to im prove engine performance and fuel con sumption significantly. Honda hasn 't given up on the motorcycle business, take note. Most of the new motorcycles shown at Tokyo were models that were recently debuted at Paris or Milan, but there were a couple of new bikes shown by Honda at Tokyo for the clutch-loving crowd. The CB400 Super Four, a popular UJM in the domestic m ar k et , has been upgra ded fro m VTEC to Hy per VT EC Spec III. T he latest VTEC now lim it s val ve actuati on to one int ake and on e ex haust valv e per cy lind er wh en en gi ne sp eed is below 6300 rpm in th e fir st fi ve gears and 6750 rpm in sixth gear. Having d ifferent cross-over points improves the pu nch from the engine when accelerating in the lower gears and improves the fuel econom y when crui sin g i n the to p gear. The CB400 Sup er Four has an updated appearance due to a multireflector headlamp, an LED taillight, a passenger grab ra il , and new side panels that make it easier for shorter riders to reach the ground. The CB400 Super Four's g rea tgran dda ddy, the C B750, has been update d for the umpteenth time. The on - sejl tn g Ca;z5 now has a red and -white pa int sc hem e rem in iscent of th e old CB 11OOF. A multireflector headlamp giv e th e front a fresh look, and the theft-prev en tive Honda Igni. t ion Security System ( HISS) makes the bike tougher to hotwire by a safety pin artist (the HISS system incorporates an integrated circu it within the igni ti on k ey ) . Th e entry -level CB4 00SS - an air coo le d m iddl ew ei gh t thumper that also sells well in th e domest ic market - has now been fitted w ith electric start and HISS. Three significan t non mo torize d prototypes were shown by Honda at Tokyo. Honda continues to develop better motorcycle riding simulators. Four years ago Honda released a $60,000 riding simulator that uses a large rear-projection monitor and dummy motorcycle to simulate the riding experience. Now Honda has developed a "Riding Trainer" that uses per sona l co m puter hardware, handlebar controls, and foot-operated gear c h ang e and rear brake in a sim ple co nst ruct io n to re p ro duce th e riding ex pe rience in an indoor environme nt. Th e riding T rain er is similar to some personal computer games, but with a different object ive. "T he difference from a PC game is that we are trying to get close to the

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