Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Valentino Rossi's Honda RC211 V Bre mbo radial-mount ca li pers and carbon rotors slow the RC211 V down from its over-200-mph speeds attained at certain tracks. The 75.5-degree five cylinder motor doesn't require a power robbing balance shaft like some of the other MotoGP bikes. Additionally. the bike runs a conservative rev-limit to reduce wear and tear and increase the maintenance intervals. The 990cc V5 mo to r exhales its exh aust gases through a trio of titanium mega phone pipes. Two exit on the right side of the bike and a single (pi ctured herel exits from underneath the tail section. The Unit-Pro Link suspension incorporates the shock into the swingarm, eliminating t he top mounting point f or the shock on the frame; this in tum allows the fuel to be carried lower in the chassis under the seat. debut season , en route to a convincing W o rld t itl e? That's the ex te nt of the ch allenge that faced HRC's tea m of e ngi neers , hea ded by projec t lea de r Sh og o K a n a um i , i n fu rt her r efin in g MotoGP racin g ' s do m i nant m ot o r c ycl e to d efend that W orl d cr o wn in 2 0 0 3 . T o do so , th e y retained th e RC2 11V's overall arc hi tecture , w h il e concentrati ng o n th e few areas whe re i t w a s a p pare nt some i m p r o ve m e n t co u l d b e achieved . Mind you , th e fac t that th e n e w Du cat i D e s m o s e di c i was so immediately competitive straight o ut of the box , leading the firs t five lap s of the Japanese GP tha t ki ck ed off the 2003 seaso n o n Ho n da ' s home ground at Suzuka , probabl y focused their con centrati o n j ust a little! So, wh ile co nce ntrati ng on reduc ing int ern a l fr iction and developing new valves. pi st on s and ca ms haft s, wi th alte red valve tim ing , HRC left th e RC2 11 V ' s 75 .5-d egr e e V5 990 c c engi ne essentia ll y un changed , retain in g the sing le p l a in - bea ring c ra n kshaft , whic h is fo r wa rd-spinning , unli ke the M 1 Yamaha . T he RCV ' s cra nkshaft layout features four m ain bea rin gs and th ree ring pi stons c arrie d on tit an ium co nrods, with th ree cylinders m ounted in th e front bank of cy linde rs and tw o in th e rea r, to keep th e bi ke nar rower between the ri der' s k nees. It' s a sem idry sump design, wi th th e need for a separate o il ta nk eli m ina ted by havin g th e d eep eng ine oi l reser vo ir sha red with th e gearbox casi ng and sep arated fr om the c ran ks ha ft ca v ity by an internal wall . This obtain s th e benefits using a h igher gear than yo u might expect t o much o f the t im e , rather lik e Honda 's World Ch a mp io n SP-2 V-twin Superbike. I'm sure that with a few more laps, I'd h av e bee n taking that last turn onto th e pit stra ig ht in third rather th an second and gr ab bin g sixt h g ear eve n so o n er o n the ru n down to th e first chicane . Pit y the V5 didn't have a spee do fitted as well as the analog ue ta cho - darn it , I'll never kno w if I m anag ed to br eak 186 mph on a racetrac k for the fi rst time ... ! Th i s y e ar m o r e th a n ever , i t's rea ll y beyon d m y ca pa bi lity to critic ize the RCV , because it is in every way simply the be st of the best - and that's b e cau se Ho nda has ke pt it si mple . M y resp e c t fo r Val e n ti n o Rossi was alrea dy at an all -time hi gh after wa tc hing hi m d ea l w ith his fellow Hon da -mou nt ed rivals at Va lenc i a three da y s earlie r in a ra c e he didn't re all y ha ve t o win - unlik e Sete G ib e rn au , buoy ed on b y th e massive Sp ani sh crowd . But to lea ve Ho nda, and with it thi s motorcycle, in favor of m o v ing t o Yama ha an d tr ying to turn th e YZF -M 1 into a winner, just b ec aus e he w anted a n ew challe nge s i n c e , a fte r sc o r i n g 2 0 rac e victories on it in 3 2 rac es, w in ning had becom e t o o ea sy o n the RC2 1 1V Honda . well , that sa ys it all. What a man . wh at a cham pion but what a bike! HONDA RC2 11 V T E C H N IC A L : M A KIN G THE BEST STI L L BETTER Okay , so how do you make better th e b ik e t hat won 14 of 16 ra c es in it s 58 JANUARY 7 ,2004 ' cue I e ne""s of a dry -sump m o tor i n r edu cing crankshaft pumping loss es as well as inte rnal inert ia ca used by oil drag on th e cr ank , wi t h o u t having to fi n d so mew he re t o pl ac e an external oil tan k . Al so, th e deep V-shaped sump fo llo ws th e lea d g iv en by Ducat i ' s T e st a st r ett a V -twi n Sup erb ik e engi ne's si mi lar format in preventing o il st arv at io n, even und er extre me ch ang es o f angl e from one si d e to another with conseq uent oil surge. T he RCV has n o p ow er -sapp in g ba lance shaft, sin ce Ho nda has effect ive ly succeeded in p ro du cin g a V5 eng ine consist ing of a pair of V-t win s sitti ng sid e by side , with a sing le in t he mi d dl e , whose c hosen b al an c e fa c tor r emov es t he n e ed for a co unte rbalancer. Each c y li nde r of stil l - und isclosed but not o verl y sh ort -s troke di mensions has fo ur tita nium va lves (set at a very fl at incl u de d a ng le a n d still empl oyin g val ve sp rin gs). ope rat ed by gear-driv en o verhead camshafts , two per cylinder ban k . The integ rated engi ne -management system inc o rporat es Hon da's PGM-F l elec tro nic fuel injectio n , wi th a set of five t h ro tt le bod i e s sitti ng w i t hi n t he airb o x m ounted in th e front part of the fu eltank shroud , whi ch, in th e fir st major departure fr om 2 00 2, was fitted this ye ar as st andard with ram -air induction . This was em p loyed by Ross i to w in t he wet ra c es in Portugal and Bra zil a yea r ag o , but aft er handling prob l ems und er brak ing in th e dry saw h im d efe at ed i n th e n ext two ra c e s at Mot egi and S epang, he began to believe the ram -a ir format adve rsely affe cted the b ike's handlin g into t urns , and he switched ba ck to th e or iginal la y o u t. HRC has now refin ed th i s ra m - air sy ste m , whi ch de livers a n e xt ra 5 bhp of top-end power while nec essitating a different fairin g and pressurized airbox. Ea ch throttle body is fitted w ith tw in inj ectors - o ne positioned at th e side below the throttle butterfly , the other located al most ve rt ica lly above it , and wo rking differe n tia lly: T he l o w e r one tak es care o f low a n d m idran ge perfo rmance, the upper one comes into p lay at h i gh er rpm , a ll co nt ro lled by the on- board ECU . New fo r 2003 is the m uch lou der trip le-exit ti ta nium ex haust wi t h q uite pron oun c e d mega p hones , w h i ch r epl a c e s t he m o re heav ily m uffl ed tw i n- exit system use d a year ago . Th e ben efi t is a fl att er to rq ue curve at lo we r to midrang e rpm , resulting in a smoothe r p ic kup fro m ou t of slow er turns , as well as significant ly m ore powe r up hig h w hen co mb ined with the extra 500 rpm avai lable thi s seaso n ove r la st , ob ta i ned v i a t he re d uced fr ict i on , r ev ised m app ing , m odified com b ustio n chamber s and alte red val ve timing , wh ich rais ed th e rev limit to 15,200 rpm . How mu ch power? "We now have over 240 bhp at th e gea rb o x , wh en m eet ing rev-limite r, " say s Kanaumi , thus confirming a 10 percent pow er inc rease on 2002. "But th is engine is still ga in ing power when th e cuto ut arrives , so if we need more power, we co uld raise the revlim it ." Bu t in spite of hav ing more cylin ders and t hus the potential fo r higher

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