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/128365
Honda RC211 V (Left to right) The '04 RC211V went through multiple chassis changes over the course of the season, and the swingarm and its pivot point were two of them; the fork is a Showa unit, but the geametry had to be changed on the front end to work with the new 16.S-inch Michelin front tire; Bremba radial-mount calipers with 310mm carban rotors handle braking up front. handling Yamaha or Kawasaki, perhaps because of the extra inertia and weight of the V-five engine (though for sure the previous rather conservative steering geome- try with the I7-inch Michelin front tire has been replaced by something sharper and qUicker-steering to accommodate the new 16.S-inch rubber). Too bad the rear tirerelated chatter stopped Honda's riders from getting the best out of the setup until late in the year. However, for the first time in the three years I've been testing it, the RC21 IV started to move around on me under heavy braking at the end of the Jerez main 30 FEBRUARY 16,2005 • straight, stopping hard from what felt like Warp Factor lOin terms of top speed for the second-gear hairpin - it really is a big thrill riding a bike this fast, even if it makes the heart nutter when it starts wandering from side to side under heavy braking. In doing so, it reminded me of riding Kenny Roberts' RGVSOO Suzuki two-stroke here five years ago, which did just the same thing in just the same place, yet like the Vfive Honda four-stroke it was otherwise quick-steering and fast-handling by the standards of its class. There seems more weight transfer under heavy braking on the Honda this year, in spite of its longer, lower CYCLE NEWS architecture and the relatively low seating position. That's probably down to steering geometry. It's a tradeoff: Almost certainly the wider rear Michelin delivered for 2004 gave more grip, but at the expense of weighting the steering. Honda's response to this was to quicken up the steering geometry to compensate for this, with the result I experienced at Jerez in terms of reduced stability when there's some significant weight transfer under the great braking from those big, 310mm carbon discs and their radial Brembo calipers, which stop such a fast bike so wonderfully well. But Honda hasn't sacrificed any of the RC21 IV's great cornering stability in fast turns, such as the fourth-gear left-hander opposite the pits at Jerez - or especially the superb third-gear off-camber right sweeper named after Sito Pons running up and over a little rise leading onto the main straight, where a bike that doesn't have good balance and sorted steering geometry, delivering stability matched by front grip, will end up giving you the fright of your life. The Honda was superb here. noating as if it didn't exist over the bump on the apex that has sent many a good man into the kitty litter thanks to the sorted, capable chassis and perfectly setup Showa suspension, which eats up road rash even in a stressful moment such as this one - then accelerating like a two-wheeled Shinkansen onto the fastest part of the circuit, where its magnif- icent V-five motor could stretch its legs, and in doing so, give me a whole new appreciation of the worth of what is arguably the best bike engine ever built. Because this year's version of the Honda V-five motor is not only the best sounding (Via the quad-megaphone exhaust introduced midway through the season at Sachsenring), the highest revving (rev limiter is at 16,SOO rpm, ISOO revs up on last year, at least as I rode) and most powerful yet (2SS bhp at 16,300 rpm, according to inside information), it's also especially the most torquey. The growling V-five motor is deceptively user-friendly at low rpm: You really could imagine riding it to the pub, if you could find somewhere to bolt on the license plate. It drives cleanly and smoothly away from its 3000-rpm idle speed in pit lane, and there's not a single hiCCUp in the now of power as the revs build to the thrilling accompaniment of the droning roar from the exhausts. Exiting the tight last turn onto the pit straight at Jerez, I wound the throttle hard open in second gear and felt the rear Michelin dig in as the aggressive yet controllable power delivery at higher rpm lifted the front wheel lightly off the ground, then kept it hovering there as I hit third, then fourth, and the Honda rocketed past the pits like a five-cylinder guided missile before I grabbed a very brief fifth, and reversed the process all over again, braking