Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

motor each have six cylinders arranged about a central shaft, like that of an Old West six-shooter revolver. Unlike the revolver, the cylinder block is fixed and the center shaft rotates. Mounted on the central shaft is a circular plate known in the indusuy as a swash plate. The plate is mounted in a way that allows for changing the angle between the centerline of the central shaft and the center of the plate. k; this angle - called the swashplate angle - increases from zero degrees, the swash plate appears to wobble as the central shaft rotates. The bottom of each of the six pistons stays in contact with the swash plate. Thus, as the swash plate wobbles with the rotation of the central shaft, the pistons move back and forth within their respective cylinders, all the while pulling and pushing hydraulic fluid in and out of the cylinders. Check-valves are used to ensure the direction of hydraulic-fluid flow. When a hydraulic pump and motor are paired together, they can be used as a mechanical transmission. Large swashplate angles provide high pressure but only at low shaft rotational speed. Small swashplate angles provide substantially less pressure but much higher shaft rotational speed. Thus, one of the major benefits of this type of transmission is that it can provide infinitely variable reduction ratios over its range of operation. "We have many development topics ongoing in the factory, and this has always been one of them," Sugiyama said. "The automatic CR2S0 [factory motocross motorcycle of the early I990s1was part of this development. To be precise, Soichiro Honda developed this scooter called 'Juno MA-S' with this transmission. Soichiro-san created the basis of the idea 40 years ago. The Juno was a Japanese-market scooter, and there is one in the Honda Collection Hall at Twin Ring Motegi." The swash-plate angles are under computer control, yet the rider can select operating modes such as Drive Mode, Sports Mode, or 6-Speed Manual Mode, depending on their taste. In the Manual Mode, gears are selected by a rocker switch on the left handlebar. The HFT also has a mechanical lock-up device, which, as far as Honda can determine, is a world-first in hydraulic infinitely variable mechanical transmissions. "One of the most important things for a motorcycle is size, and HFT is very compact," Sugiyama continued. "It does not disturb the dimensions of the motorcycle. It is a complex system, but there are no real negatives with it - including cost. It's not more costly." If there is anything else that the DN-O I will be known for, it will be for styling. The long-nose front cowl looks like a Vetter Windjammer for the 21 st century. Honda reckons that there are some riders who want cruiser comfort without cruiser (i.e., Harley-Davidson) looks. "k; I mentioned before, we have several key words such as 'easy,' 'relax,' and 'comfortable,''' Sugiyama said. "When we speak about 'easy,' we think about the automatic transmiSSion. When we speak about 'comfortable,' we think about the Vtwin. And when we speak about 'relax,' we speak about design. On the design, we had several key words, with 'organic' being the main key word, along with 'low presence' and 'horizontal' and 'sporty.''' To relax the rider, the DN-O I features audio and navigation systems - de rigueur in Japanese cars - anti-lock brakes, wide footboards, and a seat with an adjustable backrest. The DN-O I also has the Honda Smart Card Key system that automatically unlocks and enables the various operating systems whenever the owner's key fob is proximity to the motorcycle. There's no need to insert a key and turn it to "ON." "The concept of the DN-O I is pleasure riding for two people, such as riding the Tokyo Bay Bridge at night under the neon lights," Sugiyama said. "In the United States, it would be cruising a place like Newport Beach!" The other concept model shown by Honda was the E4-0 I. Visually the E4-0 I looks like a motorcycle-sized scooter, CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 9, 2005 2S

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