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/1542354
\ friction, while spent garses are exited through a rardine full-titanium exhaust sys- tem lifted with a carbon-fiber mufller - all of which looks handmade and very trick. And the list of handmade parts on these bikes iust keeps going. "One of the arear that takes so much effon is developing all the small pars to make things work," Plumb said. ''Take the handle- bar holder for example; /ou want it to be as light as possible without breakin8. yet you have to figure out just where that breaking poirt is. and iust how light it I Duhamel's un-flo8ged bike, on the other hand, went like a raped ape all the way to 16.000 rpm. This is one area where the Honda boys had been doing lheir homework in the off-season, as they knew Yamaha would bring a fast 600 to the table for the 200. "We basically pushed last year's bike to failure and then we backed off a liftle bit." said Plumb. "Coming up wi*r that point was diflicult. Firstand foremost, we had toflnish." Wrereas the original 20O4 FX CBR I rode had a fair arnount of HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) support in\.ofued, they have since taken over the majority of the develop- ment, and that number-98 CBR600RR s American Honda's baby (no wonder they Honda makes in the ballpark of 150 horsepower. lt felt right on par with a strong 750 - minus the midrange. You really need to be up in the rpms to get the thing moving, with the meat of the power not coming in until above I 1,500 rpm. But on€e in that range, the tach needle iumps to redline lightning fast. lt seems as if you can't shift fast enough to keep up. Good thing the electronic shifter allowed me to aimlessly stab my foot at the lever in the heat of fury and no mat- ter how good - or poorly for that matter - my foot made contact with the lever, ir shifted flawlessly every time. There really is nothing like the feeling of screaming down the straiShtaway, the There reolly is nolhing like rhe feeling of screoming down the stroightowoy, the engine howling ot 16,OOO rpm, ond keeping the throttle pegged os you click thrcugh the geors with only the slightest dob of your Ieft foot. I q I I I I reolly didn't want us to wad it up). "HRC has a guy helping us with some things here and there, but it was ours to make or break,'' Plumb said. Honda now has an entire R&D team behind factory effort, made up of Dave l''1cGrath, Trevor Weiler, and Danny Ryan. The weight was on their shoulders to develop the FX machine, and they came throuSh in big way. "They did a great job," said Plumb. "They mostly worked in the engine area, while rhe race side worked on the chassis, and they all did an awesome iob." After spending a day on their creations, this is something I can fully attest to- As a seat-of-the-pants guess, I would say the 18 APRIT26,2W6 . CYCLE NEWS en8ine howlinS at 16,000 rpm, and keep- ing the throftle pegged as you click through the gears with only the slightest dab of your left foot. lf rhat doesn't get your adrenaline going, you need to seek medical help, because somethinS is wrong with you. To 8et the CBR to scream like a ban- shee, American Honda saned by poninS the cylinder head to specifications they developed, and by having HGA develop a set ofcams with optimum numbelt for the CBR enSine. The ignition is a l'1otec unit, as is the fuel injection and full data-acquisition system. The bottom end has been blueprinted for smoother running and less power-robbing I Test /\ Jake Zemke's Formulo Xtreme Hondo CBR600RR I Hondo mode o host of chonges to their CBR6OORR Formulo Xtr.m. mothinc in lhe off-reoson in on effort to keep their hondr on lhe Doytono 2(Xl crown they held rhe post lwo y€orr. ,rlirsion oc(omplishcd. (Below) The ourhor puls some of lhe Iinol lops on Duhomel's FX bike before ir gers shipped off to o Hondo muleum in s lond for, for owoy, ,f tid \ \ I !, \ '.. i7 > can be and still be safe. This takes hourc and hours of man and machine time, and that's for something as small as a handlebar holder." Other American Honda-developed parts on the CBR include the rear sets, sub- frame, front-gauge cluster. quick-change equipment, and so on - much of which they didn t want to make public information (who came blame them, as I'm sure th€y'll be back to defend their title next year). More goes into a racing motorcycle than just sticking parts on a bike to make a fast motor, or boltinS on expensive suspen- sion. Everfthing has to work well as a whole, and that's where the Honda really shines- ln my mind, of the bikes I have rid- den (which is quite a few in the past three years of doing this), I would be hard pressed to find a better package. And c'mon. how much more fun can it 8et? - the nimbleness and handling of a fine-tuned 600, combined with the power ofa healthy 750, in a compact and well-set- up environment- There are times when doing this iob that I thank my lucky stars, and this was one of those times. I kept ry .- I {-t I ,l I _a) I -, q, X