Brilliance of honda | GTAMotorcycle.com

Brilliance of honda

bigpoppa

Well-known member
Something to be said about the ethos of honda, they've
perfected and mastered the
friendliness, practicality, usability and
accessibility aspects of motorcycles.

They always have good ergos and usable powerbands,
and affordably priced bikes, great mileage


They were building a bike that is self balancing,
and bikes that have DCTs/automatic, wasnt sure who'd
be interested in a bike like the nc700/750,
but after reading the comments section, there are
a LOT of older guys with disabilities or
health problems that LOVE these things,
and its nice to know honda's thinking about them


Sometimes you dont want an insane firebreathing dragon,
or so much character it borders on sensory overload,
sometimes boring is good and it lets you focus on
other things
 
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Horn & signals on the NC700 are bass ackwards, suspension is like sitting on a 2x4, so much for ergonomics.
 
None of the 7xx were good examples of "brilliance"
...excellent examples of "boring" amongst other issues.
The CB500 series WERE/ARE brilliant on the other hand.

I'm in the move down zone ...my departed CB500x was a no thrills reliable bike to take across Canada and now a CB300F even smaller and lighter for Australia. 158 KG but still gets to 150 kph....anything over 110 here = big trouble/$$.
Honda makes affordable commuters that last and generally well built,.
Screen Shot 2021-05-17 at May, 17    2021    12.53.32 PM.jpg

I miss the thrill the CBF1000 offered but no place for it here in Australia and 250kg weight was starting to get old.

My first real bike was a CB300 Superhawk ...159 kg
1965_Honda_Hawk.JPG.jpg

....I can close out 60 years of riding with the CB300F and save my knees.
 
of course Honda also makes the Cub - the Postie bike ...a national pastime here.
The Super Cub C125 marks the evolution of the legendary Super Cub; which has been sold in over 160 countries and in excess of over 100 million units.
postie_bike_-_new.jpg


 
I always found honda on the edge of interesting and odd. I dont get some of thier styling, and some engineering makes me scratch my head. But you cant argue the business model that allows them to sell in 180+ countries sure works .
 
Great bikes, they have the budget and R&D to push out interesting ideas and bikes.
Don't agree on the reasonable price though. They are usually the most pricey Japanese choice in comparison for the bikes I've shopped for at least.
 
They know how to build and market a reliable product. But so do a lot of other companies.
Fury... Really?
DN01... Really?
Rune... Really?
UJM's... Take the badging off any of the big 4's bikes, just another inline 4
ATC.... Kid killers.
Brilliant is....MV f4i,Laverda Jota,Duc 916
 
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They have sucked the life out of most of their bikes . They engineered then to almost perfection . They are like buying a appliance VS a bike .
 
They know how to build and market a reliable product. But so do a lot of other companies.
Fury... Really?
DN01... Really?
Rune... Really?
UJM's... Take the badging off any of the big 4's bikes, just another inline 4
ATC.... Kid killers.
Brilliant is....MV f4i,Laverda Jota,Duc 916
There's a lot of corporate risk taking (and failure) in your list. Is there another large corporation that would have pushed the envelope as far and taken such a chance? Yamaha had the GTS tourer with the RADD front end and the current Nikken that is also roundly and arguably unjustifiably mocked but beyond that..? I don't think Suzuki and Kawasaki are really big on innovation, original GSXR being the exception.

Honda also has some significant successes:
CB750 SOHC
Interceptor 750
CBX
Pro Link single suspension (rising rate linkage rear suspension)
Numerous racing one-offs (250 six, flat trackers)
And I'm sure I missed many other innovations that were a success and are now commonplace.

Honda deserves respect for that, but also for their focus on building inexpensive, reliable transportation for much of the third world AT THE SAME TIME.

As for the ATC thing, it seems to me that one can safely use a three wheeler, but the inherent instability should mean people approach it with caution. They didn't of course, and Honda likely should have seen the possibility/probability.


And is there a more inspiring corporate mission statement that "The power of Dreams."
 
There's a lot of corporate risk taking (and failure) in your list. Is there another large corporation that would have pushed the envelope as far and taken such a chance? Yamaha had the GTS tourer with the RADD front end and the current Nikken that is also roundly and arguably unjustifiably mocked but beyond that..? I don't think Suzuki and Kawasaki are really big on innovation, original GSXR being the exception.

Honda also has some significant successes:
CB750 SOHC
Interceptor 750
CBX
Pro Link single suspension (rising rate linkage rear suspension)
Numerous racing one-offs (250 six, flat trackers)
And I'm sure I missed many other innovations that were a success and are now commonplace.

Honda deserves respect for that, but also for their focus on building inexpensive, reliable transportation for much of the third world AT THE SAME TIME.

As for the ATC thing, it seems to me that one can safely use a three wheeler, but the inherent instability should mean people approach it with caution. They didn't of course, and Honda likely should have seen the possibility/probability.


And is there a more inspiring corporate mission statement that "The power of Dreams."
I agree completely. Lots of failures everywhere. But the subject was "brilliance". They have had really good management to get where they are.Look at Napster. Brilliant idea, but then......
 
They have sucked the life out of most of their bikes . They engineered then to almost perfection . They are like buying a appliance VS a bike .
thats every jap bike tho
 
thats every jap bike tho

sort of have to agree, if you had a chance to ride a DOHC 750-4 when they were new, a Kawasaki Z900 in the early 70's, Yamahas LC350 2 stroke , the kawasaki 2 stoke 500's , A Gamma , Interceptor 750 , there has been a lot to be happy about coming out of japan.
Africa twin is a pretty nice bike.
Look at how Honda just ate the huge cruiser market with the Goldwing,

and now there isn't much to celebrate
 
They know how to build and market a reliable product. But so do a lot of other companies.
Fury... Really?
DN01... Really?
Rune... Really?
UJM's... Take the badging off any of the big 4's bikes, just another inline 4
ATC.... Kid killers.
Brilliant is....MV f4i,Laverda Jota,Duc 916
Honda has the budget, engineering might and capability to dabble and experiment in areas that no other bike manufacturer could possibly do. To understand their scale in the motorcycle business, by the 15th production day of each year Honda surpasses the combined annual production of BMW, Harley, MV, Triumph, Ducati and KTM collectively.

They can afford to be innovative, they can afford mistakes. They designed and produced several other bikes that were 'test strips' to see how the market would react - some of these include Goldwing, CBX, GROM, Rune, NM4, DN1, CTX, ST1100, Pacifica - several of those stuck and made Honda a tidy profit.

There are brilliant bikes made by everyone, but not many are looking for brilliant bike that's a fragile beauty.
 

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