Honda preparing Dakar assault

OO Bikes made their way from Holland via Portugal to Morocco where they are currently being tested..

Yep, that's what I heard, too! BTW, I may soon have Hélder as an RNS TripMaster customer

This is going to be good

That is very good news Tony!!

+1 Tony!!!!! Brilliant news.

Thanks guys! It looks like I will have to make a special "HélderOnAHonda" version, with red buttons, not black ones like everybody else is getting

HOws it going my friend!!?? I tried your RNS Tripmaster in Sardegna on one of the Team Honda Europe bikes, and I really liked it! Very simple to use, clear and big numbers no matter what the sunlight conditions.

I will be changing my ICOs to your Tripmaster on my own bikes....

Pizzolito will be taking part from Desafio del Litoral, a DakarSeries event, from July 22 to 29th.

He will ride last Dakar bike and team (Honda Racing Argentina); will he be ready for those roadbook training sessions?

He is riding bikes only one month ago after his Dakar crash (several broken bones).

Great thread, and great contributions to all as usual!

Not much to add from a technological perspective (Scott, great news that they'll be testing on your stuff!), but a few things to add from an armchair quarterbacking one.

1) Leading is an entirely different game than being second. I opened some of the Amitie last year, and while it's not a race, the experience of being first tracks across sections adds a huge element of intensity to the experience.

It would be an interesting exercise to see who, of the current pilots, have won two days in a row, my suspicion is that the list is very, very short (marc and cyril).

Winning the first day can be done with strategy and pace. Winning the second requires navigation, no ifs ands or buts.

Discussion in the bivouac this year was that the winning pace is not as fast as a winning H&H pace in the US... but navigation adds an entirely new angle. Personally, I'm not sure there's anyone who is qualified to open the track at the front, that isn't contracted to Orange. This is not meant as any slight to Helder, whom I hold in the highest regard... but I think he will face a significant challenge to hold onto a lead from the front as he will need to to win.

2) I also believe that there are significant logistical concerns that represent a barrier for HRC.

As one example, KTM arrives at the race with beautiful printed/ bound booklets detailing each stages logistics, timing, maps, fuel load at each refuel, etc. Mohammed Balooshi had one that I got to study for a bit- there was a serious piece of work, mostly irrelevant to someone like me, but important to someone who wants to win.

Helder definitely gets the "doing the most with the least" award for the last few years. The question is whether he can do "the most with a level playing field". It's a different question.

3) To the question of what's in it for Honda, there are a few million spectators, many of whom will buy a bike in the next few years. Red at the front will be a commercial success, I believe.

... so if i stop in at my local Honda dealer, do i need to quote a Part Number, of just get him to order the "kit" ?

I presume that any prospective CRF riders in the 2013 Dakar would be keen to atleast see the 'brochure' by now, as they would be getting close to wanting to order parts, from someone.

I cannot imagine that they would be ready to offer the kits for this year's Dakar, probably the 2014 season instead. Consider that they just went to testing in Morocco so there may still be some refinements to the kit before everything is finalized. I would think for a kit that will carry the HRC label it will be fully worked out before it goes on the market.

Maybe we will see the HRC bikes raced in Egypt this October. Registration deadline is not until August 31.

Dunno.... Did Honda ever sell a HRC kit? For the Dakar?
Remember that these people are used to pick their own race bikes and put them all (but one for their own museum) into a press.
I think there will be only one HRC team with HRC bikes. And all the other Honda bikes will be built by privateers with self-developed kits.

Don't know about their previous Dakar bikes, but Honda have a long history of selling "race kit" parts for all their proddy racers, in various 'grades' depending on what you've got to spend and how fast you want to go.

The "taking them all back to Japan and crushing them" thing is only AFAIK the recent MotoGP bikes, since they stopped selling them to people and started leasing them instead.


I think they'll adopt the 'race kit' approach for the Dakar.

I also wonder if it's this, rather than what the factory team achieves, that should have folks in Mattighofen looking worried. At the minute there's no middle ground in the orange lineup. If you've got the cash you might be able to buy a 450RR, but they are only turning out 30(?) a year, and probably don't have the capacity to do any more. If you can't get hold of one, you've got to buy an EXC/SX and go shopping at Mecasystem/whoever.

Imagine if you could go out and buy a CRF from your local Honda dealer, then keep throwing kit parts at it until you either run out of money or you end up with something which is almost the same spec Helder has. Then imagine that there's an HRC truck or two following the Dakar, full of spares just like the KTM truck.

If Honda really wanted to make a point, the middle part of the field might look very different in a few years time.


Anyway, that's enough wild conjecture for now.

Personally I will be fairly surprised if the set-up is all that much more than a tidied up and slightly improved version of the current honda-europe bikes.

Probably the same rear end with maybe a better looking front tank and fairing, also engine and gearbox improvements as well.

I hope I'm wrong as I'd love to see a full Honda effort at designing a 450 rally bike.

Whatever the bike you still have to beat Coma and Despres and if either of them were riding a current fully-snagged, better supported and funded honda-europe bike then would you bet against them?

Just my thoughts, i dot think theyll have a true rallye bike, built from the ground up with stable fram etc. My guess is for 'just another 450 conversion' with some trick HRC parts to make the bike fast and last...

From Honda July 2nd, 2012.

"The prototype machine is based on the CRF450X....... Kit parts designed for use on the standard CRF450X model have also been developed and will be made available to a limited number of teams."


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HogWild, I'm pretty sure it's YOU that's going to make sure they suffer, regardless of the weather.