Honda preparing Dakar assault

[Linc]

Originally Posted by Bluebull2007

I wonder if that could have contributed to the problem Helder had on the Maroc?

if it was it would have been fixed by now............

[CPWSAFARI]

Not sure if they can change a bigend through that opening, but the Japanese mechanics do have small hands

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by CPWSAFARI

Not sure if they can change a bigend through that opening, but the Japanese mechanics do have small hands

A Japanese gynocorrigist mecharric...

[Linc]

Originally Posted by troy safari carpente

A Japanese gynocorrigist mecharric...

now now....

[BigBearJoe]

What's the latest on Felipe Zanol?

Sadly, from my perspective, it seems like badly injured riders like this quickly drift away from the headlines. It seems the official channels don't want to talk about these unfortunate accidents. Does anyone know if he's even out of the hospital? Conscious? On the mend? Or possibly suffering long-term effects?

[amazing ricardo]

Originally Posted by BigBearJoe

What's the latest on Felipe Zanol?

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...postcount=1149

[ric678]

Originally Posted by Balkan Boy

As someone predicted, they went from LeoVince to Termingnoni exhausts.
It looks very agricultural.

All the pics I see HRC has the high fender, Has anyone seen or heard of the option of low or high??

[Bluebull2007]

Quite A bit of negative talk about these hondas in this thread....I hope they still out perform.

[doyle]

Originally Posted by ric678

All the pics I see HRC has the high fender, Has anyone seen or heard of the option of low or high??

Pablo Rodriguez is running a kit bike for Honda Argentina, not a full HRC bike, but he has a low fender.

[VRRR1]

[Trang]

Originally Posted by doyle

Pablo Rodriguez is running a kit bike for Honda Argentina, not a full HRC bike, but he has a low fender.

Does this mean that a HRC "Kit" is available?

[neduro]

Originally Posted by Bluebull2007

Quite A bit of negative talk about these hondas in this thread....I hope they still out perform.

Me too. We'll all benefit from KTM and Honda doing their best to beat each other, not only in the race we watch but the products we buy.

The fuel issues are interesting, my suspicion is that there was farther between gas with soft sand today than there has been for a while. Honda pushed the edge of how little fuel they could bring, and the long section of sand drained it.

[escuchamente]

Originally Posted by neduro

Me too. We'll all benefit from KTM and Honda doing their best to beat each other, not only in the race we watch but the products we buy.

The fuel issues are interesting, my suspicion is that there was farther between gas with soft sand today than there has been for a while. Honda pushed the edge of how little fuel they could bring, and the long section of sand drained it.

I was hoping they would not have fuel issues with this new bike as it was just two years ago when Quinn Cody on the old crf450 had to switch to a bigger front tank because he was running out of fuel...while pushing for top 15. Helder is trying to win and we all know what that does to fuel mileage.

[too old]

Originally Posted by escuchamente

I was hoping they would not have fuel issues with this new bike as it was just two years ago when Quinn Cody on the old crf450 had to switch to a bigger front tank because he was running out of fuel...while pushing for top 15. Helder is trying to win and we all know what that does to fuel mileage.

But that's the crazy thing, Helder was always going for the win and there was always a lot of dune sand at the beginning - with all the effort this year it's hard to believe that something as basic as this hasn't been got right - and from what we have seen it isn't right!

The top end speed you can undertsand as to develop a new engine, as opposed to a few strengtheners, in 6 months would have been a big ask.

[Brodovitch]

Originally Posted by too old

But that's the crazy thing, Helder was always going for the win and there was always a lot of dune sand at the beginning - with all the effort this year it's hard to believe that something as basic as this hasn't been got right - and from what we have seen it isn't right!

The top end speed you can undertsand as to develop a new engine, as opposed to a few strengtheners, in 6 months would have been a big ask.

I believe we are getting at the point where this Honda exercise might be showing it's true colors. In order to justify any racing expenditure,the HRC boys always have to convince the marketing dept. of real world applications. Fuel consumption has long been their justification in MotoGP (the abominable 21lt rule). They might be thinking along the same lines for the Dakar effort (introducing the same fuel efficiency exercise to the offroad market).

In the mind of Honda, the lessons gained by tweaking and pushing the EFI to the limits might be more important than a first year win.

I might be completely wrong though