Honda preparing Dakar assault

You cant buy a KTM 450 rally equivalent to that of Coma or Despres. You buy a similar bike. Probably the best bike you can buy ready for rally racing but not comparable. Engine's and suspension are both in another league.

I seriously doubt Honda have built another frame, but I could be seriously wrong. For sure they will have a longer swingarm, but you can weld on a 55mm extension to a standard swingarm. Will they change the rake of the front fork? you can do so with a set of triple clamps.

But I hope I am wrong and they have built a rally bike aorund a fully modified 450x engine.

Maybe Honda is trying to get a larger following for thier offroad bikes, they are losing ground to the european dirt bikes albeit slowly.

I may be wrong but I was pretty sure they did release a limited number of marathon kits for the Africa Twin.

From memory it was basically just rear tanks and body work.

Not sure they had any other semi serious PD type bikes apart from the XLV750...

Edit, I just found this old post from the resident AT guru...

This image just turned up on Javier Pizzolito's twitter account. My spanish sucks though



"Buenas! Ultimos detalles!Terminando de cargar todo! @desafiolitoral1 #5 #6 @hondaargentina ‪#elretornoalaspistas‬ pic.twitter.com/6uFRrOKY"

I feel you may be on that one...not sure if you meant rake, That would be pretty strange to bore your fork tube holes and steering pin at different angles. I imagine it would feel pretty weird too.

Have you ever seen it done?
Cheers
Pilbara

It just says that they have finished loading and he is off to the disafo litoral or whatever it is called that Cyril Depres is doing in Argentina that starts this Sunday 22nd July !! No 5!

Some choppers have the steering stem and forks a different angles, but I think Aussie66 was refering to mounting the steering stem in an eccentric as some sportbikes do to give different rake.

As far as I know Honda did sell only Africa Twin complete with the kit, just like
Ktm 690RR or 450RR. It could be that after those 2 AT series, they had some
spare changes left in their warehouse, but that's all...

Any change in rake would be done in the manufacture of the frame. Consider that the CRF 450 R has a rake of 26.52*, whereas the the CRF 450 X has a rake of 27.35*. I do know for a fact that the frames that JCR uses in Baja are straight from HCR for that purpose only, but the rake would be a closely guarded secret. I do know from campfire stories that the first prototypes of the XR 500 that were tested for racing in Baja were hacked, whacked, and welded to match the rake of the Husky at the time. I would think that a slightly different rake angle is completely likely.

Sounds like it would work a little like a steering damper?

Whilst it would not have the 'shock absorber' functions, it would always want to align the front wheel straight, and require increasing amounts of force required for further turn angle.

Rake is what i meant and yes I have seen it done on a race bike (GP125) with concentric rings. I think some just showed a diagram a few posts back.

I think a lot of the Ducati 916/996/998 family (the higher spec models at least) had eccentric head bearing seats as well, giving about a degree of rake adjustment.

I just got the actual order for training roadbooks from JCR, so it looks like the team will indeed be coming over for some fun and sun!

Great news Scott
I'm curious to know just how many roadbooks were ordered. Surely there will be support along for the ride, but will there be some youngsters along for training?

Actually, you can get some of the factory parts if you're willing to pay. The 50mm alu forks are for rent for Dakar- 32,000 Euro to rent for the race, including a technician. You don't get to keep them (or, presumably, the tech) after the race.

As usual in motorcycling, I suspect the indian is much more important than the arrow... factory suspension for me would have meant fuck-all, but hey, if you've got the money, you may as well spend it, right?

Seriously? That is some crazy coin. Are the factory bikes really running gear that could translate into such improved performance that some would even consider paying 32 Large just to rent?

Well, I thought you wanted photos of the bikes, but since you want a number instead, it l can't give you that. What fun is this thread without speculation? For every post with real facts, there have to be at least 10 to 20 speculation posts.

Pretty much the same as a factory engine that tops out at 175 instead of 165 kmph

Could be a decent liaison both ends if they decide to ride from LA - unless they are flying into Vegas

Hey Scott,
That will be a feather in your cap Scott, your roadbooks are always extremely accurate and realistic. You have reason to be very proud sir, and I feel priviledged to have ridden your routes.