Honda preparing Dakar assault

[zenjen]

Originally Posted by neduro

Time will tell how it works on my latest rally bike.

Converting your new 500?

[neduro]

Originally Posted by zenjen

Converting your new 500?

[zenjen]

Originally Posted by neduro

[Deadly99]

Originally Posted by neduro

Let's see it Ned.....

[Bluebull2007]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

Let's see it Ned.....

+2

[charapa]

Originally Posted by mattomoto

I've kept quite on this, but my buddy that is number 2 at Honda USA says all the money is from Japan and HSA. Japan being the ones pushing very hard for this. He also says it has been way more work than they thought it would be- probably why there is only 3 "new" race bikes for Morocco. They brought JC on so they could do early testing in the US desert not far from the offices.
He also said that the US market is hurting for new enduro models but it is Japan that holds the purse strings and the US office will have to wait like the rest of us. I have been bugging him about this for years and it is the same story every time I bring it up. Maybe Japan is seeing the light? We'll see.

What do we expect? There is almost NO coverage in the USA of events like the Dakar! Even of the WRC! In Europe you can't find a channel WITHOUT something Rally on a weekend! I remember when SPEED had 1 1/2 hours A MONTH of WRC action, but it was TOO MUCH and they found they needed to cancel it for more NASCAR talking heads! AARRGG!!

With the Dakar coverage in the USA, first it's a little Versus, then a little Outdoor Network... then nothing! Dakar stuff won't sell in the USA if there is no coverage!

Those of us (in the USA and Canada) that scrounge and find tweets and blogs from friends to get our Dakar fix do not wield enough buying power!

But I can tell you from personal experience that the South American market for 450R interest has been growing by leaps and bounds since 2009! Hmmmm..., I wonder what has been happening in SA since 2009??

[neduro]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

Let's see it Ned.....

Out!

Back to regularly scheduled Honda programming...

[rmhrc628]

Originally Posted by neduro

Out!

Back to regularly scheduled Honda programming...

Yeah!!!! Enough ktm ;)

[troy safari carpente]

Well one thing you gotta give HRC... when they come back, they do it with all the gun's a blazing...

Quite an impressive outfit they rolled into Merzouga/Erfoud with for pre-event testing, in prepartaion of the Oilibya Rallye Maroc... A full fleet of rally support trucks, 5 riders (3 x new 450 R Rally's and 2 x existing Honda HRE spec' 450 X bikes) and an entourage of mech's, tech's PR folk and diverse pimps... It's a big production!

And although the "Ron Jeremy" soundtrack material and quality of the youtube video snippets so far, leave a bit to be desired, lets hope that they are spending the money on other important (tech/race related) areas.

As far as the HRC bikes go (new 450 rally) the facebook release photo's reveal some (outwardly visible) technical features that have been mulled over and cyber-dissected by the f5 faithfull up to this point in time. Speculation and educated guesses are always interesting... but today's first 270 km stage of the Maroc Rally will be the first "money where the mouth is" opportunity to see what the HRC team has produced.

Just to go back to the aesthetics/cosmetics/design parameters of the new HRC 450 rally for a moment...
One thing I got to give the HRC outfit kudos for, is producing a package that looks like it's "finished".

Okay... aside from the aluminium rear tanks and subframe (which honestly look like they were the product of a CAD/design study from about six or seven years back...
those really are "old tech" in terms of the latest in rally haute coiture, Mr Yamazaki-san ) and the comparitively "broad" aft that they subsequently give the new CRF 450 Rally



(I'm calling this one the "Mariah Carey" (evo) edition CRF Rally; sexy design, probably a great ride... but still broad across the ass...)


But compared to a lot of the other "new generation" bikes that turned up at tech inspection at Erfoud (as seen in Manuel Luchesse's great link;
http://www.ladakar.com/2012/10/14/honda-and-yamaha-rally-bikes-close-up/ )
at least the HRC effort looks as though it was designed and constructed... not put together using a haphazard random selection of bits...

In the past the JVO and Mecasystems kits were cohesive, purposeful looking... It seems in an effort to achieve the new "Rallye Minimal 450" goal, some of the offerings on hand look almost "last minute solution" like in appearance.

Anyway, with plenty of weapons and big gun riders on the start list, the fireworks should be going off well and truly later today. Be sure to keep an eye on the Oilibya Rallye Maroc thread...
it's gonna be "DAKAR condensed"

[rmhrc628]

Awesome Troy - an f5 'lite' event ;)

[tHEtREV]

Anyone else looking at that pic and thinking of the old Honda ATC250?

[rmhrc628]

Alright when does this Roc of Moroc rallye kick off? I want ktm first blood!!! It's like rocky (the Crf) taking on the big Russian (ktm rallye) ;) ;)

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by rmhrc628

Alright when does this Roc of Moroc rallye kick off? I want ktm first blood!!! It's like rocky (the Crf) taking on the big Russian (ktm rallye) ;) ;)

They've been racing for just over an hour now... now get with the f5#¤%in' program will ya'...???

[rmhrc628]

Sheet, better pull the finger out!!:)

[doyle]

So HRC, with little to no expectation beyond testing for Dakar, draws first blood, first stage, first stage win. What a start to the program.