Honda Dirt Bikes - History And Bike ReviewsHe picked up batch of unwanted two stroke electric generator motors and set about adapting them to fit into a bicycle frame. The result was quite successful and Honda started to develop a complete purpose built motorcycle. The Honda Motor Company was founded in 1948 and in 1949 the company produced the D-Type motorcycle. This was the first actual motorcycle produced by Honda, this machine was the realisation of Soichiro Honda's dream to build a complete motorcycle and so was dubbed 'The Dream'. In 1958 Honda released the C100 Super Cub which would go on to become the biggest selling motorcycle of all time. The bike had a centrifugal clutch making it easy for beginners to ride and also had a step through frame configuration which made it popular with females as well as males. The Super Cub also became the first Honda motorcycle to be sold in the U.S.A and in the same year Honda also launched the 250cc C72 Dream in Europe, the first Japanese manufacturer to release a bike there. In 1960, the company began motorcycle production at its factory in Suzuka, Japan. Honda has always been a company that is race inspired and the development of the Honda dirt bikes range led to the company taking the win in the first Baja 1000, held in 1967. The first serious Honda dirt bike was the 'Elsinore', released in 1970. The bike later became available in a trail version. The SL125 was the first genuine trail bike released by Honda and was soon re-released with a 250cc engine. The SL's went on to become the XL range in 1973. The development of Honda dirt bikes has gone from strength to strength since then, the CRF450 is arguably the most popular mid capacity four stroke motocrosser on the market today. '08 Honda Dirt BikesCRF450 The '08 CRF450R continues to win praise from all over the MX industry, you only have to take a look across the pits at any motocross meeting to see just how popular the the big four stroke is. There's been a few changes made to the largest of the Honda dirt bikes for '08, the 450 has a steering damper fitted and there's been some slight changes made to the frame geometry mainly around the headstem to accommodate the damper. The bike is also available in a trick looking black colour scheme.
The CRF250R also has the new brake rotors and the steering damper fitted. There's been some engine mods for this year, compression is higher and the cylinder head porting has had some changes made. Judging by the word around the forums online, there's been some real world improvement in the power delivery on the bike.
The CRF150 is available in normal trim and also as an Expert model. The Expert has bigger wheels, a slightly longer swingarm and a higher seat height. Both models are running inverted Showa cartridge forks and a Showa rear shock.
Honda is the biggest of the 'big four' Japanese manufacturers and there's plenty of money being spent on developing the range of Honda dirt bikes. It's a company that is inspired by racing and it shows in the competitiveness of their bikes. (images courtesy of powersports.honda.com) Click here to check out the full range of '08 Honda dirt bikes. Click here to have a look at the 07 Honda dirt bikes Please note that to protect our younger visitors to Motocross 101, SafeSearch is turned on in these search results.
|
