Southern California might not quite be the center of the universe, but it is a Mecca for American motorcycle enthusiasts. And at the crossroads of the sportbike community and the Harley contingent is the world-renowned Rock Store on the storied Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica Mountains. Continue Reading »
Honda has released official specs for its new NSF250R racebike developed for the new Moto3 class which will debut in the 2012 Grand Prix World Championship season.
The Honda NSF250R’s four-stroke single-cylinder engine was developed specifically for Moto3 competition, promising power delivery in the high rpm range. The engine is equipped with titanium valves and uses an offset cylinder with a nickel silicon carbide surface treatment to reduce friction and improve durability.
According to Honda, the engine has a peak power output of 47.6 hp at 13,000 rpm while peak torque is 20.7 ft-lb. at 10,500 rpm.
The inverted telescopic fork and pro-link rear suspension system use the same structure as the suspension system on the 125cc GP-legal Honda RS125R, though the settings are customized specifically for the NSF250R. The frame is as compact as the RS125R’s frame but has a revised rigidity balance Honda says offers cornering and nimbleness that matches or exceeds the RS125R.
Honda plans to begin sales of the NSF250R in December with a price tag of 23,600 euros (US$34,070).
Related Reading
Honda NSF250R Moto3 Race Bike Revealed
Honda Developing NRS250 Moto3 Racebike
[Source: Honda, Honda Specs]
UPDATE: Poor sti2gsxr has made it on to the Comedy Central website.
I’m shaking my head right now but I’m also thinking “Kudos, NOS, for making your energy drink so convincing that someone thought you actually use it as a fuel additive”.
Poor poor sti2gsxr over on the Gixxer.com boards posted:
My bike was running like crap on my way home from work so I stopped at a gas station to get some NOS. I poured in 2 bottles and rode it home. Well I don’t think it helped because it ran even worse on the way home and now it won’t start. Any ideas?
When shown pics of actual NOS performance enhancer and NOS energy drink, our dear friend sti2gsxr replied:
are you f@#king kidding me! now what do I do?
His post was followed up by 900+ forum members posting to make fun of him and almost 300,000 people just watching and laughing.
An Epic Fail, if I do say so myself.
Head over there to have a laugh, or better yet, SIGN UP and show sti2gsxr some love!
See the rest of the post for a collection of pics and a keyboard cat video dedicated to sti2gsxr and his NOS energy drink additive.
hoser down at the Kawiforums was generous enough to post a glossary and troubleshooting guide to help everyone understand the suspension lingo, jargon that is out there along with solutions to suspension causing problems.
Every activity has its own language. Learning a new skill sometimes feels as if it requires scaling a linguistic learning curve that makes surmounting Mt. Everest seem like a day hike. To the uninitiated–not that any Sport Rider reader could be accused of this–the language of motorcyclists can seem just as daunting. So, to make sure we’re all standing on top of the same hill, peruse the terminology below to help speed yourself along to suspension enlightenment.
Here are a few terms from the glossary:
Bottoming (also called bottoming out)–when a suspension component reaches the end of its travel under compression. Bottoming is the opposite of topping out. Cartridge Fork–a sophisticated type of fork that forces oil through bending shims mounted to the face of damping pistons contained within the fork body. The primary advantage of cartridge forks is they are less progressive than damping rod forks. The shims allow damping control at very low suspension speeds while high speeds deflect the shims more–causing less high-speed damping than fixed orifice damping rods. The resulting ride is firmer with less dive under braking while simultaneously lessening the amount of force square-edged bumps transfer to the chassis.
Free Sag–the amount the bike settles under its own weight. Both streetbikes and race bikes require 0 to 5mm of free sag on the rear. The bike should not top out hard.
High-Speed Damping–damping to control fast vertical movements of suspension components caused by road characteristics such as square-edged bumps. High-Speed damping is independent of motorcycle speed.
Hit the jump to see some troubleshooting write-ups that hoser has done that involve the suspension of your bike. hoser seems like quite the intelligent guy and his write-ups are well done. Head over to his thread to see all of them and don’t forget to thank him for all his efforts!
