New Honda 500s for Europe

[bmcdonau]

Originally Posted by KenH

Still not a flat seat.

A new watercooled CB500 would be a nice bike. Flat seat, good range, 50 HP, no vibration, what's not to like?

[El Fenix]

I'd love one of these: (Bonnie fighter)
http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-...yle/20203.html

[Ben Eberle]

Originally Posted by gixxerjasen

Kawasaki has a new triple in the works?

Originally Posted by DFW_Warrior

I have no idea. But they did a darn fine job with them in the past.

I owned one of those, be careful what you wish for.

[KenH]

Originally Posted by bmcdonau

A new watercooled CB500 would be a nice bike. Flat seat, good range, 50 HP, no vibration, what's not to like?

I ride a modded CB550. Electronic ignition, mag wheels, tubeless tires 130/90-16 rear, 100/90-19 front, triple discs, Viton rubber parts in the carbs (ethanol resistant), +5 teeth on the wheel sprocket, o-ring chain, Progressive fork springs and shocks, gel seat insert, gel grips, HID headlight, LEDs all other lights, AGM battery, period typical mini case guards and luggage rack.

EFI to deal with today's widely variable fuel quality, longer valve adjustment intervals, water cooling for better thermal control, and 100 pounds less weight would be perfect.

[Ben Eberle]

I owned both a Kawasaki H1 and a Honda CB550 and the Honda was by far the better bike, however I wouldn't trade either of them for what I ride now, a ZRX1200 which not only kicks the H1's butt in acceleration and top speed but also kicks the Honda CB550's butt in gas mileage.

[KenH]

The CB550 gets about 55mph on real gas, 2-up, and the ZRX ergos don't fit me very well. I tried. Besides, me on a 155mph bike would be .

[Ben Eberle]

I was lucky to get 40 mpg with the CB550 I owned. I even dropped the needles a notch to see if I could improve it.
If I knew back then what I know now, I would have replaced the needles and needle jets with brand new ones. Back then, they were made out of soft metal and wore rich as the miles accumulated. This results in a gradual drop in mpg and a bike that no longer needs the choke when the engine isn't fully warmed up.
Later, the EPA forced the bike makers to make those parts out of more durable stuff in order for the bikes to stay compliant during the test period.

My ZRX gets 45-50 mpg and I have milked 56 out of it once or twice. The engine has 118,000 miles on it and I have never had to take the engine apart.

[KenH]

My carbs aren't exactly stock. Neither is the ignition. The mods did not provide much peak horsepower, but they did improve midrange, throttle response, and fuel efficiency. Also, timing stays consistent between service intervals.

Soft carb bits were a problem in the olden days. Another reason the carbs are modded. I'm collecting parts to build a 716cc stroker engine and planning a port injected sequential EFI. It will be tuned for torque and throttle response, not maximum power, as the bike will be used for touring.

[Ben Eberle]

One of the things I remember about the CB 550 was how smooth it was. That's something I attribute the the sheer mass of the engine. If they were to build a new and state-of-the-art light version of this bike, it may lose some of that smoothness or may need balance shafts to get that smoothness back.
It's basic physics, a light engine shakes more from the piston motion just like a light rifle kicks more than a heavy one.

I'm kind of curious if Honda is choosing to use a 270 degree cross plane crank on that 500 twin.
In theory, it should be smoother than a 180 or a 360 twin because the second harmonic motion of the two pistons is naturally cancelled, leaving the primary imbalance to be dealt with using a familiar balance shaft.

[KenH]

I'm not going to speculate on Honda engineering.

Yes, the CB550 is smooth. It's the nature of a flat crank inline 4. We don't see such bikes anymore because of the cost of complexity. When it comes to smaller bikes most people pretty much shop for price--few will spend the extra money for a better bike. There really is only a few dollars difference in manufacturing a small bike and a large bike if the quality of components is the same for both. That is why small bikes are built cheap. About the only exceptions are the precious few competition bikes available, but none of those are suitable for my uses. By the time one buys a new smaller bike and rebuilds it to reflect modern technologies, it's cheaper just to buy a bigger bike. Those of us who favor smaller, lighter bikes are simply screwed.

[Ben Eberle]

Originally Posted by KenH

I'm not going to speculate on Honda engineering.

Yes, the CB550 is smooth. It's the nature of a flat crank inline 4. .

I'm not so sure if a flat crank is that well balanced. The primary balance is perfect but the second harmonic imbalance is about as bad as it can get. The second harmonic's severity is proportional to the connecting rod length to stroke ratio. An engine with the con rods twice the length of the stroke will not vibrate as badly as an engine with the con rods 1.5 times the length of the stroke. So be careful if you put a stroker crank in that engine and then use shorter con rods to get the same top dead center position of the pistons, you could convert a reasonably smooth engine into a real hand numbing machine.



There's a reason (almost) nobody uses a flat crank in a V-8.

[KenH]

That is exactly why there will be a spacer under the cylinders.