Honda Dirt Bikes - History And Bike Reviews
He 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.
'12 Honda Dirt Bikes
CRF450
There hasn't been any major changes for the CRF450 for 2012, just a host of refinements to try and improve what is already possibly the most popular bike in open class motocross.
There's a new shock linkage which is claimed to make the rear suspension more compliant over small bumps but then more resistant to bottoming on big hits. The front forks have thicker outer tubes to improve feedback in heavier conditions. The suspension settings have been revised front and rear as well.
The footpegs are larger this year and the 450 still comes standard with a steering damper and decent Dunlop MX51 tyres.
Like most of the injected bikes now you can tune the EFI with Honda's tuning tool to get the bike set up to run in a variety of track conditions.
CRF250
The 250 also scores the new shock linkage and suspensions mods for 2012, there's also some changes to the powerplant with a new airbox, throttle body, camshaft and cylinder head.
It also scores the new, larger footpegs and Dunlops fitted as standard, the same as the 450.
CRF150
The CRF150 is the junior of the Honda dirt bikes range and this year it's scored changes to the engine with new piston, cylinder head and cam. The carby has a new accelerator pump for better throttle response and the suspension front and rear has revised settings.
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.
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