Honda

Honda’s metro-tastic PCX150 [scooter2256] line gets an upgrade that we’ll get to see on U.S. showrooms come July of 2018. It includes a facelift from stem to stern that further polishes its ’luxe metropolitan looks to bring more of the swank and swagger associated with the marque, and it comes paired with a more voluminous underseat storage area to increase its ’commuterability’. Style and function is a tough combination to beat, so let’s dig a little deeper and see what else the Red Rider engineers have in store for us.

Continue reading for my look at the Honda PCX150.

Honda expands its Neo-Sports Cafè lineup with the new-for-2019 CB300R that brings more of the same cafè-tastic vibe that we got with the CB1000R, just in an entry level-size package. This naked little pocket crotch-rocket — or “Sport Naked” as the factory has dubbed the style — looks to pull in younger riders with a user-friendly, 286 cc powerplant and lightweight design. After a race to the bottom of the usable displacement range for the sport and naked genres, Honda is refining its bottom-tier rides, so join me while I take my first look at this all-new machine from the Red Riders and see how it stacks up against some of the other current pocket-rockets.

Continue reading for my look at the Honda CB300R.

Serving 100 million happy customers is a well-achieved milestone for any business, and no other manufacturer but Honda could have made it seem this easy. Being the first two-wheeler to cross such a mark is the Japanese Red Wing’s Super Cub that began its life way back in 1958. As a matter of fact, 2018 bears a distinct significance for the Super Cub, marking its 60th anniversary.

Celebrating this feat, Honda has been planning an electric version of this mighty scooter with the “EV-Cub” showcased first during the 2009 Tokyo Show and the second iteration at the 2015 show. This little scooter is touted to become the first electric production model from Honda to hit the streets and the recent patent images re-stores the same faith.

Prior to 2013, the PCX came with a 125 cc engine and a 1.6-gallon fuel tank. With a make-over in 2013, the PCX125 gave way to the PCX150 and a new chapter in the globally produced Honda scooter was launched. Since then, the scooter has received periodical updates to keep things fresh in the segment.

For 2018, Honda has given it yet another update to take satisfaction levels even higher. This update includes an all-new chassis, revised engine, updated comfort levels and ABS is now an optional package.

Honda entered the Indian market in 2001 with two scooters – a segment which was believed to be taking its last breath at the time of their arrival. Against all the odds, both the scooters – Activa and Dio – went on churning a large number of volumes for their parent company, which went on to become the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the Indian market.

The company has come a long way since then and is on fire to go reach even higher heights. In the process, the Japanese Red has, together with its allied suppliers, invested ₹ 5400 crores ($830.5 million) into the Karnataka plant in Narasapura that just became the biggest two-wheeler manufacturer for Honda in the entire world.

"JAPANESE CRAFTSMANSHIP" and the "Spirit of CAFÉ RACER". This is how Honda described its new Neo Sports Cafe motorcycle project that was unveiled to the world on November 6th, just a day before the EICMA Milan motorcycle show. Later what came of that is the CB1000R naked-retro along with the CB300R and the CB125R.

Honda started rolling the naked liter onto the streets soon after setting up the stage for to bring in a whole new flavor into motorcycling. Having the same classic design lines with modern underpinnings, the CBR300R is now making its way onto our shores, and we cannot be any less delighted for this honor.

Introduced in 2014, the Grom from Honda is a compact bike with sportbike styling, two-up capabilities if you don’t mind having to Fred-Flintstone the take-off, has amazing fuel economy, and offers a little something more for folks who might consider a scooter in this size-range. Marketed in other countries as the MSX125, the Motrac M3, and the Skyteam M3, the Grom is a spunky little — “little” being the operative word here — motorcycle, good for folks new to two wheels or for anyone else who wants a fun ride. It’s not fast, but that’s not the point.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda Grom.

Honda carries its CBR1000RR superbike, a.k.a. ’Fireblade’, into 2018 with little in the way of changes from last year. That’s hardly surprising given the scope and scale of the revisions done prior to MY17 that brought us the newest gen of Honda’s Total Control initiative with a host of electronic goodies to help keep the 189-horsepower engine (10 more ponies than the previous gen) under control. It’s Honda’s first inline four-banger to run a throttle-by-wire induction control, and the factory piled on with Riding Modes, Wheelie Control and more to make the ’Blade serve as a model flagship for the affordable-supersport sector with plenty of influence from the racing department for the ’everyrider’. Today I’m going to take a gander at the new-since-2017 Fireblade and see how it stacks up against something of a more European persuasion.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda CBR1000RR.

What saw as Honda’s grand comeback to the ADV world, the CRF 1000L Africa Twin was one of the perfectly balanced machines from the Honda stable, a trait that is synonymous to a majority of the brand’s line-up. A lot of time had gone to engineer it and making it work better on multiple riding conditions and so it does effortlessly without any compromise.

Now, Honda is firing on all pistons to bring in newer products into the ADV segment, and we might have just stumbled upon the next big thing coming from the Japanese Red Winger. These patent images that fell on our lap recently showcasing a new Honda ADV model paying homage to the great ‘80s era where adventure motorcycling was a stigma in itself.

Auction house H&H Classics had put up the sale of their acquired 1969 Honda Z50A. A bike that was once used by John Lennon, the legendary English singer, songwriter, musician, and peace activist who also co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.

The auction was recently held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, a town in the West Midlands of England. Experts believed the bike will fetch at least £30,000 (more than $40,000), but to everyone’s surprise, the winning bid was almost twice of the estimated price, at £57,500 (about $79,600).

Honda looks to solidify its position in the adventure-commuter market with the new-to-the-U.S. 2018 NC750X. Like its predecessor, the new sled is built for comfortable riding with a capacity for touring, but the new engine lends it a sportier attitude with 54 horsepower on tap and a two-level torque control to help you keep it under control. Yeah, that’s an improvement of a mere three ponies over the previous gen, but that’s hardly the end of the yummy-goodness Honda packed away on this standard-on-steroids. It won’t be available in U.S. dealerships until mid Summer, but we can take a closer look and make some educated guesses based on the info so far, ’cause after all, our Euro buddies have had access to this ride for a hot minute now and have plenty to say about it.

Continue reading for my look at the Honda NC750X.

Honda revamped its naked CB1000R for the 2018 model year, but rather than dressing it up, the Red Riders actually dressed it down even further with a retro cafe’-racer kick. The CB1000R replaced the CB600F Hornet back in ’08 and its naked streetfighter presentation and performance envelope was an instant hit all across Europe. Fast forward to ’18 and we find it still going strong with the same 998 cc mill and a brand new handle as the Neo-Sports Café’. Subtle refinements give the NSC a new look that takes inspiration from the past without becoming enslaved to it, and the result is fresh, modern and appropriately aggressive. Today I’m going to take a look at this decade old model to see what else Honda has done to keep it relevant and competitive in today’s market.

Continue reading for my review of the Honda CB1000R.

There will be times to build and create a motorcycle that is all practical and sensible, and not just that looks good to impress your friends. Then there comes a time for just hanging loose and to go Full Monty on creating a bonkers of a bike without having a client or a brief in mind.

One example of that Custom scene is this build on a Honda CX500 by the National Custom Tech crew of David Widmann, Kurt Kosjek, and Manuel Tilke. Created in their workshop in Feldkirchen, Austria, the crew stripped the old Honda right down to its nuts and bolts, before rebuilding it to include the need of bloody tire warmers. How cool is that?

It is called the Honda CX 500 Highflyer.

Inspired by Honda liveries of the ‘80s and ‘90s, US high street chain Forever 21, teamed up with the Japanese manufacturer to bring about a fresh new collection of clothing and apparels priced between $3.90 and $ 58.00.

The Forever 21 x Honda capsule collection is probably our most unexpected collab to date! Taking inspiration from motorsports, the collection features bold primary colors and powerful statement graphics.

Thailand is launching the 2018 edition of the most sold automobile in the world, the Super Cub. They will be made in a brand-new factory in Thailand apart from the already existing 16 plants spread across 15 countries that serve customers in more than 160 countries.

To celebrate this feat, Honda Thailand had donated a bike from the first production batch to the K-Speed custom crew to work their magic on history’s most iconic moped. After 30 days of toiling, the magic shows on the “Diablo.”

A group of freshly joined trainee has found themselves in a position to prove themselves. They have a task to create 10 replicas of iconic motorcycles that made Honda the brand it is today.

That’s not all. They have to create all the replicas using a Delta minibike as the base bike. ‘Make the small ones and we’ll know if you can make the big ones’.

Honda has always been at the forefront of technology and is a major player in the world of automotive solutions. Their recent significant development has been the introduction of electric vehicles onto the market and products and services supporting their sustainability.

Unveiled at the 2018 International CES, Honda showcases their brand new project, the Honda PCX Electric scooter and the replaceable batteries that can be standardized across all their EVs’ churning inside their factories in the future.

Auto, self-shifting hydraulic transmission. Wimpshift. Just plain “automatic.” No matter what you call them, they’re finding their way onto more and more two-wheel machines, and our friends over at Honda are definitely all about the exploration and exploitation of this resource. With a growing number of choices to chose from, riders can pick their poison in the twist-it-and-go market. Let’s see what Honda has on the table now.

Continue reading for more on Honda’s automatic transmissions.

Honda is coming back a full circle. It all started with the grand comeback of the CRF 1000L Africa Twin to the ADV world. It is one of the perfectly balanced machines from the Honda stable, a trait that is synonymous with a majority of the brand’s line-up. A lot of time had gone to engineer it and making it work better on multiple riding conditions and so it does effortlessly without any compromise.

It does, however, has a major drawback. Being big, heavy and powerful, it’s perfect for pro-riders, but for folks entering the segment will steer away from it for the same reasons. Thanks to the snoopy guys at Morebikes, a new patent image showcases Honda’s plan to set that right.

With what looks like a smaller version of the Africa Twin, we have reasons to believe that the Japanese Red Winger is setting up the stage to bring back the ‘Dominator’ nameplate to an entry-level/midweight segment of adventure motorcycle.