# Honda Downhill Bike...Why?



## [email protected] (May 9, 2007)

Why is Honda even in the downhill scene? 

They don't sell their DH machine to the public, so why would they want to have a name in the DH race scene?

...most companies sponsor riders to get their name out there to sell more stuff...


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## Boulder Pilot (Jan 23, 2004)

Honda is no longer involved with downhill mountain bike racing.


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## Djponee (Dec 20, 2006)

it was a fad. its over now


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## Davidcopperfield (Jan 17, 2007)

What fork did they use on their DH bikes? They look like taken form 650cc MX bikes.


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## 006_007 (Jan 12, 2004)

Pretty sure they have been out for almost a year now?


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## tuumbaq (Oct 6, 2005)

[email protected] said:


> Why is Honda even in the downhill scene?
> 
> They don't sell their DH machine to the public, so why would they want to have a name in the DH race scene?
> 
> ...most companies sponsor riders to get their name out there to sell more stuff...


Wow what planet are you from?They've stopped last year .

At the end ,I believe the had plan to star selling their "SICK, PROBABLY THE BEST FREAKIN' FRAME ON EARTH" to the public but due to the lack of demand they decided to pull the plug on the entire race program.

Some says they first got into it as they feared that one day MX racing would be banned because of the gas emissions and the thought perhaps DH would be the next big thing.

Other says it was more of an exploration to push their technology ...Im not quite sure and I dont think they're a lot of people out there who knows exactly why they got into it DH

I was with riding up the chairlift with Brendan the other day and even if it shouldn't have said this, he said he missed his Honda really bad...especially the "dreamy" Showa suspension but the gearbox as well.


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## NoahColorado (Aug 3, 2004)

They were in it for R&D. They have left the sport now. The forks and rear suspension were made by Showa - they, like the bikes, were one-offs.


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## Joss DeWaele (Nov 9, 2004)

Contrary to what most mountain bikers think, no one cares about mountain biking. And contrary to what most downhillers think, no one cares about downhill. This is especially true for a multi-billion dollar company like Honda. There is simply no money to be made in cycling. The cycling industry exists because the people that work in the industry do it because they love it. Honda's millions of dollars in R&D proved that the derailleur-in-a-box is very efficient under small amounts of horse power.


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## dankist4x4 (Jun 26, 2006)

Everyone knows that they got rid of their DH bikes because they couldn’t fit triple decker wings, ground effects kits, and coffee can mufflers on them. Heck who would buy one of those bikes any ways? It didn’t even have a SI badge on it.


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## combatkimura (Jul 17, 2007)

dankist4x4 said:


> Everyone knows that they got rid of their DH bikes because they couldn't fit triple decker wings, ground effects kits, and coffee can mufflers on them. Heck who would buy one of those bikes any ways? It didn't even have a SI badge on it.


Oh whatever yo! You can buyz thoze down at the Auto Zone. The "Si" "R" and "GT" badges yo! You could get that whip straight hooked up yo! I wonder if you could do like an engine swap and put a turbo kit on it yo?


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## havnmonkey (Apr 22, 2007)

cuz it was BAMF!!!


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## [email protected] (May 9, 2007)

combatkimura said:


> Oh whatever yo! You can buyz thoze down at the Auto Zone. The "Si" "R" and "GT" badges yo! You could get that whip straight hooked up yo! I wonder if you could do like an engine swap and put a turbo kit on it yo?


could you ride it while using a yoyo?


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## havnmonkey (Apr 22, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> could you ride it while using a yoyo?


and while nun-chuking!!! HiiiiiYaaahh!!!


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## Uncle Cliffy (Jul 7, 2006)

Honda's already destroyed those bikes. They're now on the Mt Dew shelf.


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## carbuncle (Dec 9, 2005)

Davidcopperfield said:


> What fork did they use on their DH bikes? They look like taken form 650cc MX bikes.


 It was some $10,000 custom setup designed specifically for the Honda team, no doubt permanently shelved now as well.


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## mrpercussive (Apr 4, 2006)

The RN01 was to develop their suspension for their MX... Nothing more... What sucked though was after picking up Brendan Fairclough for like a month, Honda G Cross shuts down... bummer...


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## POCaHunter (Sep 17, 2004)

bikesaregood said:


> Contrary to what most mountain bikers think, no one cares about mountain biking. And contrary to what most downhillers think, no one cares about downhill. This is especially true for a multi-billion dollar company like Honda. There is simply no money to be made in cycling. The cycling industry exists because the people that work in the industry do it because they love it. Honda's millions of dollars in R&D proved that the derailleur-in-a-box is very efficient under small amounts of horse power.


I don´t know about the US, but those weird germans (80 million people) spent 6 billion euros for bikes and accesoriesin 2006. That is around 9 billion in US-$...

But you´re right, no one cares about MTB, but everyone cares about money. If cycling wouldn´t throw off good money, it wouldn´t exist, at least not to this extent (which is relatively small, agreed)


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## havnmonkey (Apr 22, 2007)

someone might have to infiltrate Honda's "X-Files" division and "borrow" a couple of shelved prototypes.... the truth is out there.


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## Uncle Six Pack (Aug 29, 2004)

bikesaregood said:


> Contrary to what most mountain bikers think, no one cares about mountain biking. And contrary to what most downhillers think, no one cares about downhill. This is especially true for a multi-billion dollar company like Honda. There is simply no money to be made in cycling. The cycling industry exists because the people that work in the industry do it because they love it. Honda's millions of dollars in R&D proved that the derailleur-in-a-box is very efficient under small amounts of horse power.


Sad but true. On the plus side, the industry has come to a remarkable place and I think a lot of development is starting to plateau now. I am quite happy with the bikes available to the general public, although I wish they weren't quite so expensive.


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## mrpercussive (Apr 4, 2006)

havnmonkey said:


> someone might have to infiltrate Honda's "X-Files" division and "borrow" a couple of shelved prototypes.... the truth is out there.


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## Hardtails Are Better (May 4, 2005)

What is that? It's clearly not an RN01.


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## mrpercussive (Apr 4, 2006)

Hardtails Are Better said:


> What is that? It's clearly not an RN01.


Empire AP1... looks a lot like an RN01 without a gearbox though...


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## Hardtails Are Better (May 4, 2005)

mrpercussive said:


> Empire AP1... looks a lot like an RN01 without a gearbox though...


Except for the crazy billet downtube, sort of.


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## wyrm (Jan 19, 2004)

This being a thread of stupid questions...

What rear derailler did the RN01 have???


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## mrpercussive (Apr 4, 2006)

wyrm said:


> This being a thread of stupid questions...
> 
> What rear derailler did the RN01 have???


SRAM XO shortcage... It's inside the GBox


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## Andrewpalooza (Dec 7, 2004)

Hardtails Are Better said:


> Except for the crazy billet downtube, sort of.


I actually think that frame is cast aluminum. Talk about a commitment...


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## Hardtails Are Better (May 4, 2005)

Damn. Why?


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## NoahColorado (Aug 3, 2004)

I think that Empire bike is dope. Like someone else said it's cast too, not jigged and welded tubes like 99.99999% of bikes. MX Style. That concept should be further explored...here let me....

Cost? I would imagine the frame is less expensive to manufacture than traditional bike frames, after all a dirtbike and a WC DH bike cost about the same no? If it was cheaper to make it could be made here and not overseas and still be competitive both in price and performance. A lot of my customers are longing for domestic made full suspension bikes and the available product seems to be 1) limited and 2) expensive.

I know very little about engineering, but when I saw that Empire bike the first time awhile ago in MBUK it sure make me wonder why no one had done that kind of construction before. Good find MrP


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