Honda Hondamatic

 

In '78 I had a Honda Hawk Hondamatic. My first bike & thought it would be
easier to learn on it without shifting gears. Any idea why Honda will not
come out with an updated version. Might be a market for beginners again.

 


Steve Rabinowitz wrote:

On surface streets and the open highway, an automatic transmission
vehicle is easy enough to ride, but, going through tight curves, the
rider would need to drag the rear brake to get a feeling of control.

Suzuki also tried to introduce an automatic transmission GS-400 in the
1980's. It only lasted one season. Try googling for GS-400A or GS-450A
to see what you come up with.

The lack of engine braking made the Hondamatic seem less than
confidence inspiring on a twisty road. My friend owned the 1976?
CB-750A, it was a step up in displacement for him, he'd been riding a
CB-400F.

We rode from Los Angeles to attend the AMA national road race at Laguna
Seca, but I wanted to show my friend some twisty back roads.

As we approached Long Grade Rd, descending from the Conejo Valley to
the flood plain of the Santa Clarita river, I was on my 3-cylinder
2-stroke Suzuki GT-750 and I
looked forward to the fun of swooping down the hill, strafing the
apexes of the turns and accelerating away.

My friend regarded the twisty downhill route with a sense of terror.

It wasn't bad enough that the CB-750K* models were so top heavy and
that their wheelbases were too short, the addition of an automatic
transmission exacerbated the CB-750K*'s poor handling characteristics.

After the downhill fiasco, we agreed to stick to the main routes, where
his CB-750A had sufficient beans to keep up with my water buffalo.

And, he wasn't the only CB-750 rider humiliated by the 2-stroke "water
cooler". Another friend that I rode with cross country remarked very
ruefully that he didn't enjoy it when we reached the twisty routes
through the mountains and I would run away and leave him.

But the Suzuki was so confidence inspiring, and the Honda CB-750's were
so *wrong
headed* in their wheelbase vs. rake and trail and center of gravity
location.

The first Honda fours were popular only because they were fours and the
riding public had wanted four-cylinder engines since Honda had taken on
MV Agusta in European GP racing in the 1960's. It didn't matter to the
riding public that Honda's CB-750K* models shared no design features
with the GP machines, at least they were fours and that captured the
riding public's imagination.

And then there was my journalist friend who was a British bike and
Ducati fan. He worked for the motorcycle magazine which has become
Motorcycle Consumer News.
He bought a CB-750K* because they were so popular, but he got rid of it
shortly thereafter because it was so big and ill-handling.

When Suzuki loaned his magazine a GT-750 2-stroke triple, he was very
pleased with it, and praised the handling in the magazine. But, at 550
pounds, it was still a lot bigger and heavier than the British and
European bikes that he was used to.

 




I hadn't thought of that, and it's a good point.  On twisty mountain
roads you really do rely on engine braking, and that means
deliberately choosing a particular gear.  But not every biker wants to
do mountain roads.

Now for me, a big part of the joy of motorcycling is riding a twisty
mountain road and handling the curves smoothly.  Setting up for a
curve, going through it smoothly, setting up for the next curve.  It's
sort of like skiing.  I'm glad I live near mountains.  In a flatland
area biking wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

(And I'm not a racer by any means.  On Summer weekends the mountain
roads near the city are full of riders much more serious than I am, on
R6s and Ducatis and CBRs, and I have to get out of their way! )

But I find a lot of my friends just don't enjoy that!  They ride
anything from cruisers to tourers to 'sport tourers' but they just
don't feel comfortable dropping the bike into curves.  They slow down
for every curve!  They love riding in the hills but I think it's the
scenery they like, not the curves and grades.  Even if I'm taking it
easy they have trouble keeping up with me.  I even have one friend
with a GSXR-1000 who can't keep up with me on my old Beemer Airhead in
the hills (though on the freeway it's I who can't keep up with him!)
Apparently he bought the bike just for its styling (and I agree it is
a very beautiful bike, though I don't like the ergos at all.)

In fact I'd say my biggest problem in finding people to ride with is
that they're either much slower or much faster than I am in the hills.
And slower is much more common.  

You might divide all bikers into two rough categories, sportsters and
cruisers--not necessarily people who ride sport bikes and cruisers,
but people who ride aggressively or 'sportingly'  and those who just
like to ride.

I'd say the latter category outnumbers the former by a goodly amount.
And to many of these people, an auto transmission might be a blessing.
I would bet that a goodly percentage of them, especially new riders,
would be pleased just not to have to bother with clutching and
shifting.  I don't know how well the new generation of 'super
scooters' is going over, but it seemed to be based on that idea.

 

blazing laser <none> writes in alt.motorcycles:

In flatlands there are curvy roads as well. The part of the Netherlands
I live is completely flat, but there are many rivers and streams with
roads past them that follow the river. Sometimes even more fun than
riding the mountains because you have excellent vision and know whether
or not there is an obstacle past the bend.

Getting back to the auto transmission; don't forget that there is a
cultural issue as well. While in the US it is very common to have auto
transmission in cars, in Europe only disabled or old people have them.
People that are neither old or disabled stay far away from them, afraid
to be seen as incompetent drivers.

Given that, it would be impossible to sell a bike with auto transmission
over here, so it would have to be produced for the US market.

    Mike

 



Of course, IIRC, the last full size motorcycle with an automatic was the
Italian Moto-Guzzi back in the 1980's.  I believe it was primarily marketed
for European police use.

Tom K.