Honda bowing out of many forms of 2-wheel competition?

 More cuts for Honda

TOKYO: Honda Motor Co may withdraw from most forms of motorcycle
racing in a bid to cut costs, although it has no plans to pull out of
MotoGP.

Japan’s second-largest carmaker, which has already left Formula One,
hopes to save an estimated 3bil yen (US$33.73mil) as the worldwide
economic crisis continues to bite.

“We have not formally decided yet but we have been looking into the
option of pulling out,” Honda’s Akemi Ando told Reuters yesterday.

No joy: Nicky Hayden in tears after winning the 2006 MotoGP title at
the Valencia Grand Prix. Honda announced they would cut down their
motorcycling activities due to the economic crisis. — AFP

“It is something we have been thinking about for a while since we
pulled out of Formula One. We have no plans to leave MotoGP.”

Motocross, motorcycle trials and other forms of off-road racing will
be the main victims of Honda’s latest cost-cutting measures.

Honda, which has forecast a 190bil yen operating loss for the fiscal
second half ending in March, withdrew from Formula One last month to
reduce costs amid a slump in global car sales.

They have won 14 premier class motorcycling world titles, their
breakthrough triumph coming in 1983 and most recently with Nicky
Hayden in 2006.

Honda’s works team will not be on the grid for the popular Suzuka
Eight-Hour World Endurance Race in July, but the company pledged its
commitment to the event at its home circuit. — Reuters

 On Jan 28, 4:52 am, edi...@mxnewsfeed.com wrote:

The last bike in production at Honda will be the XR650L.



Dave

 XR650L_Dave wrote:


I'm really bitter about Honda.  I'm sure old Soichiro had planned all along to
start with tiny granny-friendly motorcycle-like thingies and end up with
high-profit cars, trucks, etc, but I'm just annoyed as all hell that local
dealers made their money selling motorcycles and then phased out of bikes and
into cars.

Our Honda motorcycles are definitely inferior to the Kawasakis and Suzukis.  My
son says his Toyotas were much better built than his Hondas.  Good enough for me.

--
Cheers,
Bev
=================================================
It's not the speed that kills, it's the stopping.

 
Technically and in power/weight/suspension the XRL is definitely
behind the rest, but sometimes a model T is just fine.

I've never been very brand loyal, I have always tended to migrate back
to Honda because I'm looking for durable, simple, low-maintenance,
backwoods-capable bikes that'll get me home.

A few thousand miles ago I had to ride home about 10 miles (below
freezing) with a crankcase full of silty stream-water, after draining
the cylinder of the same.

No special maintenance after that except about 5 full oil changes
(with used oil) to flush all the water out.

Still chugging along, I'm sure there are some technically superior
bikes that would have had to have been rebuilt by now because of that.

If I was an XR650R rider out looking for the next big-bore from honda,
I'd be mighty pissed about now, since they stopped production.


Dave

 
The Real Bev wrote in message ...

for me.

http://hondajet.honda.com