Quote:
Originally Posted by ehsanagar
what is this ?  ) |
Confused about what you are asking, but more background follows:
Most motorcycles in the engine range of my bike, normally 650s, are of one of the following types: 1-sport bikes; 2-standards (sport bike like but with more upright riding position); 3-adventure bikes: like sport bikes and standards with respect to many of the components, but with much higher seating and some off road capability and rugged looks, though in reality, are not very off-road capable, just off-road looking and taller stance, but are really more for commuting and other street uses; 4-dual sport, which also can have many similar components as the other three, but have some components like wheels/tires and suspension that make them truly capable for street and off road use but usually will be better for one use than the other; and 5- off road bikes. The expectations for fuel economy in any of these above have historically ranged are 40-60 mpg. Sporty performance has gradually increased, but mpg has not.
Adventure bikes have been very popular since their inception in many countries including the U.S. They were introduced maybe the last ten to fifteen or so. Like most of these other styles, they're also available in other displacements; from 125 cc to 1200 with some brands. All of these bikes listed above usually all have similar engine and power train characteristics. They are light, high revving and sporty in nature (think sport bike). But one of Honda's adventure bikes introduced around 2011 was different from any bike in any of these ranges due to the fact that it came from Honda automotive; one-half of a Honda Fit with respect to displacement and cylinder arrangement, and therefore it has torque much flatter, lower rev limit (just like a car), and therefore, a little less available horsepower for its size than the usual engine in this range, because it stops generating horsepower as it nears it's lower rev limit. Also, Honda offered this adventure bike, called an NC700X with an automatic transmission option; a dual clutch like is also seen in higher end cars. No other automatic motorcycle or scooter uses actual gears or cogs. The others are CVT type. Honda calls the auto version DCT. In other countries, Honda also offered these same power trains (standard and DCT) in other motorcycle types; a standard, called an NC700S, and an Integra, a standard and scooter-looking and appointed motorcycle, respectively. Other than the torquey character, often called the diesel of motorcycles, the Honda 670 cc parallel twin offers exceptional fuel economy, providing 10-15 higher mpg than what can normally be achieved in this range in any style and gives a more pleasing, off the line characteristic in city riding, as one doesn't have to wait on the tachometer to get the launch effect.
For the most part, Honda Power Sports has taken a beating by the media for offering a fuel-frugal, torquey engine in these models, because long-time enthusiasts and recreational riders have developed expectations of a lot of sportiness for these styles of bikes and experienced riders, for the most part, don't like having to upshift to stay in the power curve while accelerating. However, especially as it relates to the NC700X adventure bike, the sales have been very good for Honda Power Sports, despite the negative views from the riding media. The reason...Some folks have been waiting for a more practical choice with respect to fuel economy and performance off the line (not waiting for revs to get power and torque). On the downside, the power train is lacking on the high end as compared to its competitors. It will not accelerate quickly above 75 mph as compared to other 625-700 cc power trains. But for many riders, no matter what they're being told by the so-called experts, this is not an important feature of motorcycling. I would fall in to that group, but the NC700X (the only bike available up until Summer 2013 in America with this engine) has too high of a seat for my body type.
But in 2013,Honda started something new with a mc called a CTX700N and a CTX700. The former is a naked cruiser. The latter is a faired cruiser, making it like a sport-touring bike but smaller than sport tourer, except for scooters, that had been on the market so far. Unlike domestics cruisers and their imitators, this cruiser is built more like a sport bike in many respects resulting in lower weight and higher performance with respect to how it can carve through twisty roads and such. Harley Davidson and Kawasaki, both seeing how this new motorcycle type may gain popularity, also came out with these more performance-oriented naked cruisers, but HPS was still the only one that offered this style with a fairing and HPS was still the only one who offered this type of low-revving power train more akin to automobiles. Some media outlets have named this new style of motorcycle "post-modern naked cruiser", as we now have three.
For anyone to commute on a 650+ cc motorcycle of any type and achieve over 70 mpg is unprecedented. That's why this is a success story. It has more to do with Honda engineering and being a fuel economy conscious rider than anything else. The congratulations goes to Honda Power Sports engineers.
Now if they or someone else would take up the concept of streamlining. The mpg that I'm achieving could be near doubled! It's been proven many times by DIY'ers in the Vetter FE Challenges; but manufacturers could make them even better and safer. One thing that could usher in streamlining is a recent push (it seems) towards some three wheel concepts in motorcycles and sort of a blending of autos and motorcycles with these new three wheel concepts that have two wheels front and one in the rear. This configurations makes it easy to streamline, so we'll see what happens in the future. It's sort of exciting, except that too many of these so far are up scale, +25K three wheelers that are not very FE. It's so far been mostly about high-speed performance, but it looks like HPS and Toyota may enter this market.
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