Harakiri

[BIGLRY]

Now for the burning question. Does the plane of the piston rotation of the flat engine contribute to the smoothness of the Gold Wing?

Yeap, along with several other engineered designed aspects of the engine platform!

[F6Dave]

Soichiro Honda loved exotic engines. He developed multiple V-12 Formula One engines in the 1960s, including a 1.5 liter version mounted transversely, and won a few Grand Prix.

In 1969 he stunned the motorcycle world with the CB750. An OHC inline 4 (with 4 carbs, 4 mufflers, and a disk brake) was revolutionary in a time of pushrod twins and drum brakes. Then in 1978 he gave us the 6 cylinder CBX.

In 1982 the V45 was introduced. There were Magna and Sabre versions initially. They had a water cooled, 4 cam, 16 valve V-4. That was a fairly radical engine design in a time when air cooled inline 4s were the norm.

The water cooled 1000 cc flat 4 was a real standout in the 1975 Goldwing, especially when combined with all the other advanced features like belt-driven cams, shaft drive, and triple disk brakes. But when you look at Mr. Honda's history it fits right in.

[Verismo]

Soichiro Honda loved exotic engines. He developed multiple V-12 Formula One engines in the 1960s, including a 1.5 liter version mounted transversely, and won a few Grand Prix.

In 1969 he stunned the motorcycle world ...

Thank you, F6Dave! Despite my love for this particular motorcycle platform, I've never done any research into Honda. Partially too busy doing other things (and riding!)

After seeing Honda's first name, I was inspired to read his Wikipedia entry. Really interesting! I thought it was pretty fascinating that he actually suffered the loss of his first major business, a piston ring manufacturing factory for Toyota, due to the U.S. bombing it during World War Two! He sold the salvaged remains and used the money to fund the first iteration of Honda. What a comeback story! One of these days I'll do some actual research and see if I can find some engineers' writings, diary entries, etc., for some real insight into Honda's 1970's corporate culture.

Jason

[F6Dave]

Thank you, F6Dave! Despite my love for this particular motorcycle platform, I've never done any research into Honda. Partially too busy doing other things (and riding!)

After seeing Honda's first name, I was inspired to read his Wikipedia entry. Really interesting! I thought it was pretty fascinating that he actually suffered the loss of his first major business, a piston ring manufacturing factory for Toyota, due to the U.S. bombing it during World War Two! He sold the salvaged remains and used the money to fund the first iteration of Honda. What a comeback story! One of these days I'll do some actual research and see if I can find some engineers' writings, diary entries, etc., for some real insight into Honda's 1970's corporate culture.

Jason

He was an amazing man. He significantly altered the course of motorcycle history. It was exciting to watch the covers of motorcycle magazines through Honda's best years, because they were always introducing some innovation that would surpass all the competition. Sometimes they seemed to just be showing off their technical expertise, like the NR engines with oval pistons and 8 valves per cylinder.

After the death of Mr. Honda in 1991 the innovation began to slow. Without his passion for motorcycles the new products were less frequent and less radical. This carried over to other areas of the company too. Honda engines dominated Formula One racing in the 1980s and 90s, but today they struggle to make the top 10. It's still a great company. My F6B is a great motorcycle and the new Wing looks awesome. But it isn't like the old days.

[unsub]

Soichiro Honda loved exotic engines. He developed multiple V-12 Formula One engines in the 1960s, including a 1.5 liter version mounted transversely, and won a few Grand Prix.

In 1969 he stunned the motorcycle world with the CB750. An OHC inline 4 (with 4 carbs, 4 mufflers, and a disk brake) was revolutionary in a time of pushrod twins and drum brakes. Then in 1978 he gave us the 6 cylinder CBX.

In 1982 the V45 was introduced. There were Magna and Sabre versions initially. They had a water cooled, 4 cam, 16 valve V-4. That was a fairly radical engine design in a time when air cooled inline 4s were the norm.

The water cooled 1000 cc flat 4 was a real standout in the 1975 Goldwing, especially when combined with all the other advanced features like belt-driven cams, shaft drive, and triple disk brakes. But when you look at Mr. Honda's history it fits right in.

In between those two Honda pushed out a CB350 4 cylinder as well. 72-74 That was a mind blower at the time because of it's small size....

[F6Dave]

In between those two Honda pushed out a CB350 4 cylinder as well. 72-74 That was a mind blower at the time because of it's small size....

Yes, that was a very nice bike. There were some awesome small bikes in that era. Two years later they upgraded the 350 to the CB400F, which had a beautiful chrome 4 into 1 exhaust system.

[opas ride]

Yes, that was a very nice bike. There were some awesome small bikes in that era. Two years later they upgraded the 350 to the CB400F, which had a beautiful chrome 4 into 1 exhaust system.

I had one of the CB400F series and absolutely loved the thing...Handled great, smooth, fast for bikes in those days, looked super and one of my all time favorites....Should have kept longer, but traded it for a 750 Honda which was also a super bike....Miss the good old days!!...Ride safe

[shortleg0521]

Thanks for your response. I was aware of the prior employment of the horizontally opposed engine in several cars. Just not in motorcycles, especially in the American segment. I'm more interested in how the Japanese engineers went about this transition, especially considering what a radical departure it was from American twins.

Jason

May want to check out a few BMWs for some more info on the cylinder lay out.
They used it for years. I had an old BMW with what was called earls forks
and having a side car that had a spare tire mounted on it.
That spare tire fit the bike front and back, also fit the side car.
Now that there is innovation.
It was a flat two cylinder air cooled.

[Verismo]

May want to check out a few BMWs for some more info on the cylinder lay out.
They used it for years. I had an old BMW with what was called earls forks
and having a side car that had a spare tire mounted on it.
That spare tire fit the bike front and back, also fit the side car.
Now that there is innovation.
It was a flat two cylinder air cooled.

Got any pics? Would love to see it. I did some reading based on your recommendation and the Germans were definitely ahead of that curve with both the opposed motorcycle engines and shaft drive. I haven't yet dug enough to find out whether any were water cooled. But I did learn something super interesting to me, at least. Harley Davidson was commissioned, by the U.S. military during World War Two, no less, to build a horizontally opposed engine with shaft drive to copy the ingenuity and reliability of the Germans. They came up with the XA, of which they built 1000. Can you imagine what the conversations must've been like in the Harley workshops at the time? Being asked by Uncle Sam to copy the Germans for their superior bikes during World War Two?! Wow. Also, what would Harley currently be like if they had followed up with their XA design and improved upon it, instead of going with the V Twin, which ran 100° fahrenheit hotter.

I love treasure hunts like this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson_XA

Jason

[F6Dave]

I was just reading my October AMA magazine, and there was an article about the Honda RC161. The engine was a 250 cc, 16 valve, DOHC inline 4 with a 6 speed transmission. It made 38 HP and redlined at 14,000 RPM. Amazingly, Honda built this bike in 1960!