Do you want to know why your VFR 1200 is underpowered in several ways (RPM, HP, top speed, other mappings for first and second gear)?
It's simple. By being "self regulating" Honda tries to avoid we are all going to drive around with motorcycles limited to 100 HP or even 75HP.
How did it start?
Manufacturers War (Better known as the "The Hayabusa War")
The Suzuki Hayabusa (or GSX1300R) is a sport bike motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of 188 to 194 miles per hour (303 to 312 km/h).
Hayabusa (隼) is Japanese for "peregrine falcon" In particular, the choice of name was made because the peregrine falcon preys on blackbirds, which reflected the intent of the original Hayabusa to unseat the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird as the world's fastest production motorcycle. Eventually, the Hayabusa managed to surpass the Super Blackbird by at least a full 10 miles per hour (16 km/h).
In 2000, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban led to an informal agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to govern the top speed of their motorcycles at an arbitrary limit.
With rumors and then pre-release announcements of much greater power in Kawasaki's Ninja ZX-12R in 2000, clearly attempting to unseat Suzuki and regain lucrative bragging rights, the speed war appeared to be escalating. There were growing fears of carnage and mayhem from motorcycles getting outrageously faster every year, and there was talk of regulating hyper sport motorcycles, or banning their import to Europe.
The gentlemen's agreement (forced peace agreement between the manufacturers and the government)
The response was a so-called gentlemen's agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to electronically limit the speed of their motorcycles to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) and to not mention horsepower, speed, acceleration or power-to-weight ratios in advertising and promotional materials. Speedometers will not read past 300 kph, either.
This ended the top speed wars between the manufacturers, and the 1999-2000 Suzuki Hayabusa will likely retire as the fastest production motorcycle ever sold.
While Honda did announce that its motorcycles would not go faster than 300 km/h, Suzuki and Kawasaki would not speak on record about this issue. The agreement between them and the other brands has never been officially acknowledged by the manufacturers, though media sources report it via unnamed informants, and by testing the top speed of motorcycles known to be capable of exceeding the arbitrary maximum. The informal agreement went into effect for the 2001 model year. So for 2001models, and those since, the question of which bike was fastest could only be answered by tampering with the speed limiting system, meaning that it was no longer a contest between stock, production motorcycles, absolving the manufacture of blame and letting those not quite as fast avoid losing face. Both Kawasaki and Suzuki would claim, at least technically, to have the world's fastest production motorcycle. But the speed war continued underground, out of the spotlight, with fierce competition among enthusiasts of the "200 mph club", albeit with the slight technical modification necessary to bypass the speed limiter, separating that war from the ostensibly at peace world of stock motorcycles.
(although reworked, most of this information comes from Wikipedia. If you want to know more; just go to Wikipedia)
The gentlemen's agreement doesn't seems to work anymore (War against the government)
Europe's 100 HP motorcycle limit
(source: http://kustomking.bl...ycle-limit.html)
There's a lot of sensational misinformation surrounding proposed European Union regulations that could see all motorcycles sold there restricted to 100 HP, so we've asked Norwegian journalist Ivar Kvadsheim to break things down for us. Even if the power limit doesn't become law, it looks like mandatory ABS and linked brakes could.
Background:
- EU is working on new legislation for motorcycles. Loads of big and small directives concerning type approval of motorcycles are put into one new framework regulation.
- While they're at it they also want to look at adding new measures to improve safety and lower emissions.
- Whatever the framework regulation ends up looking like, it'll be passed as law in all EU-countries, basically all of Europe.
What's happening now?
- The EU Commission (the bureaucrats) is working on the proposal for the EU Parliament (the politicians) to vote over. They want this proposal ready before the summer and have the vote as soon as possible.
- The motorcycle industry (ACEM), the motorcyclists' federation (FEMA) and various road safety organizations are lobbying like mad.
Should European motorcyclists worry?
Yes. Some of the proposals the Commission is working on can potentially change everyday life for every European motorcyclist. FEMA (in some cases working with ACEM, in others against them) are directly involved in negotiations over the final draft, but so are other groups with other interests. There's no telling what can be stopped or not before the proposal reaches the politicians. Whatever happens when they get it is anyone's guess.
see also: http://www.twowheels...mit-motorcycles
What about the USA?
Although I live in Europe, if I read this article, the situation in the USA looks even worse than in Europe.
source: http://motorcycles.a...-horsepower.htm
Acting preemptively in light of the European Union's recent push towards limiting motorcycle horsepower to 100, Congress has quietly passed a transportation bill that will cap motorcycle engine output at 75 hp.
At a press conference today, DOT spokesman Melvin P. Meyers announced that "We can't lag behind Europe's progressive stance towards two-wheeled moderation." The bill not only limits the horsepower of current and future motorcycle models, it retroactively applies to any registered bike on the road, and will take effect as early as January, 2011. "In the interest of public safety," Meyers explains, "law enforcement officials will clamp down on any and all motorcyclists who violate the law."
The bill outlines numerous electronic and mechanical implements that reduce engine output. For instance, fuel-injected powerplants will be fitted with revised engine management chips and/or throttle bodies, while older carbureted bikes will have a reduction gear attached to the throttle assembly. In instances where owners choose to retain the mechanical authenticity of their motorcycles, a banana can also be slipped into the exhaust pipe(s). At the discretion of state police, mobile dynamometers may be utilized for field tests.
Both the Motorcycle Industry Council and the American Motorcyclist Association have lobbied against the bill, in addition to most manufacturers including Aprilia, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, Triumph, and Yamaha.
There has been no comment from Harley-Davidson, though Forbes reports that Harley stock has jumped 12 percent on the announcement
First Victim - VFR 1200
Although several new models were introduced after the VFR 1200, on every Honda website in Europe, the VFR 1200 is still the Flagship.
This my personal opinion (and Honda will never admit it), but I think they want to use the VFR 1200 to get a new gentlemen's agreement. But this time with a speedlimit of 250 km/h instead of 300 km/h (and to avoid the 100 HP/75HP limit).
In order to convince the EU regulators (and USA regulators as well), they also want to prove they mean it. What's the value of a speedlimiter, if you still have a motorcycle with enough HP to go up to 300 km/h? Every tech guy can tell you this is a +200 HP engine if you produce enough RPM (and it can)
The consequence is that they installed an ECU that limits the RPM in order to produce lesser HP.
The different mapping of first and second gear is also a "promotion" by Honda for safer riding...
Convinced? I am!
It's simple. By being "self regulating" Honda tries to avoid we are all going to drive around with motorcycles limited to 100 HP or even 75HP.
How did it start?
Manufacturers War (Better known as the "The Hayabusa War")
The Suzuki Hayabusa (or GSX1300R) is a sport bike motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of 188 to 194 miles per hour (303 to 312 km/h).
Hayabusa (隼) is Japanese for "peregrine falcon" In particular, the choice of name was made because the peregrine falcon preys on blackbirds, which reflected the intent of the original Hayabusa to unseat the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird as the world's fastest production motorcycle. Eventually, the Hayabusa managed to surpass the Super Blackbird by at least a full 10 miles per hour (16 km/h).
In 2000, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban led to an informal agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to govern the top speed of their motorcycles at an arbitrary limit.
With rumors and then pre-release announcements of much greater power in Kawasaki's Ninja ZX-12R in 2000, clearly attempting to unseat Suzuki and regain lucrative bragging rights, the speed war appeared to be escalating. There were growing fears of carnage and mayhem from motorcycles getting outrageously faster every year, and there was talk of regulating hyper sport motorcycles, or banning their import to Europe.
The gentlemen's agreement (forced peace agreement between the manufacturers and the government)
The response was a so-called gentlemen's agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to electronically limit the speed of their motorcycles to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) and to not mention horsepower, speed, acceleration or power-to-weight ratios in advertising and promotional materials. Speedometers will not read past 300 kph, either.
This ended the top speed wars between the manufacturers, and the 1999-2000 Suzuki Hayabusa will likely retire as the fastest production motorcycle ever sold.
While Honda did announce that its motorcycles would not go faster than 300 km/h, Suzuki and Kawasaki would not speak on record about this issue. The agreement between them and the other brands has never been officially acknowledged by the manufacturers, though media sources report it via unnamed informants, and by testing the top speed of motorcycles known to be capable of exceeding the arbitrary maximum. The informal agreement went into effect for the 2001 model year. So for 2001models, and those since, the question of which bike was fastest could only be answered by tampering with the speed limiting system, meaning that it was no longer a contest between stock, production motorcycles, absolving the manufacture of blame and letting those not quite as fast avoid losing face. Both Kawasaki and Suzuki would claim, at least technically, to have the world's fastest production motorcycle. But the speed war continued underground, out of the spotlight, with fierce competition among enthusiasts of the "200 mph club", albeit with the slight technical modification necessary to bypass the speed limiter, separating that war from the ostensibly at peace world of stock motorcycles.
(although reworked, most of this information comes from Wikipedia. If you want to know more; just go to Wikipedia)
The gentlemen's agreement doesn't seems to work anymore (War against the government)
Europe's 100 HP motorcycle limit
(source: http://kustomking.bl...ycle-limit.html)
There's a lot of sensational misinformation surrounding proposed European Union regulations that could see all motorcycles sold there restricted to 100 HP, so we've asked Norwegian journalist Ivar Kvadsheim to break things down for us. Even if the power limit doesn't become law, it looks like mandatory ABS and linked brakes could.
Background:
- EU is working on new legislation for motorcycles. Loads of big and small directives concerning type approval of motorcycles are put into one new framework regulation.
- While they're at it they also want to look at adding new measures to improve safety and lower emissions.
- Whatever the framework regulation ends up looking like, it'll be passed as law in all EU-countries, basically all of Europe.
What's happening now?
- The EU Commission (the bureaucrats) is working on the proposal for the EU Parliament (the politicians) to vote over. They want this proposal ready before the summer and have the vote as soon as possible.
- The motorcycle industry (ACEM), the motorcyclists' federation (FEMA) and various road safety organizations are lobbying like mad.
Should European motorcyclists worry?
Yes. Some of the proposals the Commission is working on can potentially change everyday life for every European motorcyclist. FEMA (in some cases working with ACEM, in others against them) are directly involved in negotiations over the final draft, but so are other groups with other interests. There's no telling what can be stopped or not before the proposal reaches the politicians. Whatever happens when they get it is anyone's guess.
see also: http://www.twowheels...mit-motorcycles
What about the USA?
Although I live in Europe, if I read this article, the situation in the USA looks even worse than in Europe.
source: http://motorcycles.a...-horsepower.htm
Acting preemptively in light of the European Union's recent push towards limiting motorcycle horsepower to 100, Congress has quietly passed a transportation bill that will cap motorcycle engine output at 75 hp.
At a press conference today, DOT spokesman Melvin P. Meyers announced that "We can't lag behind Europe's progressive stance towards two-wheeled moderation." The bill not only limits the horsepower of current and future motorcycle models, it retroactively applies to any registered bike on the road, and will take effect as early as January, 2011. "In the interest of public safety," Meyers explains, "law enforcement officials will clamp down on any and all motorcyclists who violate the law."
The bill outlines numerous electronic and mechanical implements that reduce engine output. For instance, fuel-injected powerplants will be fitted with revised engine management chips and/or throttle bodies, while older carbureted bikes will have a reduction gear attached to the throttle assembly. In instances where owners choose to retain the mechanical authenticity of their motorcycles, a banana can also be slipped into the exhaust pipe(s). At the discretion of state police, mobile dynamometers may be utilized for field tests.
Both the Motorcycle Industry Council and the American Motorcyclist Association have lobbied against the bill, in addition to most manufacturers including Aprilia, BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, Triumph, and Yamaha.
There has been no comment from Harley-Davidson, though Forbes reports that Harley stock has jumped 12 percent on the announcement
First Victim - VFR 1200
Although several new models were introduced after the VFR 1200, on every Honda website in Europe, the VFR 1200 is still the Flagship.
This my personal opinion (and Honda will never admit it), but I think they want to use the VFR 1200 to get a new gentlemen's agreement. But this time with a speedlimit of 250 km/h instead of 300 km/h (and to avoid the 100 HP/75HP limit).
In order to convince the EU regulators (and USA regulators as well), they also want to prove they mean it. What's the value of a speedlimiter, if you still have a motorcycle with enough HP to go up to 300 km/h? Every tech guy can tell you this is a +200 HP engine if you produce enough RPM (and it can)
The consequence is that they installed an ECU that limits the RPM in order to produce lesser HP.
The different mapping of first and second gear is also a "promotion" by Honda for safer riding...
Convinced? I am!