That might mean "Canada" too !!!!
I can't find anything about new bikes on "Honda Canada" !!!
Would be interesting if we got some though !!!
Who knows, Honda Motor Co. in Japan may have decided to have American Honda Motor Co. lead off with new model releases for the U.S., and thereby keep all the hype and speculation somewhat focused. It would not surprise me if some of the Honda distributors for other countries, like Canada and Australia follow up with new model announcements right after AHM does their Big Splash.
Hell, you guys Down Under, and up in The Great White North might get something new & cool in your Honda dealerships that we won't be able to buy here in the U.S.
Back in '89 I was up in Montreal for the Formula One race, and I went to check out a dealership called Moto Internationale right in the heart of Montreal. I was literally blown away by all the cool two stroke road bikes available for sale... Honda NSR's, Suzuki Gamma's, Yamaha RZ's & RZV's (Aufitt has an RZV500, lucky guy... still looking for those pic's Aufitt). I had a Yamaha RZ350N (yellow & black Kenny Roberts edition) at that time, which was only sold in '84 & '85, before more restrictive EPA regulations made it no longer financially possible for Yamaha to import the bike to the U.S. Yet Canada still had the RZ350 well into the early '90's, and without the heavy, restrictive mufflers (with cat's) that the U.S. version had back in '84 & '85.
So don't fret Bullseye, I have no doubt Honda Canada will deliver the new Honda goods up there in the mostly frozen north... Speaking of which, you guys must be snowmobiling up there by now, yes?
So don't fret Bullseye, I have no doubt Honda Canada will deliver the new Honda goods up there in the mostly frozen north... Speaking of which, you guys must be snowmobiling up there by now, yes?
Lol! Bullseye might be as he is north of L2R and myself but in and around Calgary we have a chinook right now. I pulled the bike out yesterday and put on about 130 kms. When I went out it was around 1 C. With the heated grips it was awesome and good to be back on it after sitting for a couple weeks.
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They will probably start making a street legal version of this.
Highly unlikely. AutoBlog got it backwards in their article... the CRF450 Rally is actually a limited build factory race bike, based on the CRF450X production off road bike, which you can buy right now at U.S. Honda dealers. The official Honda press release at the bottom of the article, has the details right.
Here's a thread with a link to Honda Worldwide, and their official announcement of the bike with additional photos: Honda Unveils Dakar Rally Bike Today
Highly unlikely. AutoBlog got it backwards in their article... the CRF450 Rally is actually a limited build factory race bike, based on the CRF450X production off road bike, which you can buy right now at U.S. Honda dealers. The official Honda press release at the bottom of the article, has the details right.
Here's a thread with a link to Honda Worldwide, and their official announcement of the bike with additional photos: Honda Unveils Dakar Rally Bike Today
And the Porsche 911 was based on a VW Beetle, but they aren't the same and that's not what I said. I said that my guess was that they will put the CRF450 Rally into production and sell it as a road legal bike. Since this whole thread is a collection of wet dreams anyway, mine is as likely as anyone else's. Even if it's not.
Met a guy at work today that told me he was looking at getting a Ninja 300, to which I said "you might want to wait and see what Honda comes out with in a few days".
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And the Porsche 911 was based on a VW Beetle, but they aren't the same and that's not what I said. I said that my guess was that they will put the CRF450 Rally into production and sell it as a road legal bike. Since this whole thread is a collection of wet dreams anyway, mine is as likely as anyone else's. Even if it's not.
There are several reasons that your "wet dream" of a street legal CRF450 Rally would be very unlikely to become reality:
- Honda already has a large displacement Dual Sport, the XR650L. It's an old school air-cooled thumper which was first released in '93, and is based on the XR600R off road bike that Honda dominated long distance off road races, like Baja, back in the '80's & '90's. The XR650L is still available as a 2012 model, and Honda hasn't changed one single nut or bolt on the bike in 19 years of production. Honda still sells enough of them to keep it in dealership showrooms. I have a '94 XR650L with over 18,000 miles on the odo, half of those are off road miles. It will do over 100 MPH.
- Honda has had the CRF450X for a number years now, since 2005, and if they wanted to offer a street legal version of the bike they certainly could have done so before now. The 2012 has an MSRP of $8440 USD. Taking a purpose built off road bike and making it street legal is easier said than done. To start with it is a fairly high strung motor. To detune it for the purpose of meeting EPA regulations wouldn't make much sense. A complete electrical system would have to be added. Cost is a big factor. A street legal version of the CRF450X could very well approach a MSRP of $10,000 USD. Probably not too many interested buyers at that kind of price. Something like the CRF450 Rally? Try closer to $15,000 USD... that would not be a cheap motorcycle by any stretch of the imagination.
- Previous to the CRF450X, Honda's off road race bike was the 2000 XR650R, which had an all new liquid cooled engine, in an aluminum frame. It was a big step above the old air-cooled, big bore XR's. There was a lot of speculation among XR enthusiasts that Honda would produce a street legal version of this bike to replace the old air-cooled XR650L, but it never happened.
There is a RUMOR that Honda will update the XR650L for 2013, which if they do more than just Bold New Graphics, the liquid cooled XR650R would make a great platform for a new big bore street legal Dual Sport. We shall see... almost anything is possible.
CBR250r
