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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
10/12/09
10/11/09
10/11/09
This seems silly though. First, it would mean riding the bike one-handed. Second, wind noise, not engine noise is the problem on a small bike/scooter., Third, you hopefully have your head stuffed into a helmet, restricting your ability to hear anything from a 1" speaker.
10/11/09
10/11/09
[www.christini.com]
10/11/09
10/11/09
I know, I know - but Christini's is AWD. Yes, it is. And as any Subaru owner will tell you, AWD is a type of 4wd, as is full time and part time 4wd (though I have a bias on PT4WD).
Honda's not first to market here.
10/11/09
Even Christini isn't the first to make a 2WD bike. In fact the the long history of 2x2 bikes Christini contribution is unremarkable.
More recently, Yamaha made a the WR450F 2-Trac, and KTM had a similar hydraulic front-wheel-drive system, as well as BMW F800 competition bikes.
[www.mcnews.com.au]
Recently, there's even been a 200hp Yamaha R1 2WD bike:
[www.fasterandfaster.net]
If you really want to look back, the first 2x2 bike was the 1924 350cc Raleigh. The first well-known mass produced 2x2 is the ROKON (they've been selling these since the 60s)
The first hydraulic front-wheel drive was the 1983 DR 250 Suzuki. In the 90s Suzuki made the XF-5 and Lander for the Japanese markets.
Honda is taking this to the next step. Obviously an all electric model is much easier to incorporate a 2x2 system since motors can be mounted on the wheels. They will be the first to mass-produce a 2x2 scooter in mass numbers.
10/11/09
The comment was made because Christini modifies Honda bikes (and KTMs, but I've only seen the Hondas in person), and has been doing this for a few years, but Honda gets credit for this as a commercial entry, no nearly the first, but most importantly, NOT THE FIRST 2WD system on a Honda bike.
I've ridden one, it is pretty rad, better than the bicycle version they have. I can't imagine a use on the road though, I want to keep my traction for turning and leaning, leave that front wheel unpowered for me.
10/12/09
Nobody need tell "Christini that Honda is first"...
In fact, if we are talking about small outfits like Christini doing 2x2 Hondas they are NOT the first for that either. Xuereb's Australian firm has also makes Honda CR500s using a similar hydraulic front-wheel drive years before Christini. There was even a late-80s Honda XR250 modified for 2x2 shown at Hond's Idea Days ages ago.
Beyond that, this EV-cub is an entirely different beast all together.
The Cub is the best selling powered vehicle of all time- 60 million vehicles. If Honda builds this then it makes a strong statement by going EV with a full-electric 2x2.
10/11/09
10/11/09