Honda GB350S

[Yorick]

What a set of miserable fuckers. Lets ban bikes above 200cc and all wallow around on slugs. Best keep away from dual cabbage ways and motorways.
It'll be cheaper as guaranteed no speeding fines

Who the fk wants to ride a bike on a dual carriageway or motorway???

Just wander round to the youth club eh ?

[KungFooBob]

Different strokes for different folks, innit.

I like tracks and going fast, I like bimbling around on low powered shitters too.

Going 'fast' on UK roads isn't like it was in the 90/00's. The risks are greater, be that poor quality road surfaces or cameras.

I reckon if it's got two wheels you can have some form of fun. A 50cc moped is just a different type of fun to a 200bhp Panigale(!).

[Dodgy69]

You don't need 200 gee gees on some of our lanes, it ain't that hard.

[Cousin Jack]

Having swapped 100+ horses for 47 I know which I prefer. If only the vast sums put into developing motors from 100 to 200+ bhp had been put into keeping the weight down to <200 kg.

[Yorick]

Having swapped 100+ horses for 47 I know which I prefer. If only the vast sums put into developing motors from 100 to 200+ bhp had been put into keeping the weight down to <200 kg.

Fark the GB350 is 180 kilos. That's 30 kilos more than the 1977 jobby.

Nearly half the power and 30 kgs more.

And folk are getting excited about it??

[KungFooBob]

It's a £4k bike, they're not going to make them out of carbon fibre and titanium.

[Nordboy]

Having swapped 100+ horses for 47 I know which I prefer. If only the vast sums put into developing motors from 100 to 200+ bhp had been put into keeping the weight down to <200 kg.

Fark the GB350 is 180 kilos. That's 30 kilos more than the 1977 jobby.

Nearly half the power and 30 kgs more.

And folk are getting excited about it??

I could wonder why the hell people get excited about the latest £20k sportsbike that has 200+bhp. That doesn't appeal to me at all? But I absolutely respect that people do, and am happy they get the choice of what they ride and get excited about.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You don't need 200 gee gees on some of our lanes, it ain't that hard.

Nobody needs 200 bhp (or the 143 my bike has), but big power is big fun, and I can also ride slowly if I want to.

[Cousin Jack]

You don't need 200 gee gees on some of our lanes, it ain't that hard.

Nobody needs 200 bhp (or the 143 my bike has), but big power is big fun, and I can also ride slowly if I want to.

I really really want 65bhp and 150kg. With the right dimensions that would tick ALL the boxes.

[mangocrazy]

You don't need 200 gee gees on some of our lanes, it ain't that hard.

Nobody needs 200 bhp (or the 143 my bike has), but big power is big fun, and I can also ride slowly if I want to.

I really really want 65bhp and 150kg. With the right dimensions that would tick ALL the boxes.

Sir needs a (secondhand) KTM Duke 690. 73bhp and 150kg (with heavy, ugly cat removed and replaced with link pipe).

[A_morti]

I could wonder why the hell people get excited about the latest £20k sportsbike that has 200+bhp.

20?

The BMW m1000rr is over £30k... Even a cooking model Fireblade starts at £23.5k. For something that can fall over in a strong wind, be lifted in to a van by a few strong lads and wake up in a container, be written off in basically any crash, or whatever.

Not for me, ta.

[Cousin Jack]

Nobody needs 200 bhp (or the 143 my bike has), but big power is big fun, and I can also ride slowly if I want to.

I really really want 65bhp and 150kg. With the right dimensions that would tick ALL the boxes.

Sir needs a (secondhand) KTM Duke 690. 73bhp and 150kg (with heavy, ugly cat removed and replaced with link pipe).

Now if Honda (or any other reliable manufacturer) made one like that .........

[Dodgy69]

MCN says £55 tax a year, over 200 mile range and possibly 80mph, so there are some positives. Its a small bike to add to the garage, not a one and only I would of thought. I doubt the uk is the target audience.

However, on some lanes around here, I could guarantee there's fun to be had on it. Slow bikes fast vs fast bikes slow type thinking. It's when you get on the quicker road's the fun will be gone. Does need a bit more though.

[mangocrazy]

I really really want 65bhp and 150kg. With the right dimensions that would tick ALL the boxes.

Sir needs a (secondhand) KTM Duke 690. 73bhp and 150kg (with heavy, ugly cat removed and replaced with link pipe).

Now if Honda (or any other reliable manufacturer) made one like that .........

I know the current perception of KTM is a maker of unreliable, overpriced bikes with questionable design and build quality, but that is partially down to issues with the later parallel twins and partially down to their current financial woes. Look beyond that and the last of the line 690cc single cylinder bikes had ironed out any earlier top-end issues and were reliable as long as you changed the oil at half the recommended intervals or less (the singles only have an oil capacity of 1.7 litres).

It's not designed as a long-distance tourer (although I'm sure it would manage that), but basically it's designed for back roads fun. And it does that supremely well...

[Horse]

[quote="Cousin Jack" post_id=352

Fark the GB350 is 180 kilos. That's 30 kilos more than the 1977 jobby.

Nearly half the power and 30 kgs more.

And folk are getting excited about it??

That 30 kilos probably includes wider wheel rims and bigger tyres, far better brakes, and a bigger*, stiffer frame.

It'll also have a quieter exhaust.

* Including higher, to make use of the wider tyres

A mate has a BMW R75 and a new Enfield 350. The RE is a much bigger bike.

[KungFooBob]

And an ABS pump and valve block and a catalytic converter.

[Horse]

[Skub]

The 360 and 250 G5 variants were truly awful motorcycles. My best mate bought one new in the 70s and it managed to be slow,poor handling and major league unreliable. A genuine full house shit bike.

It did look quite smart,I'll give it that much.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Unsurprisingly the less powerful modern bike beats the old one across the board. The acceleration difference was pretty stark eh? He's right about the weight, but I also wonder about the gears...doesn't the modern one have 2 more ratios?

Edit: He also says the new bike weighs 147kg whereas Honda quote ~180kg. What vs dry?

Peak HP is a very narrow metric after all.

[mangocrazy]

This video uses cars as an example, but the underlying principle is universal and applies directly to bikes. Simplify and add lightness, as Colin Chapman is reputed to have said...