the honda rc212v problem

[jonny hurlock]

whats the problem with the bike

1. is it the chassis?

2. is it a poor four-stroke 800cc v4 engine?

3. poor michelin tyres (expect elias and melandri running on bridgestones)?

4. drivers? hayden nakano and kenny roberts jr ( kr212v engine only)?

my thing is that a mix of michelin tyres and a poor v4 800cc engine.

[DrEvil]

1. Front end doesn't steer correctly and the mass centralisation is all wrong so when the bike brakes the back end wants to swing round.

2. Electronics aren't up to scratch
-during the 990 era virtually all the other factories ran full electronic control over all the cylinders of their engine. Honda, on their 5-cylinder engine, ran rider control on 2 of the cylinders and the other 3 were computer controlled. On the 990s this was fine because the rider could just spin up the rear to aid steering and the whole thing carried off ok. With the 800s and power further up the rev range the riders need to open up the gas earlier. Due to all the other factories having run full electronic control they've got it nailed down. Honda are using full electronic control for the first time this season and it isn't up to scratch (hence the rider hesitation to open the throttle early).

I don't think power is too much of an issue for honda at present, Michelin tyres are still just as good (bridgestone have finally got a number of good riders onboard) and Hayden, Melandri, etc have all shown they can run up front if the package is good.

[maxu05]

Simple, Yamaha, Ducati have just built a better bike this year. The Kawaski and Suzuki have also improved, so Honda is running mid field.