Honda motorcycles keep on innovating

Hooray for Honda – as most motorcycle manufacturers (Triumph being the worst offender) just keep recycling other people’s ideas, the Japanese giant innovates.

Their latest 125cc PCX scooter has a stop-start system to cut fuel use in traffic, which I THINK is a first on a fourstroke bike – and a single weight-saving starter/generator unit.  Now, I know this isn’t a genuine first, but other manufacturers (Yamaha on an easier to turn over two-stroke) tried it and abandoned it

What Honda have done, which is really clever, is to use an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) to switch between starting and generating. It’s light and, here’s the thing – really quiet.   Honda say it reduces NVH – Noise, Vibration and Harshness.  Great!
                                                        
Honda have also taken steps to reduce internal friction on the PCX, but strangely they seem most proud of the way they’ve relocated the radiator to the side. 

They call it an ‘integrated design’ that’s 13 percent lighter than previous liquid-cooled engines and doesn’t intrude so much into under seat storage space.  Overall they claim it’s about the same size as an air-cooled engine. They’ve integrated the thermostat in the plastic housing of the cooling system at the radiator pump inlet, to make the engine more compact.

Honda claim the engine offers approximately 13 percent more output than previous air-cooled engines. and 16 percent more torque than a 125cc air-cooled engine. A 60 km/h on level ground it runs at 300 rpm lower than the Honda Spacey 125.

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