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By: Anonymous: Anonymous ()  Thursday, 13 September 2012 @ 12:10 PM ICT (Read 10018 times)  

I have heard that AP Honda have been showing (in house) their CBR500 and CB500.

Does 'Motorcycle Thailand' have any details?

By: news (offline)  Thursday, 13 September 2012 @ 12:26 PM ICT  

First APHonda is in charge of the distribution of motorcycles, it's therefore unlikely that the pictures shown on some forums are from APHonda (also they use another brand of bottled water).

The leaked photo's are likely from Honda R&D Southeast Asia Co., Ltd., they are in charge of research and development, and what we can see from the so-called leaked photos that is what the people are doing.

If the photos come from Honda R&D it not necessarily mean that the motorcycle will be introduced on the Thai market. Honda R&D Thailand regularly tests new motorcycles which probably will never be introduced in Thailand. For example the fueling system for the new Honda CBR1000RR was developed in Thailand, and for that reason Honda Thailand had a CBR1000RR and a few engines for testing.

Because the current generation of PGM-FI is developed in Thailand, it likely that Honda R&D and Honda/Keihin Thailand test new motorcycles.

Of course we also hope that Honda will introduce an affordable motorcycle on the Thai market... We can only not say if it's a CBR or CB or 400cc, 500cc or 650cc...

   

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By: Anonymous: David ()  Thursday, 13 September 2012 @ 12:35 PM ICT  

" ... (also they use another brand of bottled water). "

Love it!
Thanks for the reply.

By: news (offline)  Wednesday, 19 September 2012 @ 07:07 AM ICT  

The rumors of a Thai build parallel twin budget Honda sportsbike will apparently not go away, the latest fuel to the rumours is the purchase by a Honda R&D facility for 73mm pistons.

Honda is already using 73mm pistons in the 670cc parallel twin engines that powers the NC700, but according to the rumour the pistons are similar to the ones used in the NC700 engine but not the same...

If the 73mm pistons are for a 500cc parallel-twin Honda sportsbike, the engine will probably be a 73mm bore with a 60mm stroke, which will make it an easy to rev engine (something you could expect on a sportsbike).

   

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By: news (offline)  Monday, 24 September 2012 @ 08:57 AM ICT  

Evolution is a wonderful concept, it really is amazing what results are if the conditions are in a certain way.

The development of a new motorcycle model, or even the newer model of an existing motorcycle are bound by the rules of evolution.

If two research teams will study a market environment like Thailand, to find out what the population would like to ride in the future, it's very likely that both research team come up with very similar end results.

Knowing this and looking at the Thai market, I have doubts that Honda will launch a 500cc motorcycle, it has no benefits over a market standard 650cc motorcycle. The production of a twin-cylinder 500cc will cost exactly the same as a 650cc, maybe a few satang (cents) more for the extra raw material used.

We know that Honda is a company ruled by profit figures, making a 500cc and sell it for less profit makes no sence especially for Honda. Also Honda will need to invest much money in marketing to promote a 500cc... remember the 'old-saying' “nothing better for performance than more displacement” - sure Honda could easily attract more first time riders in Europe who are limited to horsepower performance. But the Honda PGM-FI on a potential 650cc twin-cylinder could also easily be limited by European Honda distributors to pass the horsepower limitation …

It's unlikely that Honda develops a motorcycle only for the Thai market, development cost prevent this, so the new motorcycle will be a global model, and in the world a high-technology budget 650cc twin-cylinder will sell much better than a budget none-standard 500cc twin-cylinder.

Basically the only reason we have 400cc motorcycles is because some countries in the world have extra (TAX or drivers-licence) benefits for this engine size. For instance the Kawasaki ER4N and the ER6N cost about the same to produce, but because of TAX benefits in Japan the 400cc version is remarkable cheaper. The 400cc is for this reason very popular in Japan.

Why will Honda not produce a 400cc twin in Thailand? That is a good question, but the rules of The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) say that companies producing motorcycles in Thailand only benefit if they makes motorcycles with engine sizes from 250cc and smaller, or 500cc and larger. Therefore producing a 400cc motorcycle will cost more than producing a 650cc... and here we have to remember Honda is a profit driven company....

   

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By: ThaiDesign (offline)  Monday, 24 September 2012 @ 11:32 AM ICT  

Quote by: news

Evolution is a wonderful concept, it really is amazing what results are if the conditions are in a certain way.

The development of a new motorcycle model, or even the newer model of an existing motorcycle are bound by the rules of evolution.

If two research teams will study a market environment like Thailand, to find out what the population would like to ride in the future, it's very likely that both research team come up with very similar end results.

Knowing this and looking at the Thai market, I have doubts that Honda will launch a 500cc motorcycle, it has no benefits over a market standard 650cc motorcycle. The production of a twin-cylinder 500cc will cost exactly the same as a 650cc, maybe a few satang (cents) more for the extra raw material used.

We know that Honda is a company ruled by profit figures, making a 500cc and sell it for less profit makes no sence especially for Honda. Also Honda will need to invest much money in marketing to promote a 500cc... remember the 'old-saying' “nothing better for performance than more displacement” - sure Honda could easily attract more first time riders in Europe who are limited to horsepower performance. But the Honda PGM-FI on a potential 650cc twin-cylinder could also easily be limited by European Honda distributors to pass the horsepower limitation …

It's unlikely that Honda develops a motorcycle only for the Thai market, development cost prevent this, so the new motorcycle will be a global model, and in the world a high-technology budget 650cc twin-cylinder will sell much better than a budget none-standard 500cc twin-cylinder.

Basically the only reason we have 400cc motorcycles is because some countries in the world have extra (TAX or drivers-licence) benefits for this engine size. For instance the Kawasaki ER4N and the ER6N cost about the same to produce, but because of TAX benefits in Japan the 400cc version is remarkable cheaper. The 400cc is for this reason very popular in Japan.

Why will Honda not produce a 400cc twin in Thailand? That is a good question, but the rules of The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) say that companies producing motorcycles in Thailand only benefit if they makes motorcycles with engine sizes from 250cc and smaller, or 500cc and larger. Therefore producing a 400cc motorcycle will cost more than producing a 650cc... and here we have to remember Honda is a profit driven company....



You probably right, a 650cc will make more sense, also Honda invested a huge amount of money on the research and development of the NC700 engine, this research is very likely also useful for motorcycles with another engine characteristic – knowing Honda and how they develop a new engine from scratch they probably tried and tested many engines and revving specs before they settled for the current NC700 engine.

So likely they have already have a 650cc high-revving sportsbike friendly parallel-twin design available.

   

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By: ThaiDesign (offline)  Monday, 08 October 2012 @ 04:15 PM ICT  

I found this in a Thai language motorcycle magazine about the new Honda CBR500R

Click on image to open

   

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By: Anonymous: XCS ()  Saturday, 03 November 2012 @ 06:31 AM ICT  

On you website it says that Honda will introduce a New Mid Series motorcycles which will be manufactured at Kumamoto Factory in Japan and first be sold in North America.

Is this new mid series motorcycles the 500cc motorcycles everybody is talking about? And does that mean that they will not come to Thailand?

By: news (offline)  Saturday, 03 November 2012 @ 06:48 AM ICT  

Quote by: XCS

On you website it says that Honda will introduce a New Mid Series motorcycles which will be manufactured at Kumamoto Factory in Japan and first be sold in North America.

Is this new mid series motorcycles the 500cc motorcycles everybody is talking about? And does that mean that they will not come to Thailand?



It's not 100% clear about which motorcycles Mr. Takanobu Ito (Honda CEO) talks about as he doesn't tell any model numbers of the new series. But if up to 250cc is the low-class and 1000cc is the high-class it would make sense that 500cc is the mid-class....

I hope, like so many that the new motorcycles will be introduced in Thailand, they seem perfect for riding here... But we just have to wait and see if it really going to happen....

   

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By: news (offline)  Monday, 12 November 2012 @ 04:07 PM ICT  

Everything about the new Honda CBR500R, CB500F, and CB500X can be found here The New 2013 Honda 500cc Motorcycle Line-Up.

   

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By: Anonymous: Taff ()  Sunday, 18 November 2012 @ 11:50 AM ICT  

Some of your comments make no sense, Honda doesn't make a motorcycle for any one market, that would not be cost effective, Honda already has a middle weight sports bike (cbr600rr). It's middle weight sports-tourer comes in the form of the CBR600f this has been reintroduced for some time now and competes lovely with the likes of the Ninja650r or suzuki SVs etc. so why would they waste money r&ding a 650????

The European legislation, which has just introduced a tiered licence system, dictates the need of a middle weight bike with 47bhp, so many manufacturers have been busy with new designs around these outputs, that is why the 500 is being produced, it is being manufactured in Thailand, and as honda Thailand doesn't sell a middle weight sports bike at present it would make perfect sense for this to go on the sale in Thailand. It's intentions won't be to compete with the ninja650r, but because it's made here it's the first opportunity honda has of selling a middle weight bike at a good price, as the spec is way below that of the ninja650r it will undoubtedly be much cheaper (I guess 180k) and it will undoubtedly take customers away from the Kwaka but it isn't being built to compete with the Kwaka, for that the rest of the world has the CBR600f. I do believe there's a Ninja400 on the way (I doubt this be available in Thailand).

By: Maintenance (offline)  Sunday, 18 November 2012 @ 03:21 PM ICT  

You absolute right, some parts of this thread made absolute no sense now we know that Honda is manufacturing 500cc motorcycles in Thailand.

Therefore we can close this forum thread as it's not a rumor anymore... As the Honda CBR500R is now a model officially launched the discussion about this motorcycle can happen the regular Honda forum thread, see The Honda CBR500R.

This topic is closed, the Honda CBR500R, CB500F and CB500X are not a rumor anymore therefore we can discuss the models in the regular Honda Motorcycle forum.

   

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