For Honda, it all started in the late 1930s where Soichiro Honda began building his own design of piston rings for Toyota. Honda got a relatively late start in its company history compared to the likes of Harley Davidson, Kawasaki and Suzuki among others.
An empire today, Honda was created with nothing but motivation, ambition and a bit over $3,000.00 dollars. After WWII, a decimated and almost completely destroyed Honda company attached an engine to a bicycle and made a cheap mode of transportation for a struggling Japanese population, very similar to Suzuki. Honda Motor Co. was founded in 1948, and 6 years later, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) was formed.
Honda Goes Motorcycle Racing
HRC developed high performance race engines and raced motorcycles world wide. New technology was often based on Honda’s involvement in racing. The contributions to the racing circuit Honda made on the drafting table and in the factory were balanced by their involvement in promoting racing by making affordable production race bikes, helping team’s race and programs for educating riders.
Honda’s commitment to racing was confirmed in 1959 when they entered 5 motorcycles in the most famous international race of the time, the Isle of Man TT. They won their first Grand Prix races in both the 125cc and 250cc classes in 1961. They had a knack for specialized engines, including the super-high revving 5 cylinder 125cc bike that turned at an amazing 22,000 RPM.
Today’s Honda Motorcycle and Famous Riders
Mention the word Honda to many race fans these days and you’ll get the same reaction: Winners. Honda street motorcycles are currently providing winning motorcycles for many top name road racers, including Nicky Hayden, the current MotoGP World Champion, James Toseland, Kenan Sofuoglu, Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke.
They’ve also got a very well know group of motocross racers, with the likes of Jeremy McGrath, Davi Millsaps, Andrew Short and Tommy Hahn. Honda seems to realize that it's not just the machine that makes the race winable, it's the rider. Honda Racing Corporation spares no expense to acquire great talent to accent their highly capable and reliable motorcycles.
Honda’s Current Line-up
Touring:
Gold Wing
- ST1300
Cruiser:
- VTX1800
- VTX1300
- Shadow
- Rebel
- Nighthawk
Sport:
- RC51
- CBR
- 919
- Interceptor
- 599
Scooter:
- Silver Wing
- Ruckus
- Reflex
- Helix
- Elite 80
- Metropolitan
- CRF
- CR
- XR
- CRF
