Time for some more Honda insanity, this time from the early 2000s

by "bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
Published 09/20/2017 at 22:48

Tags: 2wheelsgood ; honda ; scooters
STARS: 3

So I just stumbled across the Honda Elysium concept from the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show.

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That’s a 750 cc flat-4, through a CVT because scooter. And, someone at Honda was clearly inspired by the BMW C1 (as well as the Benelli Adiva mentioned in that article) although it doesn’t appear to have the crash safety benefits of the C1's structure.

Unfortunately, this one was just a concept, probably not helped by the C1's failure in the market.

Replies (4)

"Tapas" (tapas)
09/21/2017 at 00:41, STARS: 0

Its funny how BMW essentially doubled down on the C1 and made the C3 lol

"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
09/21/2017 at 00:58, STARS: 1

I think the biggest problem with the C1 was that it was a small motor and cost nearly as much as a basic car like a Ford Ka. The appeal was something that could zip around a crowded city while protected from the elements, but the C1 didn’t do that all that much better than a micro car. While that might have killed the market for something like this, the 750cc motor gives it a lot more appeal than the C1's 125/200cc. At least you could take something like this on the highway as well as in the city pretty easily.

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
09/21/2017 at 07:07, STARS: 1

That’s not Honda insanity.

The RC148 and 149 were Honda insanity. Five cylinders of 25cc each (you could fit two on a credit card) and the rev range was 21,000 to 22,000.

"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
09/21/2017 at 07:13, STARS: 1

It’s still relatively insane, a flat-4 scooter with a retractable hard top?

But, yeah, those were more insane. Or, how about the NR500, 8 valves per cylinder with oval pistons, because they were basically trying to make a V8 within a 4 cylinder rules set? And then the later NR750 using the same concept actually went into production ...