Talk:Honda GB500

From the article :

  "  This is a tight race on narrow twisty roads through the towns and villages of the Isle of Man (between England and Ireland) where quick steering and precise handling works much better than huge horsepower.  It was dominated for many years by single cylinder 500cc racebikes  "

This is not true; the TT course is very open in most places (particularly over the mountain) and high hp is more important than quick steering honda would never have raced a single like this bike they used more exotic machines like 6 cylinder 250s and four cylinder 125s ! The bike you might be getting mixed up with is the Honda RC181 500cc but that is an inline 4. ****

It's not clear when or by whom the above comment was written, but while much of it rings true, it is worth observing that a Mead & Tomkinson BSA B50 ridden by (I think) Phil Gurner, once held the class lap record at the TT. Arrivisto (talk) 10:32, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

Rearsets

While looking for a reference for saying the GB500 has rear-set footrests (I still haven't found one), I noticed that the footrests on the GB are exactly the same as on the XBR (see photos). The footrests are mounted on a rear bracket, well to the rear of a standard sit-up-and-beg footrest position, so arguably are "rearsets". (Suzuki did something similar with the MkI SV650 & SV650S; the "S" had lower bars, but the S's footrests weren't set further back, so the standard SV650 had a more natural riding position).

The "Real Classic" review observes that by contrast to the GB, the XBR500 had a shorter tank and a shorter wheelbase which "made the steering very edgy"." When comparing the two photos it is hard to see whether the GB's tank is indeed longer, although the GB's swingarm does appear slightly longer: the XBR's wheelbase is said to be 1400mm, and the GB's is 1410, a full 0.4" longer.

Honda XBR 500 (1988) with wire-spoked wheels

Arrivisto (talk) 11:01, 20 January 2017 (UTC)