Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Kayaba Industry Company, Ltd.

Akimi Watanabe

Kazuhiko Gogo

Yotaro Mori

Yusuke Inoue

Satoshi Kamiya

Naoki Kuwabara

Nobuhiro Noguchi

Toshitaka Akita

Seiji Anzai

A steering structure of a saddle-ride-type vehicle includes a steering shaft rotatably supported on a head pipe provided to a front end portion of a vehicle body frame, a bridge mounted on the steering shaft above or below the head pipe, and a cylinder type steering damper provided between the vehicle body frame and the bridge. The steering damper is mounted on the bridge in front of a center axis of the steering shaft as viewed in a side view, and on the vehicle body frame behind the center axis as viewed in a side view.

Steering structure of saddle-ride-type vehicle

In a two-wheeled motor vehicle having a pair of right and left front forks for supporting a front wheel so that the front wheel is rotatable, a top bridge for supporting upper ends of the pair of right and left front forks, a handle post provided to the top bridge, and a bar-shaped handle secured to the hand post, the handle is provided above the front forks with respect to an axial line direction of the front forks, each front fork is provided with an air valve for sealingly filling air in the front fork and a projection on the upper surface thereof, and the projection is formed to be higher than the air valve.

Two-wheeled motor vehicle and front fork for the same

To provide a rear portion structure of a saddle-type vehicle, which enables securement of a space for arranging vehicle-mounted components on the upper side of a drive chain at a position apart from a pivot shaft. A motorcycle includes a rear wheel swingably provided on a main member via a swing arm, a drive chain entrained about a driven sprocket provided on the rear wheel and a drive sprocket, and a seat frame. An air-exhaust pipe extends from an engine on a lower portion of the seat frame, an extending portion extends rearward of the vehicle from the seat frame, and a chain guide roller is mounted on the extending portion.

Rear portion structure of saddle-type vehicle

In a steering damper device, a rotary damper includes a damper case, a rotary shaft rotatably supported on the case, and an actuation lever connected to the rotary shaft; the damper case is mounted to a steering side member; and a tip end of the actuation lever is connected to a frame side member. One end of a control lever is connected to the frame side member via a first pivot. A tip end of the actuation lever is connected to the other end of the lever via a second pivot. The first and second pivots are arranged so that a line connecting the centers of the first and second pivots is substantially intersected by an axis of a steering stem at a steering angle of 0&#xb0;. Thus, the steering damper device can obtain desired characteristics while using a rotary damper with a simple structure.

Steering damper device

A steering damper device having a cylindrical damper disposed between a steering side member and a vehicle body side member, wherein said cylindrical damper includes a damper casing and a damper rod which is slidably displaced in the damper casing. The amount of slidable displacement of the damper rod with respect to a steering angle of the handlebar is small when the steering angle of the handlebar is near 0&#xb0; and the amount of slidable displacement is larger as the steering angle is progressively changed from 0&#xb0;. The damping coefficient of the cylindrical damper is large when the steering angle of the handlebar is near 0&#xb0; and the damping coefficient is smaller when the steering angle is progressively changed from 0&#xb0;.

A cylindrical steering damper apparatus for a motorcycle has a relatively simple structure, in which a gradually increasing damping force is generated according to the turned angle when a handlebar is turned, and the damping force is not generated when the handlebar is returned. The cylindrical damper is disposed between a head pipe, for pivotally supporting a steering stem, and a fork bridge of a front fork, so as to be the shortest when the handlebarbar is at a neutral position. The cylindrical damper is connected to the head pipe and the fork bridge via spherical ball-and-socket joints. The cylindrical damper generates the damping force when being expanded. Since the cylindrical damper is expanded when the handlebar is turned in either a left or right direction, a damping force is generated.

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Wako, Japan

Akimi Watanabe