Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Eiji Hamano

Satoru Horiike

Toshiteru Yamamoto

Shigeru Kimura

Yasuhiko Nakano

Mikio Kubo

Masanobu Matsuzaki

Kenji Ooki

Shigetarou Okano

Toshiyuki Yamada

Shigetaro Okano

A motorcycle has a frame assembly including a main frame supporting front and rear wheels on a central line thereof a connecting member is mounted on the main frame between the front and rear wheels, and a subframe is mounted on the connecting member and being capable of banking laterally about the connecting member. At least one of the front and rear wheels is a drive wheel. At least the drive wheel is capable of preventing the main frame from banking laterally. Centrifugal forces generated upon cornering are counterbalanced by centripetal forces produced when only the subframe banks laterally. The drive wheel supported on the main frame which does not bank has an increased road gripping force. Thus, high-speed cornering is made possible.

Motorcycle

A motorcycle has a frame assembly including a main frame supporting front and rear wheels on a central line thereof. A connecting member is mounted on the main frame between the front and rear wheels, and a subframe is mounted on the connecting member and is capable of banking laterally about the connecting member. At least one of the front and rear wheels is a drive wheel. At least the drive wheel is capable of preventing the main frame from banking laterally. Centrifugal forces generated upon cornering are counterbalanced by centripetal forces produced when only the subframe banks laterally. The drive wheel supported on the main frame which does not bank has an increased road gripping force. Thus, high-speed cornering is made possible.

According to the present invention, with a motorcycle in which only the front frame banks and the main frame is prevented from banking, the connecting shaft, between the front frame and the main frame, is arranged and provided under a line connecting centers of the front and rear wheels so that a rotating center of the front frame for banking may be located in a lower position to lower the center of gravity of the vehicle.

A motorcycle has a frame assembly including a main frame supporting front and rear wheels on a central line thereof. A connecting member is mounted on the main frame between the front and rear wheels, and a subframe is mounted on the connecting member and is capable of banking laterally about the connecting member. At least one of the front and rear wheels is a drive wheel. At least the drive wheel is capable of preventing the main frame from banking laterally. Centrifugal forces generated upon cornering are counterbalanced by centripetal forces produced when only the subframe banks laterally. The drive wheel supported on the main frame which does not bank has an increased road gripping force. Thus, high-speed cornering is possible.

Exterior shell of a motorcycle front fairing unit

Motorcycle rear trunk unit

A motorcycle has a frame assembly including a main frame supporting front and rear wheels on a central line thereof. A connecting means mounted on the main frame between the front and rear wheels, and a subframe is mounted on the connecting member and being capable of banking laterally about the connecting member. At least one of the front and rear wheels is a drive wheel. At least the drive wheel is capable of preventing the main frame from banking laterally. Centrifugal forces generated upon cornering are counterbalanced by centripetal forces produced when only the subframe banks laterally. The drive wheel supported on the main frame which does not bank has an increased road gripping force. Thus, high-speed cornering is made possible.

A motorcycle exhibiting improved cornering clearance has its front and rear wheels mounted to a fixed frame portion via front and rear suspensions. A moveable frame portion including the motorcycle seat is moveably mounted to the fixed frame portion and moves under control of the rider further inside a corner during cornering in order to shift the effective center of gravity of the motorcycle further inside the corner and thus further increase the lean angle of the entire motorcycle. Movement is provided via a pivot, slidable shaft, or a pair of parallel linkages. The moveable frame portion may include only the motorcycle seat or may include the tank, seat, and entire motorcycle fairing.

A motorcycle having a swingable front frame, a stable, non-swingable main frame, a front cowling supported by the main frame and covering a forward part of the motorcycle and an extension projecting laterally outwardly from each side of the front cowling. An air stream rectifier is provided in each laterally projecting extension of the front cowling.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Eiji Hamano