Honda should be grateful that Guido has yet to order a DN-01…

(From the Travels with Guido column in Motorcycle Trader magazine)

Hero or goose. That seems to be the epitaph awaiting the designer whoconvinces a motorcycle manufacturer to stick their corporate neck out on aconfiguration that everyone knows is just a little bit ‘out there’. Somethingthe market is not buying at the moment, but just might, given the right timingand motivation. 


What brought this to mind was the Honda DN-01 we’ve featured thisissue. As the road test explains, the components aren’t necessarily radical,but the sum total is to some extent.


Honda has a history of playing on the outer edge, with its mostfamously successful example being the CB750-Four of 1968-69. Even then,four-cylinder motorcycles were far from new, but the way the company packagedthe beast was. And it worked. They beat the competition to effectively creatinga new niche and turned performance motorcycling on its head in the process.


The DN-01 is potentially in a similar situation. These days, gettingreliable high performance is hardly an issue. Instead, what this bike is aboutis a relatively simple brief – providing an automatic cruiser. Too easy? Well,when you think about it, there isn’t anything else out there.


About the closest you’ll get is Suzuki’s 650 Burgman scooter, whichhas certainly found a market among Ulysses Club folk. But it’s a scooter ratherthan a motorcycle. There are those who will not be seen on one – I can countyoungest unmarried Ms A among them – and they would in fact rather walk, ifthat were the only alternative.


So Honda has gone for a motorcycle, with the twist of an automotiverather than scooter-style stepless auto trans. Even fitting a car-style auto isnot new, as Honda itself tried it with a two-speed version on the CB750. It wasnot a roaring success. The DN-01’s transmission is another technological stepor three up the evolutionary scale, but the intention is similar.


And when you think about it, an auto cruiser makes a fair bit ofsense. After all, what is the whole point behind a cruiser? Surely it’s to beable to hop aboard and, errr, cruise with the minimum of fuss. In this case youjump on, stab one button to get it fired up, and a second to get Drive, thentwist the throttle to go. That’s it. To me, it makes all kinds of sense, whilein reality it’s a sweetheart to ride. 
Now, are you beginning to sense thecatch? There are a couple. One is motorcyclists are famously suspicious ofanything that smells vaguely revolutionary. That doesn’t mean they won’t adoptnew ideas, but they tend to do so slowly. Fuel injection seemed to take foreverto get off the ground. Heck, even motorcycles with more than two cylinders tookyears to shake off the “car with two wheels missing” accusation.


In the case of the DN-01, timing will be everything. The company maywell be right that there is a market for the product, but is it now or in a fewyears’ time and are they prepared to wait?


Perhaps they should draw comfort from one early non-sale. As much as Iand partner Ms M ended up liking the DN-01, we have yet to place an order. Thatcould have been a kiss of death. You see our shed has more than its fair shareof epitaphs to courageous engineers.


Exhibit A is Winston the 1947 Sunbeam. It was designed by a certain MrErling Poppe, who set out to create the ultimate gentleman’s tourer, effectivelya car on two wheels. Yep, that was the language used at the time. WhatSunbeam’s owners didn’t think through was that Mr Poppe was better known forhis work on buses. 


Surprisingly, the end result was a particularly handsome piece ofmachinery, though a hefty price, sluggish performance and questions overreliability eventually killed it off. It developed into a second model, the S8,but never really got volume sales.


Exhibit B, yer honour, is Casper the GTS1000 Yamaha. This has the RADDfront end from a certain James Parker of the USA, attached to what Yamahabilled as its ultimate tour de force when it came to sports touringmotorcycles. It had the five-valve FZ-series powerplant, ABS, catalyticconverter, a unique frame, and pretty much everything else the company couldthrow at it. Priced at around $22k in 1993, it was just too expensive and alittle too weird to catch on.


Somehow, that corner of the shed is at risk of developing into achamber of epitaphs. So perhaps Honda should be pleased we’ve yet to put down adeposit on a DN-01, tempting though it is. It really deserves better…


You’re always welcometo get in touch (and send counsellors) via the palatial MT offices at lockedbag 12, Oakleigh 3166; Or on the wire at guy.allen@traderclassifieds.com.au.