Honda RN01 Was Creative......
- Thread starter ianjenn
- Start date
I wonder if it ever was like that inside.
I feel like Honda being Honda built it, put a great Rider on it, had the best mechanics working on it, won, quit.
I feel like Honda being Honda built it, put a great Rider on it, had the best mechanics working on it, won, quit.
where are you getting this? the story i'd heard as to the major design changes is that the original design (shown here) was too complicated and provided too little benefit.
I heard it was an engineering exercise in problem solving with no plans for a commercial product. Supposedly they crushed all the bikes but one? I think one got stolen too.
essentially
more than one exist. . honda has one kicking around and Minaar still has one
"The first series of the gearbox was said to allow a huge number of gears to be accessed by the riders, so much so the UCI introduced a rule limiting the number of gears to nine for downhill bikes. It was a CVT system as found in modern day cars. That does pose an interesting question as to whether this rule has been updated now that ten speed systems are available?!"
Inside Info: Honda RN01 – The Silver Bullet - Downhill 24
Inside Info: Honda RN01 – The Silver Bullet https://youtu.be/uzjdHAZFj5s Credits to :
downhill24.bike
this is the second major version
interesting. this is the first time i'm hearing about the UCI aspect, although i'm not entirely convinced a larger qty of gears is necessarily a benefit for DH."The first series of the gearbox was said to allow a huge number of gears to be accessed by the riders, so much so the UCI introduced a rule limiting the number of gears to nine for downhill bikes. It was a CVT system as found in modern day cars. That does pose an interesting question as to whether this rule has been updated now that ten speed systems are available?!"
Inside Info: Honda RN01 – The Silver Bullet - Downhill 24
Inside Info: Honda RN01 – The Silver Bullet https://youtu.be/uzjdHAZFj5s Credits to :
A lot was said when the first Honda’s were out in the wild.
In the end it was all a bunch of R&D.
It was never meant to become available to the public and nothing got banned by the UCI.
And why would you want more gears on a DH bike anyway?
The main advantage would have been shifting while coasting so you can pedal out of a corner without having to change gears first.
But seeing how gear boxes havent caught on its probably not worth the extra weight over a traditional derailer.
In the end it was all a bunch of R&D.
It was never meant to become available to the public and nothing got banned by the UCI.
And why would you want more gears on a DH bike anyway?
The main advantage would have been shifting while coasting so you can pedal out of a corner without having to change gears first.
But seeing how gear boxes havent caught on its probably not worth the extra weight over a traditional derailer.
no keep em, i love nerding out on this old stuff
someone mentioned elsewhere that the bike pictured here (in minaar's possession) has the gearbox removed.
interesting that shimano has recently patented a derailleur in a box concept:
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/shimano-gearbox/
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/shimano-gearbox/
random image search find: a couple rn-01's were stolen back when they were being raced. lo & behold, this showed up on ebay a couple years later (the gearboxes were removed from the bikes & kept in the hotel rooms because of all the secrecy at the time, explaining the lack of drivetrain). curious what happened with this one:
I wonder what the HTA/STA was...
As I stated before in the gearbox thread, the second version (essentially derailleur-in-a-box) generated the original patents which were later yielded to Shimano, leading to the in utero killing of the German-developed PeteSpeed (later bought by Hayes).interesting that shimano has recently patented a derailleur in a box concept:
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/shimano-gearbox/
I'm not entirely convinced the first version existed though. I remember reading that MB Action issue back in the day and it was nothing much than speculation. I still think it was a major trolling act from the Honda engineers involved in the project. But then again, I recall those animals making a miniature version of the VFR superbike engine, with its own gearbox and all. The intake/exhaust valve heads were the size of clothes pins.
there were a couple iterations with the cvt prior to the race team DIAB platform.
can't find the original, but here's the 2nd gen:
can't find the original, but here's the 2nd gen:
Oyeah, the seat with the handle for those Toboggans when youre chasing that world title lol
Remember that one. I must have drooled over it enough to fill a bathtub.
Just seat grab over the finishline
So if you fit a gearbox to the Marin/Polygon R3act bikes you'll get a Honda?
Mate, so glad you posted that! I'll be saving for posterity. Few people know of this initial version, they usually only know of the second, "d* in a box" (hehe) iteration.
Well fuck me, the original Honda patent has all the data in there, with better diagrams. I honestly didn't believe they made that thing, but I gotta admit I was wrong.
Bike Industry Engineers slightly tweaking a product for decades. Slowly refining it no huge jumps in a short time. Honda F this trash lets ditch the 1.75LBS off the ass and make something unique....Well fuck me, the original Honda patent has all the data in there, with better diagrams. I honestly didn't believe they made that thing, but I gotta admit I was wrong.
I actually forgot to bring the other magazines into the studio today. Maybe I will text the wife see if she can drop them by on the way to work.
Also @buckoW I am expecting that transmission in the next two weeks. I can get you the mailing address. Can the exoskeleton match a Pinion? Just for ease of mounting. Thanks
Also @buckoW I am expecting that transmission in the next two weeks. I can get you the mailing address. Can the exoskeleton match a Pinion? Just for ease of mounting. Thanks
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The CVT idea got me thinking about repurposing a NuVinci hub as a gearbox, kinda like GT did a long time ago with the IT-1. Either my Google-Fu isn't very effective or nobody else has traveled that road before. Maybe the 2.4kg weight penalty has something to do with it 
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