Is The Honda Ascot The Worst Bike Of The Nineteen Eighties? Watch FortNine Clarify Why

It goes with out saying that the Nineteen Eighties was a strange time for bikes. Many individuals would say that the ’80s marked an period of experimentation for bikes, with a variety of unusual new bikes hitting the scene. Certainly, a number of the world’s most iconic bikes had been born on this decade, and would go on to set the usual even for bikes of as we speak.

Machines just like the Kawasaki GPZ900R, BMW K1, and the Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin would all go down in historical past as bikes drastically influenced machines of as we speak – however not the Honda Ascot. The Honda VT 500FT was a wierd and quirky machine that noticed a reasonably quick manufacturing run from 1983 to 1985. Named after the famed Ascot Park, the bike had flat-track racing in its very DNA. That being mentioned, the VT 500FT wasn’t actually a flat-tracker. Neither was it a scrambler, nor a cruiser. So, what was it, actually?

Ryan from considered one of my favourite YouTube channels FortNine went into nice depth in considered one of his most up-to-date movies concerning the Honda Ascot, and even went so far as stating that it was the worst motorbike of the Nineteen Eighties. Other than all its extraordinarily odd options, similar to a ineffective horn cowl, an almost inaccessible key, and the fuse field housed on the bars, the engine did not make a lot sense, both.

It was powered by a 491cc V-twin engine with a brief stroke and a giant bore. A 71-millimeter bore mated to a 62-millimeter stroke meant that it did not get the torque recognized for a burly V-twin. Positive, it may rev a lot increased, however that is the place yet one more design quirk got here into play: shaft drive.

As Ryan defined it, shaft-driven bikes can undergo as a lot as 25 p.c energy loss at excessive RPMs in change for smoothness and a nearly maintenance-free expertise. Whereas that is all properly and good in a motorcycle just like the BMW R 1250 GS with greater than 130 horsepower on faucet, on a motorcycle just like the Ascot, properly, its supposed 50 horsepower output may drop to about 37, proper while you want it most. Worst of all, the Ascot suffered from what Ryan defined as shaft jacking, whereby the swingwarm get jacked up upon heavy deceleration, thereby inflicting you to lose traction when coming into corners.

All that being mentioned, it may be simple to surprise what precisely was happening within the heads of Honda’s engineers after they had been designing this bike again within the ’80s. Certainly, the Ascot, as defined by FortNine, was a motorcycle that was unhealthy at every thing. Unsurprisingly, it bought very poorly within the US, with Honda resorting to axing its value, and ultimately discontinuing it. 

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