Honda\u2019s most recent technological announcement no doubt stirred up some serious controversy. Or, if you haven\u2019t yet heard about Honda\u2019s latest electronic safety nanny, it may be about to stir up some controversy. Whichever the case, I suspect there will be more than a little tongue-wagging.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s called Jump Control and it is to motocross \u2014 or serious adventuring \u2014 what traction control is to road racers and ABS is to road riders; an electronic computer aid specifically aimed at performing tasks that humans can\u2019t be asked to perform with nearly the reliability.<\/p>\n
As the name implies, this latest \u201crider-assist system\u201d is meant to make leaping an off-road motorcycle easier \u2014 or, as I said, more reliable \u2014 by limiting the distance travelled when jumping a dirt bike. Using much of the same computer hardware as previous rider aids, Jump Control accesses the wheel speed sensors of ABS, the inertial measurement units that determine the lean angle required for judicious traction control, and then ups the ante with one more sensor: a camera.<\/p>\n
Said camera is located, according to the patent making the rounds on the internet, in the nose near the headlight. Its job is to scope out the terrain ahead or, more specifically, to look for something that, at the speed your bike is travelling, might result in some \u201cair time.\u201d Married to the ABS\u2019s speed sensors and allowing for the distortion that occurs when the jump in question is right after a corner \u2014 hence the need for an IMU\u2019s lean angle sensor \u2014 the computer can quickly determine if you\u2019re about to soar like Michael Jordan or remain ground-bound a la Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson\u2019s character in White Men Can\u2019t Jump).<\/p>\n
This latter pretty much describes Jump Control\u2019s Mode A which, according to the patent, will restrain either the throttle, the brakes or both sufficiently such that neither wheel will leave the ground. It is, therefore, more jump prevention than jump control and pretty much does the same thing every wimpy Walter Mitty type \u2014 including Yours Truly\u2014 does when heading toward a particularly steep tabletop. Essentially, the camera judges how steep the upcoming whoop is and whether the bike\u2019s likely to leave the ground at your present speed, and then cuts the throttle or hits the brakes in response.<\/p>\n
Mode B allows you to catch some serious air, albeit still with the utmost safety in mind. As a first step, B sets a target distance for the jump and, like traction control reducing the amount of rear wheel slip, limits the throttle so as to not jump too far. Once launched \u2014 and the bike knows this because the onboard suspension stroke sensors go to full extension \u2014 B will also keep the bike flat, either hitting the throttle (to get the front wheel pointed higher) or drag the rear brake (to bring the nose down). In other words, the bike will always land on both wheels.<\/p>\n
Mode C, meanwhile, likewise controls attitude and distance but should allow for longer jumps and a more adventurous nose-up attitude. But, like B, it can maintain the exact attitude by blipping the throttle or dabbing the brake. Both Modes B and C will presumably allow owners to set their maximum jump distance and perhaps even, in Mode C, the ultimate amount of front-wheel-up angle allowed.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s the \u201chow\u201d of Jump Control which, frankly, is not all that interesting given the level of computerization already present in motorcycles. No, the real question is why.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to have too long a memory to recall the backlash that initially greeted the introduction of anti-lock brakes on motorcycles. Some riders decried the computer\u2019s suggestion of their inability to control their motorcycles. Even more lamented the Big Brotherism of wheel speed sensors. Still others somehow convinced themselves that \u201claying \u2019er down\u201d was actually the fastest way to stop a motorcycle.<\/p>\n
ABS was first introduced on BMW\u2019s K100 in 1988 \u2014 this author wrote his engineering thesis on anti-lock brakes for motorcycles in 1983 \u2014 yet the nonsense mentioned above only truly petered out maybe 10 years ago. And though traction control has had an easier ride of it \u2014 your average motorcyclist seemingly having more respect for 200 horsepower engines than Brembo four-pot brakes \u2014 there are still those that think TC is just a gimmick despite the rampant endorsement of those in the know, i.e. actual racers.<\/p>\n
So, the big question is: how will the off-road crowd respond to this computer invasion?<\/p>\n
Well, one clue is that the bike pictured in the patent application appears to be a CRF450 Rally, a bike that not only has to go fast \u2014 with many of those aforementioned big jumps \u2014 but also has to go for a long time. It is this last point that more than a few analysts have struck upon: the idea that, while expert riders may pride themselves on their ability to control their motorcycle, they will recognize that what mistakes they do make often come when they are tired at the end of a hard day of high-speed desert riding.<\/p>\n
Whether that is wishful thinking \u2014 and, more importantly, whether this new technology would have prevented any of the 13 motorcycle racer fatalities that have occurred in the famed Dakar in the last 20 years \u2014 will likely determine how this new technology will be accepted. If Honda is serious about Jump Control, look for a passel of CRF450s to be so equipped when the world\u2019s most difficult rally gets underway next January 5th in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Honda\u2019s most recent technological announcement no doubt stirred up some serious controversy. Or, if you haven\u2019t yet heard about Honda\u2019s latest electronic safety nanny, it may be about to stir up some controversy. Whichever the case, I suspect there will be more than a little tongue-wagging. It\u2019s called Jump Control and it is to motocross […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":49613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2454,1876],"tags":[2468,2469,2252],"yoast_head":"\n