International Dealer News IDN 153 February/March 2020 | Page 18

news ROOM
SHOW Supersprox Dakar
ZONE sprockets - "So lite, we
Salon Du 2 Roues
Lyon, FR • February 13-14
MCN London Motorcycle Show
London, UK • February 14-16
MOTORbeurs
Utrecht, NL • February 20-23
Swiss Moto
Zurich, CH • February 20-23
Hamburger Motorrad Tage
Hamburg, DE • February 21-23
Roma Moto Days
Rome, Italy • March 5-8
Motorraeder Dortmund
Germany • March 5-8
Moto Salon
Prague, CZ • March 5-8
Warsaw Motorcycle Show
Warsaw, Poland • March 6-8
Motorama Madrid
Madrid, Spain • March 6-8
Motorraeder & Roller
Magdeburg, DE • March 7-8
Inabike
Jakarta, Indonesia • March 18-20
Tokyo Motorcycle Show
Japan • March 27-29
MotoSpring
Moscow, Russia • April 3-5
Motorcycle Taiwan
Taipei, TW • April 15-18
Vive La Moto
Madrid, Spain • April 16-19
Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este
Lake Como, Italy • May 22-24
Wheels & Waves
Biarritz, FR • June 10-14
BMW Motorrad Days
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, DE • July 3-5
World Ducati Week
Misano, Italy • July 17-19
Glemseck 101
Leonberg, DE • September 4-6
Mondial de la Moto
Paris, FR • October 1-11
AIMExpo
Columbus OH, USA • October 1-4
INTERMOT
Cologne, DE • October 8-11
Motorcycle Trade Expo
Stoneleigh Park, UK • October 18-20
Oslo Motor Show
Norway • October 23-25
International Dirt Bike Show
Stafford, UK • October 31 - November 1
SEMA
Las Vegas, NV, USA • November 3-6
EICMA
Milan, Italy • November 3-8
Motorcycle Live
Birmingham, UK • November 21-29
Salao Duas Rodas
Sao Paulo, Brazil • November 23-28
can't sleep at night!"
When it comes to an ultimate test for
motorcycle sprockets, it doesn't come
much more demanding and testing
than the Dakar Rally.
From 2013, when Honda started
preparing for their return into Rally
and the promotion of the CRF1000
Africa Twin, Supersprox has worked
with engineers to provide drive
sprockets.
Supersprox sprockets have been fitted
to all the winning Dakar KTM bikes
over the past 13 years, so the company
thought they were well placed to
deliver for Honda too, and they were.
However, it wasn't easy.
Honda engineers embarked on a
strategy of development, where every
component on the motorcycle would
be examined, tested and improved - it
did not matter if an existing product
already worked well, Honda still
demanded that it would have to be
improved further - mostly done to
reduce weight.
The statement from a HRC engineer
(Hayashi san) in Japan was to reduce
weight by 11.7% to 6,326 g.
Additionally to change the rivet design
by reducing the height by 2.5 mm and
recess all rivets under the surface.
As an example of the justification for
these changes, the Honda engineer
referred to the overall goal for the
project in relation to weight. Although
the reduction of weight might seem
trivial, the motorcycle application was
for a top-level race bike, and the
dynamics of the bike were not known.
Supersprox says that it could see that
radical design changes would be
needed as weight reduction would
make the existing design unstable.
"Development led us to add a bridge
in the lightening hole, to reduce
fatigue stress movement, and to
2021
Motor Bike Expo
Verona, Italy • January 21-24*
MC Massan
Gothenburg, SE • January 29-31
Motorradwelt Bodensee
Friedrichshafen, DE • January 29-31
MP21
Helsinki, FI • February 5-7
18
INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020
The Honda team with Supersprox's DJ Maughfling (centre)
design a new assembly concept where
the steel ring would cut the aluminium
during assembly, pressing and forming
invisible joints," says Supersprox GM
DJ Maughfling.
"Honda tested the development of the
sprockets for two years before
accepting the parts for race
conditions," says Maughfling.
"Between 2013 and 2019, the team
and engineers from Honda continually
subjected the sprockets to over
250,000 km (combined team testing)
and, step by step, the reliability was
improved. Each new development was
tested and analysed - with minute
focus on small details, such as the
smoothness of edge material and
direction of tool cutting.
"We accepted the high pressure from
Honda engineers to improve and
develop, though sometimes it felt that
there was no reason for the changes.
However, we didn't lose focus on the
goal and by 2016 the team was
already gaining consistent top results
Seven years of R&D went into the
Supersprox sprockets that propelled
Honda to victory
and we had succeeded in overcoming
the complex challenges the redesign
presented us with.
"Finally, all the efforts of the Honda
rally team provided the result that
Honda had worked for. In January
2020, Ricky Brabec won Dakar, and
everything that we had gone through
to stay with the team seemed
worthwhile.
"From a supplier point of view, Honda
development is the hardest but most
rewarding in terms of feedback. To
have the privilege of developing a new
concept and changing the market
perception has been very rewarding
for Supersprox.
"It was back in 1998 that we started
to develop an unknown concept of
steel and aluminium combination
sprockets. Back then, the concept was
neither understood nor proven. Today
this type of concept can be found from
several producers, and the fight is no
longer to invent, but to develop and
improve."
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