News

Ten Kate provides Honda with its main WSBK presence, and this year the ultimate homemade team extracted well over 210bhp from the Fireblade engine, which is hardly in its first flush of youth. Coyly, Ten Kate refused to provide torque and compression ratios.

A Honda race kit gearbox was engaged and disengaged by an STM cable operated mechanical slipper clutch, as ten Kate went its own way again in many technical ways. PI Research Pectel equipment provided fuel/air delivery, via 46mm bore throttle bodies, and the EFI system was a joint effort from original supplier and Ten Kate itself. An HRC Honda race kit airbox fed the intakes, the unremarkable bore and stroke figures of 76 x 55mm hardly in class leading territory.

Italian suspension gurus Andreani looked after the Öhlins forks and shocks, the best of what was available to customer teams, TTX25 front forks and TTX36 rear shocks, the more modern material only coming along by mid-season. They did get to use some even more advanced material later in the year.

Inconsistency of set-up saw the Honda a winner in the hands of Rea one weekend, then toiling the next - not the stuff of cohesive championship challenges.

Rea used a KR rear swingarm all year; the race kit version from Honda direct was also available. Despite this, chatter was an issue more than once for each rider. PVM forged magnesium wheels, another almost unique departure, featured seven spokes, while Nissin brake discs were 7mm thick, 320 mm in diameter gripped by Nissin/Yutaka callipers.

The whole bike was around 163kg, just missing out on the minimum weight of 162kg.