2022 is undoubtedly a landmark year for the domestic imitation racing car market, from the single-cylinder entry level to the two-cylinder middleweight, and the competition between product forces is more intense.
As the annual debut car of the middle-class imitation, the Seclon RC401 is the first real car to officially meet with everyone. The official price of 28,800 yuan also highlights the market strategy after SECLON enters a new era.
The competition came quickly, and Chunfeng launched the 450SR (37kW, 168kg), with a pre-price of 31980 yuan; followed by QJMOTOR released the race 400 (33kW, 179kg), with a guidance price of 29999 yuan.
This round of competition is more comprehensive strength, including product strength, detail quality, service quality and so on. Motorcycles, like cars, are multi-faceted complexes, and users can't buy a car simply from a certain indicator to measure the advantages and disadvantages of a car, after all, like suzuki GSX250R is not known for performance, it is also hot for many years. In order to explain this car clearly, and in order for everyone to have a more comprehensive understanding of this car, we still used a half-width disassembly to show you many details of the RC401.
Exterior styling
In the past, we always said that the shape design is a relatively subjective and not easy to quantify attribute, but it is inevitable that Sycoron has really made great progress in the shape design this time. We do not require manufacturers to make the car 360 degrees without dead angles to look good, but most of the angles to see the beauty of modern industrial design in the past, there is a basis for success, this RC401 is obviously done.
Based on the excellent shape design, coupled with the technical level of the top of the independent brand such as paint water and shell plate seams after the upgrade of the SECOLON production line, the RC401 finally shows a good excellent competitiveness in appearance.
Powertrain
The RC401 is equipped with a 401cc 180° phase water-cooled side-by-side twin-cylinder engine in the form of a SOHC single overhead camshaft with 4 valves per cylinder and a sliding clutch. The engine is gradually improved from the TC380 originally installed by Sectron, and currently has a maximum power of 33kW/9500rpm, a maximum torque of 37N.m/8000rpm, a bore stroke of 68x55.2 mm, a measured speed limit of 10000rpm, and a power output data that is almost the same as the Kawasaki Ninja 400.
Thanks to the application of technologies such as lightweight forged pistons and DLC-like diamond coatings, vibration suppression and durability are quite good. SECRON officially claims that this engine can also maintain trouble-free and reliable operation during continuous 400 hours of high-load state operation test.
When it appeared on the RC401, there was a significant difference in appearance between the left and right side covers and the previous RG3/RE3 equipped with TC401 engines, which may have been specially optimized for imitation racing models in some details.
The powertrain still uses an EFI system supplied by Bosch BOSCH, but unlike before, the system now adds the ability to switch in Eco/Sport mode. In order to allow the enhanced engine to withstand the fierce driving of the track, the cooling system has increased the size of the water-cooled heat exchanger that has increased the heat exchange area due to the curved design to an additional 40x16 cm (36x16 cm for the previous generation sports street car RZ3S), and is equipped with two Panasonic brand cooling fans.
Frame construction
At the beginning of the design, this engine did not use the engine itself as the goal of frame structure, and to complete the harsh goal of the overall strength of the frame being better than that of the international brand of the same level of products under the high G-value working conditions of the track corner, the designer could only work the design of the frame itself.
The frame of the RC401 adopts the Q355B manganese steel high-strength braided bi-wing girder frame of the same material as the flagship model RX6 of Seclon, and the overall tensile strength and torsional stiffness of the frame are much higher than those of international brands of the same level, but the weight of the vehicle is only 178 kg after the weight reduction design. However, compared with the benchmark Kawasaki Ninja 400, there will still be a difference of about 10 kilograms in weight. Most of this 10 kg weight was used in the steel tube bi-wing girder frame and rear suspension structure.
It is worth mentioning that the traditional double cradle structure is still retained under the RC401 engine, but in fact this part of the structure is not connected to the engine for the fixed installation of the engine, but exists to enhance the lower integrality of the body and as a support for the water-cooled heat exchanger and the lower deflector.
The subframe section of the RC401 is made of two layers of 22 mm diameter Q355B steel pipe, which are welded to the main frame to form a whole.
Ride triangles and suspension
The forged aluminum split handlebars that are directly integrated with the shock-absorbing upper panel are a must-have for the imitation racing model, and we can find that the handlebar shaft of the RC401 is about 59 mm higher than the shock-absorbing top surface, which determines that when driving the RC401, your upper body will be more upright than that of a pure track car. The advantages are known to everyone, easy to drive, upper limbs and waist is not easy to fatigue.
With the measured seat height of 790 mm, it is clear that the RC401 standard version is aimed at users who need to imitate the handsome appearance of ordinary riders, rather than track gourmets with iron waists and no fear of seat height. The RC401 tank is made of single-layer metal with a volume of 15 liters and a moderate width, which has a good fit with the thigh area.
The fork core diameter 41 mm inverted front shock has a 22-stage rebound damping adjustment, and the original rebound is set at level 11, which can be quickly adjusted with the key.
The rear suspension part uses an uncommon reverse multi-link structure, so that the placement angle of the center rear shock is very close to the angle of the rocker arm itself, and at the media test drive in February, Xiaobian learned from the engineers responsible for the RC401 project of the manufacturer that this layout can enhance the driver's sensitivity to the movement of the swingarm and make room for the bottom exhaust that can effectively reduce the center of gravity.
The RC401's mid-mounted rear damping has preload and 14-stage rebound adjustment, and the 55 mm active travel of the shock absorber itself is magnified by the multi-link mechanism and the swingarm, and the actual rear wheel travel is about 120 mm. The swingarm part adopts Q355B steel plate with a wall thickness of 2 mm and is welded into a complete complex structure by a six-axis robot after stamping, which directly achieves a good balance between high strength and light weight.
About the swingarm here I want to popularize the science, in fact, aluminum alloy casting is not necessarily the best solution for the swingarm in terms of strength and lightweight, excellent design is. At present, the steel welded swingarm in the Japanese large-displacement sports models is also widely used, but if the back rocker arm of the aluminum alloy low-pressure casting process has casting quality defects, it may be a safety hazard of sudden fracture when it is strongly impacted during the ride.
Transmission, wheelset and braking
With a front and rear sprocket gear ratio of 14:39 and a Taiwanese KMC Chaohui 520EX oil-sealed chain, it is clear that this gearing system with small teeth is not specifically designed for torque output, but maintains the convenience of the range of gear shift operations. Under this design idea, the controllability of the low-speed range is not easy to stumble, but the disadvantage is that the accelerated test results achieved will be relatively conservative.
The RC401 features the Chishin CST MIGRA S1 sport tires with a specification of 110/70 R17 and rear 150/60 R17. The wheel hub specifications we've seen above on the brother models that used 17-inch tire specifications prior to the RC401, the front 300mm double disc and the opposing four-piston calipers of unequal diameter (30mm and 32mm) look only slightly different in brake disc styling compared to the one on the RG3. Thanks to the application of other models in the same brand level, the entire wheelset and brake section and the Bosch 9.1 dual-channel ABS are already very mature.
Lights and gauges
For imitation racing models, the shape design of the headlamps often has an important finishing touch. The headlamp of the RC401 is equipped with two sets of four OSRAM LED light-emitting units, which the manufacturer claims to have a brightness of 45,000CD, which is automatically controlled by a light-sensitive switch integrated above the instrument. Of course, you can also choose to manually turn on the switch to keep the headlights on during the day, after all, it does not consume much electricity and can improve their own recognition, the key is to look more handsome?
The 6.75-inch full-color LCD meter is still used from RG3, but the interface has been modified with some changes. Two interface styles, one is more modern and one is more classical, Xiaobian personally prefers the former more modern style interface, and the high contrast can still be clear and easy to read in a strong daylight environment. Mobile phone screen projection function continues from RT3, mobile phone scanning screen in the two-dimensional code download APP and open personal hotspot can project the mobile phone screen and navigation map into the instrument interface, for the RC401 such a split handlebar and front mirror is not easy to install the mobile phone bracket of the imitation racing model, mobile phone screen projection is the best solution for navigation.
Attachments and other details
The RC401's handlebar switch assembly continues to use the blue backlit switch assembly of the RG3 and the like, except that a set of "MODE" and "SET" buttons are added to the left handlebar dedicated to the adjustment of the instrument screen display. We can use the "MODE" key to switch between the two screen interfaces and the navigation projection and setting functions, and the "SET" key uses short and long presses to distinguish between OK and cancel.
The button on the left side of the engine flameout switch on the right hand handle is defined as the adjustment switch of the engine operation mode, which is used to switch between the two engine working modes of ECO economy and SPORT movement, in the SPORT mode, the engine power of the RC401 and the speed of the throttle response have been significantly improved, please continue to pay attention to our follow-up evaluation of the dynamic riding of the RC401.
Before the domestic independent brand is often criticized by car friends can only be far-sighted, the details always expose the shoddy loss of points, but this view can not be applied to the new generation of domestic large displacement models represented by RC401.
Since the RC401, SECRON has fully upgraded the bolt fasteners of the whole vehicle to use 40Gr alloy steel 9.8 high-strength galvanized inner plum bolts and hexagonal bolts, and has attached three specifications of the corresponding plum wrench in the car kit. The inner plum bolt is forced on the curved surface during the tightening process, and it will not damage the inner side of the bolt under the condition of large torque, effectively avoiding the risk of bolt damage in daily maintenance.
In order to reduce its own weight, the RC401 not only uses a large number of aluminum alloy fittings on the side braces, shift levers/rear brake pedals, but also uses a 12 volt 6A from Tianfeng Energy. Lithium batteries replace heavier lead-acid batteries. The battery weight of the RC401 car is 1.1 kg, while the general weight of the lead-acid battery of the same volume is 3.2 kg, and the weight of the lithium battery is only one-third of that of the lead-acid battery.
Static summary
Whether you like the Sectron brand or not, from RZ3S to RE3, RG3, and now to RC401, although there are differences in model positioning, the shape, performance and process texture of the step by step progress is something that everyone can see.
For Sectron, continuous improvement is more important than surpassing opponents. With the premise of excellent appearance, coupled with the excellent performance of the Sycoron process, the excellent performance in the configuration and the affinity price of 28,800, even if the performance may not be able to do the technical pressure, the RC401 is destined not to be a niche car.