Anto, thank you for this vision. Imagine, Black and red, 600 ish V4 RR. I can see in my head, 380 wet pounds of v4 respect. I want to ride that.

 

I wouldn'tbe surprised if Honda came out with a V-5 within the next 5 years.

 

That would be a screamer for sure!

 

I, respectfully, hope you're wrong here. If you look at the competition and the V4 Dog and Pony show Honda put on at Cologne, Honda is poised for a "make or break" release for 2010. Here's my prediction... If they don't follow suit, then they've missed the boat:

1. The current VFR has no peers, but is still a twenty-year-old design -save for a few upgrades. It's a bread and butter model for Honda that has the potential to play host to a redesigned V4 platform which could serve as a foundation for at least 3 new/updated derivations -ala the BMW K series -with a "naked," "VFR," and "ST."

2. Such a unified platform could play host to a naked/cafe which could smoke Buell, Ducati, Aprillia, KTM and B-King, a new VFR which could out-refine the Busa/Ninja 1400, and an ST which could compete with the FJ1300 and Concours. -The current ST is an awsome bike, but it's closer to the G-Wing than the FJ or C14. Keep in mind that Honda's history is not to compete with any of the aboved-mentioned bikes, but rather to redefine the classes. The possibilities of what they could do with a 1100+ V4 platform is endless.

3. The inline engine has gone just about as far as it can go. CBR/GSR-R/Ninja's can't continue to evolve at their previous pace and remain a viable engine for the road. V4's now offer a wider powerband with no road-worthy compormise over a higher-reving inline. Let the Big 4 continue to develop the inlines, but they've out-performed their practicallity for the key demographic rider. The V's have benefited so much from the inline's evolution that they've outdone the inlines for everyday use.

4. Honda's r/d has been all about CBRs and VTXs for so long now that they're currently behind their rivals in this class. The only "new" design Honda has offered this year has been a concept themed around the V4 and it's future and history with the company. They're not stupid -except for maybe the DN-01- so they have to be thinking along these lines if they expect to remain viable in the market.

I expect to see some good, and long-overdue, things from Honda in the next year or two. It'd be nice if something would come close to having the soul that the SuperHawk does.

-Brian

 

I'm enjoying this thread...


Where do you guys think the Honda NAS fits into this picture if at all? I realize that it's a concept bike but my hope is that it wasn't all in vain.

Just curious?

 

V4s do not sell well to squids. Honda wants to keep their market-share. If Honda stepped up and made a naked V4 or Twin there would be alot of happy people around. Just look at Buell though. Everybody screamed thet if they would make a water-cooled sport/naked bike the public would buy it. So far that is not the case! They can't give those ugly things away. It is a shame because I thought the Lightning and Firebolt were very pretty they just had shitty powerplants.

 

The powerplants of Buell were ****, and they looked good. Now, they look like **** and the powerplants a awesome...WTF??? OK, so the new ones don't look completely like ****, but there is much to be desired.

Rooster, I know where you are coming from on the selling point, but end result is performance. If an engine configuration other than I-4 is the best, that is what will sell.

 

All you have to do to get squids to change from I4's to something else is to have more HP. All squids care about is HP never mind the fact that most cannot apply all that HP into a corner (hell I cant get out of 3rd on Palomar)

 

MARKET SHARE??????? That's the only place they are winning save bike/engine combos that are NOT available to the street market. Honda's name alone is running thin in reputation! Bike sales aren't far behind!