VFR1200AT - My Eyes! You got it in my eyes!

look at this

In Europe soon will be a CB1000
The same design as CB1100

Honda | ƒoƒCƒN | CB1100 | ƒVƒ‡[ƒgƒ€[ƒr[ Short Movie

 

hey honda,

 

Honda has lost it due to their home market eating up scooters and toaster vans....


...

 

Honda was on to something with the Hornet. How about a straightforward naked sport bike with a V-4? And a decent suspension!

 

Bleh. Any time spent on a seat of a motorcycle is an adventure. Doesn't matter is it is on the dirt or on the pavement. If you don't like it, don't buy it....enough said.

 

The Hornet is a great bike and they are sitting, unloved and unwanted, in showrooms across the country. No one wants to buy a naked standard when they can buy a Shadow, wear chaps and cruise around, helmetless looking really cool. I contend that if Honda would commit a styling makeover on the 919 Hornet and make it like a Triumph Speed Triple they would sell like hotcakes. It needs a health dose of cool.

My daughter says that Honda's biggest problem is one of image. If you go by a Ducati store their whole message just screams "sexy!" She said by contrast Honda's have as much sex appeal as a leaf blower.

 

Yay someone making sense. I see this as Hondas competition in the market against the likes of the MultiStrada 2, Triumph Tiger and KTM 990 SMT which might look a little funky to Sportsbike riders are very popular in Europe and while mainly suited to surfaced roads can do dirt/gravel highways with ease so could properly be termed "All Rounders".

Anyone followed one of these things over long distance with a good rider on potholed, rippling twisting country back roads would know how capable this class of machines are and on smooth twisting tarmac or track day they can surprise you how much lean they have and fast they can thread tight corners. If Honda add a decent Tank capacity I'd be interested if the price was right.

 

I'm with John & Tinker that the Euro guys may dig this bike. But still leaves us in North America wanting. Not ALL US riders want inline liter Racers or wanna-be Harleys.

 

I'm digging it, have to see the final version in pics though.

It seems like Honda has recommitted to the V4 engine layout, developing several engine sizes and using the same motor across platforms. I imagine a sport bike will be in the works in the next couple years, a big V4 adventure bike, this MS/Tuono competitor, a 1200 ST replacement. Seems there will be lots of V4 Hondas in the next decade.

So yep, damn Honda for developing a new V4 motor and using it in all these bikes, damn you Honda, damn you!

 

We in North America have limited access to the "standard bike" I personally love them.
CB1300(not US)

CB1000r (not US)

Yamaha MT-01 (not US)

Yamaha FZ1-N (not US)

IN THE STATES:
Kawasaki Z1000

AND alledgedly comming:
Kawasaki Z750

Yamaha FZ8

 

That could also be " Not ALL us riders want inline liter Racers or wanna-be Harleys " ? guessing thats why we love our VFRs :smile:

Not being all that interested in Track days preferring my Sports bikes to be both fast and comfortable on real roads find the " Hell for Leather " opinions meaningless.

The " All rounder " class has become increasingly popular over here as well as Europe and look to be overtaking Sports tourer class like our VFR and Triumph STs when roaming the great variety of average surfaced country back roads I enjoy nearly as much as our Alpine Twisties. :biggrin:

To illustrate I found the below 1 min 11 clip of a Gen 5 VFR following a KTM 990 Adventure following a Gen 4 VFR along one of my favourite sections of sweeping Country back road, this clip is from the relatively smooth Highway segment but you can see from the bobbing front guard how much the suspension is working when briskly ridden yet still the VFR itself feels totally unfussed on this road.

You can see the KTM on road biased tyres is no slouch either by how far it leans from around the 26 second mark and how well it copes with mid corner bumps and ripples.

Video of VFR following KTM Linky:
http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/John451vfr/?action=view&current=VFRSandKTM.mp4

 

Aprilia will release a V4 Tuono soon. That and the RSV4 makes for an exciting pair of V4 Aprilias. Wonder if Honda's designers can match the excitement?

Wow. Did I just use "Honda" and "excitement" in the same sentence? Hmmm . . . .

 

VFR Crosstourer pix as requested
Honda Crosstourer Concept: V4 adventure | Hell for Leather

not a vfr

 

The bike in that picture is the VFR1200-based Varadero replacement. That is not the VFR800 based crossover.

Honda have said that they will unveil 2 adventure style V4 bikes. The one in the teaser sketches (which looks to be VFR800-based) and this one.

 

HONDA EXCITEMENT.... Maybe a new marketing slogan is in order: "Honda Motorsports, All you middle aged farts just grow up and embrace the computer limited mundane"

 

Well, husband, my VFR is exciting NOW. But I spent some money to get it that way. If we are talking stock bikes, I would prefer my brother's stock Ducati ST over my stock VFR. But now that I have a quality suspension and even fueling I prefer my Honda. Except when I want a bit of torquey growl and incivility. Then we switch bikes.

Honda could use a design chief who understands the dirtier appeal of motorcycling.

 

What, you don't want a 2 wheeld CIVIC?

 

I want to have the freedom to have an adventure anytime I want. This includes looking at pix of bikes and telling everyone that I am an expert because I looked at some pix of some bikes.

To be a real expert one must sit on the bike in question whilst the bike is on the stand and fart on the seat while posing with the local Honda rep.

What is real cool is to bring along a GPS and have it programmed to get ya back home in real time. Holding one's mouth right and making noises like a V8 is super impressive too.