It appears that Honda has done things on a big scale too: a 990 cubic centimetre engine, five V cylinders, and a strong relationship with the RC 211V that races in the MotoGP. This is an agressive choice for Honda, but keeping the V dispositions, it adds a cyliinder to give some extra grunt.
The VFR 1000 should take the place of the VFR 800, and will send into retirement the CBR 1100 XX Blackbird, which is part of a nearly prehistoric sector for motorcycles.
The news still needs to be confirmed, but all looks more or less set. Honda has perhaps definitively shelved the CBR 1100, and the new model should boost sales of the VFR range. The original aim of finding a model that would sit between these two, without carving sales in half, seems to be confirmed.
The VFR 1000 signals the return to the sports roots of this model, while still remaining a comfortable Sport Tourer model, but including some top-end technical specs. The engine, virtually the same as that of the RC211V until 2006, will have some serious power though all the technical details have been redesigned.
According to Spain’s Motociclismo, Honda has worked for more than five years on the project, with the aim of creating something truly unique. The motorcycle should be presented at the end of summer, around summer, crowning the brand’s 60th anniversary.
The project has been signed by the engineer Yoshiteru Kinoshita, who it appears is managing a team of planners borrowed from Honda’s racing deparment (HRC), and other men who participated in the development of the CBR 1000 RR in 2008.
Some new inventions, though, have been required for this new bike, which have been revealed by the Spanish magazine in preview. The designs that you can find hide many secrets of the VFR’s under-skin: in addition to the engine, the bike will have a new alluminium chassis, with front and rear sections separated but attached to the engine itself.
Just one radiator will be included behind the front rear, rather than the two side positions used on the current VFR. The exhuast will be placed under the engine. The performance of the new V5 is still unknown, though it’s likely to be significantly higher than the V4 at 800cc than today’s VFR. We could see an increase to around 150 or 160cc, accompanied by a good dose of torque at lower and medium regimes.
The magazine reveals that another pearl is likely to be an electronic transmission system, with even a twin-clutch that will probably see its premiere on this bike. So as the VFR 1000 prepares itself for the market, or vice versa, we’re really hanging out to see what this could do to the future of sports motorcycles.
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