Honda’s V4 Concept Model: C’mon guys, really?
Ah, concept bikes. Those magnificent design studies where conventional ideas can be stretched, design sketches can be brought to life, and potential future directions can be presented to the public for discussion and feedback.
Well, if Honda wants feedback from this latest effort, unveiled yesterday at Intermot Cologne, here goes: lay off the wacky tobaccy, fellas, and have at least one engineer look over the plans before you cough up to get another space-bike like this one built.
The typical visitor to a motorcycle exhibition is likely to notice the omission of important parts like axles, tyres, brakes, front suspension and some sort of final drive. They will muse over why you’ve chosen to include both side and underseat exhausts, and take one look at those shiny red wheels and wonder whether Honda is deliberately insulting their intelligence or if the CEO’s stepson has just graduated from design school.
Lots more pictures after the jump.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Its kind of neat as a design exercise but what kind of a future bike would still be gas powered and need two (or three depending on how you count) exhausts? Plus there do not appear to be any forward firing weapons or a place to put your trophy babe.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:21 am
cooooooooooooolbike
October 15th, 2008 at 1:58 am
This bike surely looks futuristic, but yes exhaust is a thing of present. …looks out of place.
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm
The drive arrangement as depicted could be made to work. A pinion gear would drive a ring gear bolted to the side of the rear wheel rim.
Both front and rear wheels could be supported using hubless wheel concepts as already done and shown on some other concept bikes, including Honda’s own ES-21. Whether or not this is desirable in terms of bearing and seal technology/reliability, unsprung mass, and steered mass is another issue.
The underseat exits don’t look like part of the engine exhaust system. They look more like cooling air exits for the rear cylinder bank. The exhaust pipes for the rear cylinders can be seen leading down.
An attractive concept, except I’m not a fan of stinger tails either aesthetically or practically. They just make bikes look disproportionate and unbalanced.