NEW HONDA V4 Spied in the desert!!

I hear the US models are only available in pink and it has a reverse like a Gold Wing.

 

Nah, I gotta like it looking at it as well as it being a good ride.

Bikes are not simply mere transportation for me.

Cars, well if it gets 80 mpg it can look like a smart car or geo metro since it's about utility at that point.

Bikes are a different story...

 

No that's funny right there!

 

It does look like it's aimed pretty squarely at the likes of the BMW K1200S. As a former owner of a K1200GT, I'm liking the idea of a shaft drive for a sport-touring motorcycle. Chains may be the most efficient drives, but they're barbaric and they're a pain in the ass to maintain and lubricate every 500-1000 miles, not to mention what's required to periodically remove them and clean them.

With my 2007 K1200GT I had the shaft oil (which is synthetic) and mesh screen changed at 1000 miles, then at 3000 miles, then every 6000 miles.

It's also interesting to note that unlike the ST1300, whose shaft drive is located on the right, the new VFR (like the newer BMW K-bikes) has the shaft drive located on the left. As best I recall, this eliminates 'throttle jacking' in which engine torque otherwise causes the rear tire to wanna lift up rather than bear down on the road. Am I on the right track here?

 

That is some hairy engineering and there is no simple answer. Moto-Guzzi and BMW worked on jacking for years. Consider that Rbikes and early Kbikes and the Honda St's had longitudinal engine fitment rather than transverse. Air cooled boxers and K75's and K100's.

Older Rbikes jack, but they do it everytime making the operation predictable.

Probably the best explanation would be by Kevin Cameron who makes some of the more esoteric aspects of engineering understandable to us regular folks.

 

Per many reviews, the Kawi Concours 1400's new Tetra-lever shaft drive is the best current shaft drive on the market. As reported by many Motorcycle journalists it is either as good or almost as good as chain drive and has completely eliminated "squat" and "jack"... So it can be done.

 

i cant wait to see one in person then ill make my decission its all specalution till then what i see aS OF NOW I LIKE IT

 

That is one UGLY piece of SH*T. I swear if someone who called the 6th Gen ugly says they like this POS I'll flip. That shaft drive looks like it was stolen straight off a K1200S. GOD I hope this isn't it. That headlight is HORRENDOUS. :::THROW UP:::

 

Must see in person.