Honda boss says new V4 will be ‘a new breed of bike'

Honda’s hotly-anticipated new V4-powered bike will be seen in finished form this autumn and will be in dealers next spring, Honda’s Senior Managing Director Shigeru Takagi has confirmed.

In a rare interview last week, Takagi – who was celebrating Honda’s 50 years of racing at the Isle of Man TT – said the bike will be a “new breed of Honda”.

MCN investigations suggest the bike will be a 1200cc V4 at the high-end of Honda’s range – more Super Blackbird than Fireblade.

Takagi said: “We really believe we can develop a new era starting with this V4-powered machine. It is just the beginning and represents a new breed of Honda which will define Honda’s own taste and styling.

“This bike will be the perfect road machine that Honda customers have called for. It will be an epoch-making machine and more bikes from the V4 platform are possible.

“We know people think this bike is going to be a replacement for the VFR800 and the Blackbird but we do not see this bike as a replacement for anything. We see it as an all-new breed of machine, something very special.”

Takagi refused to reveal the price, but did confirm when we can buy it. He said: “The finished V4-powered machine will be seen in autumn 2009. The bike will be on sale in spring 2010.

“The bike is different to the concept shown for the first time at Milan in 2009 but the link between them is very clear to see.”