Honda has quite a history when it comes to V-4 engined street machines. Not just with the VFR/Interceptor, either, but with agressive sport bikes.
While it was running the V-5 990cc MotoGP machines, rumors surfaced that a V-5 engined street bike was in development. Now, with the 800cc Honda MotoGP weapon being a V-4, guess what? New V-4 engined street bikes (perhaps, more than one) are rumored to be in development . . . perhaps to be introduced as early as this Fall.
Honda knows that it could dramatically increase sales of sport bikes powered by V-4 motors simply by offering consumers an alternative to the in-line, four-cylinder machines built by competitors. I think this is called “product differentiation”, and Honda would have the added marketing boost of tying the engine design to its current MotoGP prototype racer. This could be an interesting Fall.
