Honda 1200 V4

[Mystic13]

The write ups just get better. This could be my next bike if you guys would pass the hat around for me.

DSG box... yay!



http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/New-bikes/2009/August/aug1309-Honda-V4-VFR-1200-is-a-triple-too/?&R=EPI-117559

http://www.leftlanenews.com/honda-v4.html

Images at photobucket

http://media.photobucket.com/image/honda+1200+v4/Nikker1985/Biker%20Spirit%20Various/bike%20pics/HondaVFR120004.jpg?o=3

[The Pastor]

yeah looks good, but i'd wait a few years to see what the problems are, new tech, new problems.

it also gives mechanics time to learn to service them!

[pritch]

It is starting to become official, but this is more tease than information:

www.honda-v4.co.uk

But I do like that V4 logo; clever.

[Blackbird]

Pity the prototype looks like it's been hit with the ugly stick!

A Honda spokesperson was quoted as saying that Gixxer 1000 owners would be precluded from ownership as they've all got little willies.

[vifferman]

It's still largely speculation and hype, until Honda officially releases information. Shouldn't be far off now, if the 'autumn release announcement' (spring, for us) is to be believed.

The hype and letdown surrounding the New! Improved! Vtec Honda in late 2001 is still fresh in my memory. That was supposed to be be more fasterer and betterer, yet by and large was not an improvement. The much-vaunted Vtec was supposed to add low-end torque, yet did the opposite while adding complexity and new problems. The new VFR could very easily turn out to be yet more traipsing down the 'Eco-friendly Bullshit Hyped-up As Advantage and Improvement' road. There's already noises about "MotoG-derived technology" and DNA derived from the RC211V, but this bike seems to have more in common with the Honda Accord and scooter technology. Plus (also!) all this gee-whizzery is going to add $$$ to the price ticket and to servicing costs.
Stuff that...

[vifferman]

Pity the prototype looks like it's been hit with the ugly stick!
I thought that was the Blackbird genes coming through...? :confused:

[Blackbird]

I thought that was the Blackbird genes coming through...? :confused:

Maybe that's why I'm switching brands:innocent:

[Mystic13]

And another Honda teaser website up.

With info on the engine etc coming...

http://www.feelv4.com/en_GB/pages/mainpage

[vifferman]

Maybe that's why I'm switching brands:innocent:
I think I would too, if the vifferbabe wasn't frantically stacking up $$$ on our next overseas jaunt. The VFR's been so uncharacteristically naughty lately, it's starting to really piss me off.
Still, it's my "last ever bike" :rolleyes: so I'd better make the most of it.
I have a feeling that writing it it off isn't a viable tactic this time...

[Gremlin]

Those mule photos are on par with the 08 zx10... definitely beaten by the ugly stick.

Question is tho, what will happen to the ST1300. MCN's artist impression definitely drew from it, and the model is long in the tooth.

Not old enough yet, but I can see the ST1300 being really appealing, with long range tank etc... It ain't gonna exist by the time I want one :crybaby:

[Swoop]

I wonder what is so special that the pom's have to win a competition to get a bloody test ride?

Anyway... Still mixed feelings about all the trickery going on inside the thing. I look forward to a test ride when it is out.



Do you hear that Honda NZ?? I want a fucking test ride. I do not want to be told "we don't have a demo - buy what is on the dealer's floor".

Got that?

[Mystic13]

Yep, but I entered the comp. Free economy class return tickets. Three nights 5 star accommodation ,food and the bike launch. They didn't say it's limited to UK residents. (I'm assuming it is).

So I'm on the email list for V4 updates. There is a press section which I can't get in.

I'm with you folks on the two much electronic stuff. It isn't good when a well known brand of motorcycle can't be push started when the battery is dead because it won't allow the electronics to let the bike start.

Even worse are the reported incidences of the bike dying on the road when the bike voltage is down. Never to re-start. You have to fear being in the outside lane in fast moving traffic when the bike shuts down.

The systems should be an over-rideable aid not something that can kill the bike.

[Blackbird]

Yep, but I entered the comp. Free economy class return tickets. Three nights 5 star accommodation ,food and the bike launch. They didn't say it's limited to UK residents. (I'm assuming it is).

So I'm on the email list for V4 updates. There is a press section which I can't get in.



+1. Doubt that I'd buy one but I'm happy to go to the UK to ride it :yes:

[vifferman]

Yep, but I entered the comp. Free economy class return tickets. Three nights 5 star accommodation ,food and the bike launch. They didn't say it's limited to UK residents. (I'm assuming it is).
Yup, it is UK residents only. The Mrkn Vifferisti were talking about it.



I'm with you folks on the two much electronic stuff. It isn't good when a well known brand of motorcycle can't be push started when the battery is dead because it won't allow the electronics to let the bike start.

Even worse are the reported incidences of the bike dying on the road when the bike voltage is down. Never to re-start. You have to fear being in the outside lane in fast moving traffic when the bike shuts down.

The systems should be an over-rideable aid not something that can kill the bike.
Fact of life, I'm a frayed, and common to all EFI vehicles (although they all - including the VFR, Blackbird, etc. - have a 'failsafe' mode to the electronics that runs the EFI in a suboptimal mode if an error isn't critical.
However (but!) this doesn't work if you've got an erratic fault in one of your sensors or part of the wiring loom, that means the system is normal enough to not trigger a fault code, but occasionally and mysteriously kills the engine, for anything from a millisecond to a thousand of them.

I get what you mean: the VFR (well... the non-Vtec one) has brilliant and proven mechanicals, and complicated (and budget) electronics. Somewhere in my wiring loom, amidst the myriad of sensors, plugs and assorted doodads, there's a plug or piece of wet string that thinks it's a random microswitch. If Mr Honda had spent a few yen more on the wiring, it would all be Sweetness and Light.

Betcha the All New! Improved!! VFR1200/1000 will have the same noodle-based electrical system.

[Blackbird]

Somewhere in my wiring loom, amidst the myriad of sensors, plugs and assorted doodads, there's a plug or piece of wet string that thinks it's a random microswitch. If Mr Honda had spent a few yen more on the wiring, it would all be Sweetness and Light.


Same with the Birdie, Ian. There's a connector which kills the EFI if it gets corroded, then you have to undo a squillion miles of insulating tape to pull the plug apart and wipe a few microgrammes of dielectric grease on the contacts. And of course, it has to be located in the most inaccessible spot :angry:

[vifferman]

Same with the Birdie, Ian. There's a connector which kills the EFI if it gets corroded, then you have to undo a squillion miles of insulating tape to pull the plug apart and wipe a few microgrammes of dielectric grease on the contacts. And of course, it has to be located in the most inaccessible spot :angry:
Yeah, I've heard about that - it has its equivalent on the VFR. Or rather - several equivalents. There's one under some tape on the main loom (but relatively easy to get at) which joins lotsa earths with a kinda copper centipede. Mine was not corroded, but I cleaned it anyway. That didn't work, so I cut it apart, soldered it into a big blob, and soldered a dedicated earth to it. That didn't work, so I soldered an earth to the B1 plug on the ECU (main ECU earth). That didn't work, so I'm going around the bike, pulling apart connectors, cleaning them, adding extra earths here'n'there, and getting nowhere. Next step is to pull the airbox and clean the connectors under the fuel rail for the MAP sensor, cam angle sensor, ignition pulse generator, neutral switch, ECT and IAT sensors, and a big plug that hides under there. If that fails, then I'm going to clean the switch blocks, and then try bypassing the sidestand switch in case that thinks it's a comedian.
If I had an EFI fault to work from, it might help. But I don't, so I'm playing hide'n'seek, or some perverted and frustrating motorcycle electrics version of it.

So... I'm driving the vifferbabe's car, as I can't be arsed with the bike today. It too has EFI, which seems OK. But there's an intermittent electrical gremlin in the left rear door lock, and another in the speedo. (The auto electrician fixed the one that nearly caused the radio to set fire to itself, so now it receives stations more betterer).
Yay! Electricity!! :confused:

[Swoop]

There's a connector which kills the EFI if it gets corroded, then you have to undo a squillion miles of insulating tape to pull the plug apart and wipe a few microgrammes of dielectric grease on the contacts. And of course, it has to be located in the most inaccessible spot
This is the main reason that the "new" viffer hasn't been released yet... The engineers cannot decide on the best place for this Valhalla of engine-killing evilness.:yes:

[Elysium]

Run on 2, 3 or 4 pistons?

Neat! Go from a VFR to a VTR on the same bike!

[vifferman]

This is the main reason that the "new" viffer hasn't been released yet... The engineers cannot decide on the best place for this Valhalla of engine-killing evilness.:yes:
... and those engineers are arguing with the mechanical engineers who are busy designing the placement of complex engine bits into a Rubix cube like puzzle, so that the services take 17 hours. Fortunately, an oil and filter change takes only 5.:buggerd:

[zadok]

Those mule photos are on par with the 08 zx10... definitely beaten by the ugly stick.

Question is tho, what will happen to the ST1300. MCN's artist impression definitely drew from it, and the model is long in the tooth.

Not old enough yet, but I can see the ST1300 being really appealing, with long range tank etc... It ain't gonna exist by the time I want one :crybaby:

I would hope this wouldn't replace the ST1300, only the the Viffer. I don't see my pillion enjoying sitting on the back of that thing. It may be an ok bike, but not in the same category as an ST1300.