Moto Tour – Toulon – Toulon: exterior day, first! –

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Honda Xpresso V4 from Werner "Mini" Koch in the driving report

The first exit

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After 300 hours of work, it’s time to start scratching the converted Honda VF 1000 F2. Whether the first trip with the Honda Xpresso V4 keeps what the chic shell promises?

E.It’s always the same queasy feeling when the fuel disappears into the freshly painted tank with a chuckle and your fingers nervously feel for possible leaks – luckily nothing drips. Ignition on. All control lights are there, it flashes, lights up and honks. Will the V4 of the converted Honda VF 1000 F2 also run? The starter whirls the crankshaft powerfully, the petrol pump ticks the fuel into the carburettor, and one cylinder after the other reports to work. Until the 90-degree quartet hums in sync and cleanly, I hold the fire extinguisher at the ready with the split pin to be on the safe side.

Honda Xpresso V4 from Werner "Mini" Koch in the driving report

The first exit

90 hp tug at the rear wheel

But the queasy feeling remains. Why? Because the Honda Xpresso V4 has nothing in common with the VF 1000 F2, because every screw, every bracket, every chassis part from the wheels to the fork to the shock absorber has been modified, replaced, revised or simply deleted without replacement. And because the experience from roughly 30 of our own conversions and new constructions shows that even with meticulous craftsmanship, some mechanical detailed solutions dance out of line in practice.

Therefore, the Honda Xpresso V4 initially rolls with the red number at a leisurely pace on a large, clearly laid out asphalt area. Several full brakes from 150 km / h are on the plan. This works with a strong bite and finely dosed, without the front wheel fender drilling into the newly placed water and oil cooler. The full throttle acceleration is also easy – even if the 520 chain is a little "longer" and has to be retightened. After all, over 90 hp pulls the rear wheel. Every shift is perfect, the gears snap into place and the anti-hopping clutch engages somewhat diffusely under full load, but ultimately with full force. As a reminder: This engine has been around for 30 years and 86,000 kilometers!

Mini’s coffee hit needs a run

The best thing about the Honda Xpresso V4: the sound of the Honda V4 – without an air filter box and with two short hailer silencers. Words simply cannot describe it. And that’s why you can hear and see it in the video below. After having passed the basic function, the V4 now has to prove itself in real life. Stop-and-go through the traffic jam city of Stuttgart at easily 30 degrees works without burning up, because the large fan behind the radiator can be switched on manually using the push button on the right under the tank before the reduced cooling system collapses.

The Honda Xpresso V4 manages twitching and meandering in traffic jams, short distances to the gas station or to the meeting point as naturally as a 2016 model. But that’s not what I built the machine for. My coffee racer needs a run, wants to go out to the country, I don’t care about the show mile.

Curves, hairpin bends, hilltops – the real area of ​​the Xpresso

Where hairpin bends, bends and hilltops shake hands, always at a safe distance from annoying urban areas and far away from slow-moving federal highways, that’s where the Honda Xpresso V4 – and I especially like it. Because the Honda feels more like a three year old motorcycle than a 30 year old! This is not only due to the successful conversion, but also to the extremely solid base of the Honda VF 1000 F2. Quotation from former test colleague Axel Westphal from MOTORRAD 14/1985: “The engine pleases with its unspectacular but beefy power delivery. At any speed it hangs spontaneously on the gas, hardly vibrates and runs mechanically quietly. ”So the Honda VF 1000 F2 with its growling V4 engine won confidently against the established competition.

To maintain this sovereignty, the coordination of the carburetor and intake tract had to be changed and adjusted a good dozen times so that the sensitive Keihin constant pressure carburetors could continue to implement gas commands one-to-one even without an air filter box and the slides would not flutter. Now the V4 growls over the four intake filters with a bone-dry, hard staccato from the engine room. You can literally hear the cylinders gasping for air and the mixture being pressed through the intake valves at breakneck speed.

Like the rumble of a summer thunderstorm

So that the Honda Xpresso V4 still passes the TÜV inspection with a seal, the two short laser megaphones with combined reflection and absorption technology sustainably dampen the flow of exhaust gas. In the absence of an air filter box, the small exhaust volume and, last but not least, the mileage of more than 80,000 kilometers, the Honda engine on the test bench lacks a good ten hp on the ounce specified maximum output.

But the 99 horses measured get the Honda Xpresso V4, which now weighs only 234 kilos, really going. My coffee hit doesn’t need any more. Especially not when the fat combustion engine catapults you through the landscape with the rumble of a summer thunderstorm!

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