New products from Honda and Ducati

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New products from Honda and Ducati
Drawings: Marabese, Keogh; Computer retouching: Guerin

New products from Honda and Ducati

The power of myth

Ducati Monster and Honda Fireblade: These motorcycles have long since achieved the rank of myth. For their successors, this means a huge opportunity and at the same time an enormous risk.

Anyone who modernizes a legendary concept will find only a narrow feasible path between progress and persistence. There is a balancing act to be mastered, which can be just as precarious for a small manufacturer like Ducati and for a giant like Honda and yet has to be undertaken. Because with all appreciation for Monster and Fireblade ?? they have to stay fit for the future without severing the connection to their past.
More urgently than the Blade, which has already been modeled several times, the Monster is up for renewal. Produced since 1993, it may not be the most spectacular, but thanks to its sales figures it is the most important motorcycle of the Bolognese brand and, with around 160,000 units sold, Italy‘s top export in the last decade. After the experience with the 999, which is revolutionary in its own way, the Ducati designers are certain that the new Monster should go back to its origins instead of following a futuristic approach.

Modern based on historical models

But what actually makes them, the original monsters? Characteristic are the full, almost overflowing tank, the circular headlight, the curved lines of the tank and rear as well as the distinctive tubular space frame. It was designed by the then 33-year-old designer Miguel Galluzzi, who now works for Aprilia, and Ducati left these main features untouched. The rest, on the other hand, was pretty tinkered with. In favor of greater freedom from leaning, some models got a bulky, bulky front silencer in combination with two rear silencers mounted on one side instead of the two-in-two exhaust system. And when it comes to the swing arm, Ducati tried everything possible: in addition to the aluminum part of the original model (taken over from the 888), the two-arm swing arm made of steel for the basic models and finally even a truss-like single-arm swing arm for the S2R and S4R. Not to mention the engine variants: It started air-cooled, initially with 900 cc, then 600 and 750 engines were added, and later even the 916 and 996 four-valve units, whose cable and hose outfit and their high weight never were really fit the monster concept. Today it runs air-cooled with 695, 800 and 1000 cm3, the most expensive variants S4R and S4RS are fired by the water-cooled 1000 testastretta with 130 hp. So it was inevitable that the puristic concept of the 1993 model began to add bacon and flourishes in some places.
You have to put it down. Just like the new 1098, the Ducati-typical tubular space frame gets stronger main tubes and also includes the swing arm, because with the powerful four-valve engines today’s Monster suffers from a certain instability. The proportions of the tank remain unchanged, the question of whether the motorcycle will become larger as a whole is still a matter of dispute: riders who are more than 1.80 meters in length find it difficult to find a comfortable position on the little monster. On the other hand, the new one shouldn’t be too bombastic, because women, who mostly prefer petite motorcycles, make up a considerable percentage of the Monster clientele.
Variants are planned with the air-cooled 1100 engine of the Multistrada and with the water-cooled powerful drive of the 1098; both are expected to have a single-sided swing arm. The base model, however, has the cheaper two-arm swing arm made of steel, and the 695 engine should remain the engine. In terms of the exhaust, no details have yet been found; most likely bonds with Hypermotard. Silencers placed under the seat look almost banal, but they always look good at the rear of a Ducati, as do high rear indicators. Ducati is also thinking about a nice gag: a monster lettering in the reflector that lights up every time you brake. What remains is the face of the monsters and that, all prophets are certain, will continue to be determined by a round spotlight. It may be even more emphasized by a curved glass.

Fireblade Future: Series or V4?

What is already pretty concrete at Ducati and is rather poorly than quite concealed in favor of better sales of the old monster models, can hardly be felt as a faint premonition at Honda. As usual, the employees of the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer are stubbornly silent, and as usual, it cannot be prevented that information from the many branches does leak out. From the atmosphere of the southern European headquarters in Rome it was heard that the Italians and Spaniards in particular are vehemently demanding a much sportier Fireblade, a RRR, so to speak, and want to see this intensification applied to the next generation of the CBR 600 RR. Thanks to their flourishing markets, these countries are becoming increasingly important for Honda headquarters, and the chances of implementing such demands are increasing.
Around the same time, journalists from the USA began to speculate about completely new generations of engines for super sports cars. There was talk of a 675 V3, which should keep the Triumph Daytona 675, which is gradually penetrating the national Supersport championships, in check. Much more likely and more serious, however, are the news of a 1000 with a V4 engine. At Honda, they are getting tired of just being part of a Japanese inline four-cylinder monoculture and see a V4 as a strong unique selling point that would be recognized worldwide. A consideration that Aprilia’s product planners have already largely implemented. For the guess? and hope ?? of a large German Honda dealer, the rumors about a V4 would affect the successor model of the VFR and at the same time the CBR 1100 XX, the prospects for 2008 are rather bad. Allegedly, Honda wants to wait for the final version of the Euro 4 emissions standard before developing a new VFR hits the home straight.
In a different context, but quite fittingly, an informant from Italy provided evidence of a reorientation at Honda. For fear of a hostile takeover of the automotive division, the group management had prescribed a very cautious model policy for motorcycle manufacturers in recent years, thanks to the positive results over many years, one is now safe and can devote more time to developing new models. It was only because substantial investments were being made in this area that profits fell in the past financial year despite increased sales.
If you assign this information to the previous Honda model range and also take into account the time perspective, it is likely that the next update of the Fireblade presented in autumn will keep the in-line engine. In the medium term, Honda could revive a completely different myth: the myth V4. The chances have rarely been as good as they are today.

Most likely: Honda Hornet 1000

Much sooner, namely this fall, Honda will be the Hornet 1000 present. At least one Honda employee, after being asked about such a model, could only save himself into an embarrassed cough, on the one hand not to admit anything and on the other hand not to have to lie. The 1000 Hornet with its pointed lines and the strikingly designed exhaust system is aimed directly at the Kawasaki Z 1000, and it has all the systems to become much lighter and more dynamic than this. Not least the engine, which is based on the current Fireblade power unit, while the Kawasaki four-cylinder is based on a ten-year-old concept. The assumption is quite plausible that the 1000 is hardly heavier than the 600 Hornet.

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