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- Retro bike vs. newcomer
- The chassis provides the key to connecting to the modern age
- Video: Honda Xpresso V4 – Cafe Racer based on Honda VF 1000 F2
- With a snap of the finger, the naked woman tilts into a slanting position
- V4 is on pressure from below
- And now?
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20th photos
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Werner "Mini" Koch’s conversion of the Xpresso 4 to the current Honda CB 1000 R.
Werner Koch
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How it all began: The Honda VF 1000 F2, built in 1985 for 680 euros.
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The Xpresso 4 against the current Honda CB 1000 R..
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The fork stabilizer, which is mounted in ball joints, prevents the bars from becoming distorted when braking.
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A five-cent piece soldered on closes the modified copper cooler.
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Individual air filters replace the removed airbox.
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The 15 millimeter longer Wilbers strut raises the rear.
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Werner "Mini" Koch’s conversion Xpresso 4.
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The Xpresso 4 against the current Honda CB 1000 R..
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Honda Xpresso V4 and Honda CB 1000 R.
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Honda Xpresso V4 and Honda CB 1000 R.
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Honda Xpresso V4 and Honda CB 1000 R.
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Honda Xpresso V4.
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Honda CB 1000 R..
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Honda CB 1000 R..
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Honda CB 1000 R..
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Honda Xpresso V4.
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Honda Xpresso V4.
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Honda Xpresso V4.
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Honda Xpresso V4.
Retro bike Honda Xpresso V4 and Honda CB 1000 R in comparison test
Retro bike vs. newcomer
Retro bike conversions look good and usually don’t drive well, says MOTORRAD veteran Werner “Mini” Koch. With his Honda Xpresso V4 project, the inventor wants to prove that oldies can do more – as much as a current Honda CB 1000 R, for example.
D.It used to be a motorcycle used to mount a children’s carousel ”, flatters colleague Werner“ Mini ”Koch in the broadest original tone south. A smile relativizes the blasphemous remark about the look of the Honda CB 1000 R. Mini doesn’t mean it bad. Because in the MOTORRAD veteran the enthusiasm for motorcycles vibrates as incessantly as the quartz in an atomic clock. Mini likes them all. Super athletes, travel steamer, racing files, enduros – no concept he couldn’t find nice words for. And what doesn’t exist or didn’t exist, he created himself. Around 30 self-made buildings have been built in his workshop over the past 25 years.
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Retro bike Honda Xpresso V4 and Honda CB 1000 R in comparison test
Retro bike vs. newcomer
The current CB 1000 R costs 11,800 euros
“And it drives koi bissle worse than any motorcycle out of the shop window,” Mini adds – and his creation is under pressure. I beg your pardon? A home-made cafe racer should be just as good as a modern motorcycle? Well, half-long. Or put your hand on it. Before the Honda CB 1000 R switches to the showman business, the naked bike should become the benchmark for the Honda Xpresso V4.
Even if the Honda CB 1000 R does not initially play in the same league in terms of price. The current inline four-cylinder costs 11,800 euros. The Xpresso base, a Honda VF 1000 F2, built in 1985 with 80,473 kilometers on the clock, is just 680 euros. And with its fascinating, open-top version with 116 hp V4 engine. This is exactly what should be staged. So: Get plastic off the 277-kilo chunk. In general, clearing out was high on the to-do list. Double seat, rear fenders, handlebars, instruments, headlights – all gone. Replaced by a self-built monoposto rear in the style of the Yamaha TZ-Racer, by the slimmer tank of the sister model VF 750 F, the narrow handlebar halves of an aging Honda CBR 600 F and a retrofit headlight from Gericke. The new, slim line runs through seamlessly. The Schmalhans only no longer offers space for the airbox. Now the constant pressure carburetors from Keihin suck in through four individual air filters. The electrical system, which was previously housed in the vicinity of the air filter box, was moved into the cavity of the rear end of the Honda Xpresso V4.
The chassis provides the key to connecting to the modern age
But as much as the slimming diet dominates the visual appearance, the key to connecting with modernity is provided by the chassis of the Honda Xpresso V4. 17-inch cast wheels, also soled with the latest Dunlop Roadsmart 3, replace the wheels in the now outdated 18-inch format. Mini also tackled the originally tourist-oriented chassis geometry. A 15 millimeter longer Wilbers strut lifts the rear by a total of 30 millimeters by means of the rocker arm. In addition, the suspension travel on the fork, which has been reduced by 25 millimeters, lowers the front. The result: 64 instead of 61 degrees steering angle and 88 instead of 116 millimeters of caster.
Oh, there was something else. The CB 1000 R has long been whispering in the monotonous row of four hums – only to be completely enveloped shortly afterwards by the sound of the Xpresso. What a sound! This intonation was to herald many later high points in the Honda model history. Keywords: RC 30, RC 45, RC 213V. By the way: If you want to hear the Honda Xpresso V4, you should watch the following video.
Video: Honda Xpresso V4 – Cafe Racer based on Honda VF 1000 F2
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With a snap of the finger, the naked woman tilts into a slanting position
It is also good that the sound carpet from the laser bags – originally designed for the Kawasaki Z 800 – is street legal and therefore remains socially acceptable. Departure. The Honda CB 1000 R presents, immediately impresses with its unapologetic handling. The engine pushes smoothly just above idle and revs up very easily despite 125 hp. With a snap of the finger, the naked woman tilts into a slanting position, calmly draws her track, offers fluffy seating comfort and soft spring elements. Susi carefree on two wheels. Auweia, Xpresso V4. The bar is high.
Even if Mini’s Honda Xpresso V4 hardly reminds of the original VF. It also looks long, narrow, slender in the saddle. But the handlebar halves and the relatively low footrests mounted over the triple clamps relax the pilot and the situation. At the front it bounces first-class with its combination of two springs (spring rate 5.5 Nm / mm) attached outside the bars (for optical reasons) as well as a single spring (9.5 N / mm) located in the left bar, easily putting away every pothole. The 160 spring was only a bit tight at the back, occasionally causing the driver to flinch over jogging tracks. On the good-natured Contis, she turns squeaky clean, draws a bombproof line even in the narrow passages and does not have to pay for her horrific short trail with wobbly steering. Only in alternating curves does it lose out for its wheelbase, which is 1551 millimeters longer than the Honda CB 1000 R, which is almost eleven centimeters longer (1445 mm).
V4 is on pressure from below
There, the 233-kilogram Xpresso demands extra pressure when being folded – despite an impressive 44 kilograms fewer bacon rolls than the original version. Keyword pressure. If the meek Honda CB 1000 R didn’t have to serve as a measure, the V4 could serve as an example of how softly carburettor engines went on the gas in the old days. As if the gears were covered with rubber, the V4 starts smoothly at the apex of the curve, pushing gently but firmly. Measured 99 hp are still left of the 116 horses after almost 90,000 kilometers and three decades. Enough to catapult the Honda Xpresso V4 to 100 km / h in 3.7 seconds. Not bad for an older lady. And also served age-appropriately. Because the V4 is under pressure from below, likes to ride on its torque shaft that surging at 4500 rpm. And for reasons of age, one may not like to turn it up to the limit of 10,500 tours.
Maybe also because you want to take the Honda Xpresso V4 out of the field of fire that you have defined yourself. Because the conversion, which costs a total of 6000 euros despite many used parts, undoubtedly makes an impression with its more than a quarter of a century old base. When it comes to drivability, very few Cafe Racer variations will be able to hold a candle to it. And the bet? Swam over it. The Honda CB 1000 R is far from ready for the carousel.
And now?
Take it easy: Mini is right. The current retro-conversion trend occasionally washes floating debris ashore. In this respect, the Honda Xpresso V4 with the 1000 V4 engine not only breaks out of the monotony of the two-valve boxers, CX and XT irons in the hip hobbyist scene, but should also be ahead of many show bikes on the road . And no one expected more – except for the master himself. And the bet? Again, Mini: Sponge over it.
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