Supercharged triple is edging closer to production
There’s no question that the star of last year’s EICMA show in Milan wasn’t a complete bike but an unfinished chassis and engine – Honda’s ‘ICE’ concept that previewed its upcoming V3 engine complete with an electric supercharger.
The bike utterly overshadowed the rest of Honda’s display, including the ‘EV FUN’ electric concept that’s winging its way to showrooms in the near future as Honda’s first full-sized battery-powered motorcycle, and proved that the people who matter the most – riders themselves – are still far more invested and interested in combustion engines than in futuristic electric machines.
Not that the V3 concept wasn’t futuristic, as it also packs Honda’s first electric supercharger which uses battery power to provide maximum boost immediately at any part of the rev range, giving it a notable advantage over both exhaust-driven turbos and mechanically-driven superchargers. The electric supercharger, or ‘E-Compressor’ to use Honda’s terminology, also means the V3 can be smaller than a similarly-powerful normally-aspirated engine, promising improvements in emissions and efficiency as a result.
While Honda was always open about the V3 being destined for a production model, the company has now reinforced that with a teaser video shot inside the R&D department that gives a few more clues about the upcoming bike.
Elements in the video include a shot of a wall filled with design sketches – all depicting full-faired sports bikes. Some show designs that have gone on to become production models, resembling machines including the current FireBlade, but a couple of the sketches closest to the camera depict a modern sports bike with a trellis frame very similar to the design seen on the V3 concept, with a distinct ‘X’ shape made in the tubular side rails. Perhaps a hint of what to expect? Such a design would certainly tie in with Honda’s registration of trademarks including ‘V3R’ and ‘V3R E-Compressor’ recently, with the ‘V3R’ section reminiscent of its ‘VFR’ (V Four Race) and VTR (V Twin Race) designations of previous generations of V-engined sports bikes. Honda has never made a four-stroke V3 motorcycle before, and nor has any other mainstream manufacturer, but it did offer a two-stroke, the NS400R, using the V3 layout in the 1980s.
As well as the sketches, Honda’s video shows heavily redacted shots of the engine on a workbench and a dyno, albeit blurring all the elements that might give away any tasty morsels of information about the motor. There’s a snatch of engine sound – think V-twin, but with an added element of complexity to the note thanks to the third cylinder – and a brief glimpse of a dyno readout that looks like it shows the number 147Nm, although again it’s partly obscured in the video. That’s the sort of torque you’d expect from a 1200-1300cc bike, whereas the V3 is rumoured to be in the region of 850cc, with the addition of boost to give the performance of a larger engine.
Another shot depicts Honda’s test riders behind the bike, which is again largely obscured but with a heavily-stepped tail section visible, showing the pillion pad is much higher than the rider’s seat. While that indicates a sports bike, a rider then climbs aboard and spreads his arms relatively wide to grab bars that are out of the picture, hinting that the prototype might actually be more like a streetfighter in its stance.
With the teaser campaign now underway, we’re sure to be drip-fed more information in the coming weeks, with a more complete unveiling of either the finished bike or a nearer-production prototype expected at this year’s EICMA show.
Meanwhile, Honda is also teasing the production version of the EV FUN electric bike, revealing a video of the machine under test. Despite distraction camo graphics, it’s clearly near-identical to last year’s concept, including the CB1000R-style single-sided swingarm and an overall size similar to that litre bike. The concept’s nose shape, with a slit-like headlight across a small nose cowl, also remains, along with a TFT dashboard. The EV FUN is expected to have performance in the region of a 650cc four-stroke and a short range of around 100km that’s offset by the ability to rapid-charge in a matter of minutes using DC chargers with CCS2 connectors, as favoured by most electric cars.
