Honda has revealed the details for the powerplant at the heart of its upcoming Honda CB750 Hornet: a 755cc twin-cylinder.
The anticipation surrounding the Honda Hornet continues to grow, and after the previous releases discussing the development of the bike’s aesthetics, Honda has now released the first details of its engine.
The bike will be powered by a 755cc parallel twin-cylinder engine producing 67.5kW, or 90.5 horsepower. That puts it at around the same power output as the 600cc inline-four cylinder engine that powered the previous CB600F Hornet generation. Strictly, it is 10 horsepower down on the previous version, but the bigger displacement twin will produce more torque.
And quite a lot more torque, at that. Whereas the previous inline-four Hornet had 64.4Nm peak torque, the new 755cc parallel twin puts out 75Nm.
Additionally, in comparison to the CB650F that replaced the previous generation Hornet, the new bike will have four more horsepower and 12 more Newton-metres.
The engine also produces 12Nm more torque than is found in the current generation CBR650R, with its 649cc inline-four cylinder, and is only three horsepower down on Honda’s current middleweight sports bike.
Fuyuki Hosokawa, 23YM Honda Test Project Leader:
“The Hornet has always been a very special motorcycle for Honda. Exciting, engaging performance has always been matched to lithe, agile handling.
“Before starting this project, we thought long and hard about what kind of performance we wanted to give to the rider.
“We knew that it was essential to keep the classic Hornet top end power ‘hit’ and at the same time, as a new generation Hornet for modern times, we wanted the engine to have a really strong torquey feel and ‘throbbing’ sensation at low to mid rpm. Our aim has always been to match these to the lightest, most agile handling possible, to make every ride – even in town – as engaging and fulfilling as possible.
“To get the kind of performance and lightweight handling we wanted, we knew we had to develop an all-new short-stroke twin-cylinder engine, with a 270° crankshaft. This would not only deliver that top-end rush, but also the sporty low-down torque, ideal for riding in urban environments and powering out of corners on the open road.”
The new twin is also the engine which is expected to appear in the Honda Transalp and, with emissions regulations getting ever-tighter, the question of whether the days of the smaller-capacity four-cylinders for Honda are numbered.
Certainly, it is not a view shared by some other brands if it is one held by Honda. Kawasaki, for example, is reportedly planning a 400cc inline-four as a sort of scaled-down version of its ZX-6R.
