| Author | Message | ||
     Eboos |
If you look at almost all of the Moto GP engines, they are V4s. It seems like a huge waste of money to develope something that they never plan to produce. It would seem like a liquid cooled V4 would be the best of both worlds by having the high horsepower and RPM range of a I4, but with the torque and mid range power of a V twin. I don't think that cost would play a huge factor, being that the developement is pretty much done already, they just need to make them streetable. Is there another issue that would make this configuration undesirable? | ||
| Bigj |
A V-4 is more expensive to make than an I-4. Everything else equal. Honda makes a very nice V-4 in the Interceptor. | ||
| Ikeman |
ST1300, V-Max, Interceptor/VFR (as already stated) off the top of my head. | ||
| Hattori_hanzo |
  Here's two current V-4's, albeit not superbike type race replicas. I think the market is so heavily saturated with inline 4's that they may fear risking something different. The RC51 was brought out as an alternative to other liter bikes but has never been a huge seller. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
There's more plumbing on a V4. Also, think about the cams! Weren't VFR750 engines gear-driven cams? LOTS of tiny moving parts. They sounded great though. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Don't forget the ultimate plumbing nightmare: NR750!!    So pretty. Better than jewelery. | ||
| Pcmodeler |
Oh man....that felt like a wet dream....  | ||
| Rocketman |
If you look at almost all of the Moto GP engines, they are V4s. It seems like a huge waste of money to develop something that they never plan to produce. I think what your saying is why the V4 is used in Moto GP but no one who does so uses it for anything other than Moto GP. Moto GP rules allow prototype machines only. If an engine from Moto GP was placed in a production based vehicle, that would be against the rules. The technology from Moto GP does trickle down to production based machinery though. A year or three back, Peter Clifford's WCM team were running a Moto GP bike with an engine they had cast their own crankcases for. They were not Yamaha R1 cases, though they were based somewhat on the architecture of R1 cases, but not entirely. The crankcases in question were not interchangeable with anything R1. Not even the crankshaft, but the FIM didn't see it that way, eventually banning that particular engine for race use as they saw it as a production based design. The flip side of that coin, which more directly responds to your observation, is the soon to be released Ducati V4 road bike. I don't know how Ducati have got around this because they state the road bike engine is a detuned version of their Moto GP engine. I believe Ducati came into Moto GP with a V4 that was changed for their second or third season, but whether or not the current Ducati V4 Moto GP engine is significantly different enough from the first generation of their V4, and it's the first generation engine they're basing their road bike engine on, I don't know. Obviously though, Ducati it seems have found a solution or way around the situation without infringing the rules of Moto GP whilst being able to produce a road bike replica of the Moto GP bike. Wonders never cease! Rocket | ||
| Slaughter |
Anybody wanna buy a used VF500 racebike? Sunny isn't using it anymore - she still rides her VF500 on the street. About time MotoGP "caught up" to where streetbikes were almost 25 years ago | ||
| Slaughter |
 | ||
| U4euh |
I got an old 83 VFR750 sitting beside the house, come get it please! | ||
| Pcmodeler |
Come get it???? Are you giving it away? | ||
| Diablobrian |
I used to have one of the vf1000f interceptors. That thing was heavy, but the power was awesome. Monster torque and top end power. best of both worlds, as long as you could keep the carbs in synch. That was the hard part. That and the price of Honda repair parts. That 83 vf750r would be a great bike for someone to restore. That was the beginning of the real sport bike era. Before it superbikes were just hot rodded standards. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
They made a 1000? I had no idea. | ||
| Diablobrian |
in 85 there was the vf1000f in 86 there was the vf1000r. the r had the full fairing. The R was the bike that Kieffer Sutherland rode off on at the end of the movie flashback. | ||
| Doon |
My second bike was a 94 Veefer. I loved that bike. Was fairly comfortable for long rides, had nice power, had a cool single sided swing arm. Was a tad bit on the heavy side, but had more than enough power to make up for it. Maybe some day if I have more $$ than I know what to do with I will get another V4 engine. | ||
| Jscott |
HD Nova | ||
| Brucelee |
I have a 95 VFR. Great bike! | ||
| Coolice |
My 1990 VFR with 7000 miles on it sits covered in the garage, a great bike. The Buells have it surrounded  and they are much more fun to ride. | ||
| Whiskeytango |
Here is my 85 VF500 patiently awaiting resurrection in my basement! Great bikes! WT  | ||
| Aesquire |
Don't forget the Honda Sabre & Magna. My bud's 750 Sabre was very smooth, but the early LCD dash's went bad ( on every one I ever saw) at $400 each. I also saw a V65 Magna drop it's bottom end when the new owner ( cretin ) did a burnout in front of his house with only 13 miles on the clock. One con rod was 1/2 buried in the ground in a pool of oil & metal bits. Cycle World went through 2 or 3 V500 Interceptors due to crank bearing issues too. I assume they finally fixed that problem. | ||
| Diablobrian |
The ugly problem with the chain driven cam models was soft cam lobes. There was a program to replace them, but it has long since expired. | ||
| No_rice |
you might get that thing done if you quit galavanting around the country warren, lol. so you going to bobtail it kind of like the way it looks now? | ||
| U4euh |
AHHH, the VF1000R, what a ride! And yes very heavy, but it made up for it with power all over the clock! Ha d a friend who owned the Pearl White 88 model(I believe it was 88) Seen him chase down an Katana 1100 of the same year. Very impressive. I bought the 83 Veefer for parts. I also have an 83 CB1100F that I wanted to customize and the rims are the same on both bikes. But alas! I don't have time to mess with it. The motor is blown, wiring harness is not complete if non existant! But yea if you want it pm me. I only paid 75 dollars for it, been here long enough to not worry with loss. Father had a V65 Magna with the Euro Fairing, going from my 750 Seca to that thing was a mistake. Back to the post | ||
| T9r |
Yamaha has the Royal Star that has a V-4, granted it's a cruiser but it's a 4 cylinder | ||
| Glitch |
 HD Nova Makes ya wonder how things would be different if the Nova had been produced. Nova The V-4 Harley you never saw! | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Makes ya wonder how things would be different if the Nova had been produced." Harley would have gone out of business and Buells would be powered by Rotax engines. | ||
| Gearhead998 |
U4euh, PM sent | ||
| Hopebuell |
I have a 97 Magna 750. At 5500 rpms, it absolutely takes off to 9k. Little heavy, a little dated styling but I love it. Funny, have a V4 cruiser and a V-twin Buell. Reversed from the norm. | ||
| Spike |
While we're discussing cool bikes that are horrendously out of date, I've got an '82 Sabre V45 (750cc) in the garage that I'd let go for a fair price. It was "rideable" (moved under it's own power) last summer, but would need an afternoon of work to be rideable again. |
