Honda’s Upcoming Hornet Streetfighter - New Sketches Emerge

Design concepts of the new Hornet show a sharp and aggressive streetfighter, worthy of the name.

The significance of a new model to a bike manufacturer can often be judged by how drawn out its launch process is—and since Honda is likely going to have more than a year between first confirming its plans for a new Hornet and the bike actually reaching dealers, it’s clearly a bike that the company has high hopes for.

Honda confirmed its new Hornet last November, showing a stylized computer model of the machine in a video released at the EICMA show in Milan, accompanied by brief clip of the engine note, but has remained steadfastly tight-lipped since then about the bike’s actual specifications or release date. Now Honda, while still keeping the bike’s details secret, has released more design sketches and details of the bike’s development process.

The design comes from the company’s R&D center in Rome, previously responsible for the penning of the latest Africa Twin, the “Neo-Sports Café” look of the CB1000R and CB650R, and the left-field success of the X-ADV adventure-scooter-crossover. The Hornet project’s styling was handed over to 28-year-old Giovanni Dovis, whose last work was the ADV350 scooter.

In a video released by Honda Europe to accompany the new sketches, Dovis says: “The Honda design philosophy is to create something pure, functional, in an uncomplicated way. At Honda the rider is at the center of everything we do. We talk and listen to the voice of the European customers then, with Japan, we apply the learnings.

“You can see the result in one of our icons, the Hornet concept. This project was built around the principle of agility, dynamism, and light weight—both actual and visual. After five generations, the Hornet concept stings harder than ever. We are talking about the bike that started the streetfighter category. As a naked bike, the mechanical components are part of its beauty. Elements of the design were inspired by the shape of the angriest insect, the hornet. The Hornet concept emphasizes fuel-tank shape and surface, creating a new, compact proportion. Sporty character expressed by tension. Aggressiveness and a pointed tail to visualize dynamism. The swarm are eager to hear its buzzing once more. It’s time to step up and make the Hornet legend greater. It’s time to shake up the hive.”

Design sketches of the Hornet’s tank cover and cockpit.

While the released sketches show several developments of the Hornet idea, the silver bike featured largest is the version that represents the production model we expect to see later this year. It shows a tubular frame—presumably steel—that’s largely hidden by bodywork, as well as a simple box-section swingarm that’s likely to be extruded aluminum on the final production model. Most notably, it also gives a clear view of the side of the all-new parallel-twin engine that powers it.

According to reliable sources, the engine is around 750cc (we’ve heard 755cc). The way the cam cover is taller toward the rear of the engine hints at a Unicam setup like the Africa Twin and the CRF450R, where a single camshaft operates four valves—acting directly on the intake side and operating the exhaust valves via rockers. However, the bulge toward the inlet side of the engine could also be a hint of something more radical, like a variable valve timing system on the intake camshaft. Honda has already confirmed that the engine will be “high-revving”—meaning it’s tuned for power—and under current and future emissions laws in Europe, there’s a growing movement favoring VVT, particularly on the intake cams of revvy engines.

The new engine will make its first appearance in the Hornet, which is due to be officially unveiled later this year, but eventually it’s sure to power a whole array of bikes. The Hornet is expected to spawn an adventure-bike derivative, essentially a downsized Africa Twin and likely to revive the Transalp name, and with the CBR600RR now gone from Honda’s range in most countries, a full-faired sport model is also likely at some stage. After all, the old four-cylinder Hornet 600 was derived from the CBR600F.

A variety of sketches were recently shown, but we believe the silver bike is likely the direction Honda is headed.

Although not as definitive as the silver bike, some of the other sketches released by Honda show treatments that might also be used on the production model, notably the twin exhaust header pipes diving off to the right-hand side of the bike, rather like the four-pipe header of the current CB650R, and into a single muffler.

No doubt, Honda will let more information trickle out as the Hornet’s official unveiling gets closer. The signs so far are good, so hopefully it will live up to both its illustrious heritage and the effort Honda is taking to hype the project.