Some leaked patent images have surfaced on the internet and according to sources, Honda is cooking up a monster machine secretly in their Japanese factory. The motorcycle could be a supercharged big bike with a V-Twin motor. The concept is still on paper and nothing has materialised yet, but we hope to see the bike in flesh.
According to the technical drawings, the engine shows two cylinder banks, front and rear with a substantial supercharger in between with its air intake on the left-hand side which is likely to be equipped with a large air filter. The frame is likely to be trellis type with lightweight subframe bolted to the back of the motor and is expected to have a conventional twin sided swing arm.
It is expected to employ a conventional forced induction system, where the supercharger turbine is driven by the mechanical power of the engine. Generally, a chain drive or a v-belt is used along with planetary gears so that the impeller in the supercharger can spin at a very high speed, 1,00,000 RPMs are not unusually fast in the turbine business. Ambient air is then sucked in at high speed, compressed and sent back in the engine and used to improve the work output of the engine, which means it increases the power per unit weight of the engine, as compared to the naturally aspirated motor.
At the suction stroke in a supercharged four-stroke engine, the air is sucked by the engine as well as more air is forced in by the the compressor (supercharger), which means a higher pressure is obtained when the compression stroke is executed. This leads to higher temperature inside the combustion chamber, which burns more amount of fuel that is introduced in the engine with minimal wastage, this in turn improves the fuel efficiency and more work output can be obtained with only minimal energy loss. A similar forced induction system, as explained above, can be found on the Kawasaki Ninja H2.
A new big naked supercharged V-Twin Honda could be on its way. Will a prototype be built? And if so will it make its way to the mass market? We can at least a concept to make a debut later this year…