Excited about the new Honda Hornet? We are, although the manufacturer hasn’t exactly gone out of its way to promote the new naked bike in Canada. Even the Japanese and European marketing campaign has seemed a bit lackluster, considering this looks like it could be one of the biggest new models the company has released in about a decade.
Now, the crew at Japanese-market mag Young Machine says the Hornet is only the beginning of a series based on this new 750cc parallel twin engine. Supposedly, we’re going to see a new retro as well, and a sportbike, and an adventure bike. That adventure bike is supposed to be Honda’s next Transalp.
That’s cool—although the Transalp certainly wasn’t widely available in Canada (only brought here for 1987), it had a very successful run of more than 20 years in the EU, where it developed a reputation for reliability and usability, even if it was not as flashy as the big-bore Beemer GS.
As for the other bikes suggested: The retro is an obvious choice, as there’s a lot of demand for that these days, particularly with younger buyers. But what about the sportbike? That could turn out to be a particularly interesting development, as it would fill a hole in Honda’s lineup, sort of.
While Kawasaki, Yamaha and even Suzuki have lower-priced, sporty machines in the 650 twin class, Honda has the CBR650 four-cylinder. It’s a fine motorcycle, with more performance than the other Japanese offerings—but buyers in this category want to save money. Honda’s new 750 twin, if it comes to market, won’t just be an all-new entry into this already-competitive market, but it might even give it a kickstart forward. New sport-twins racing series for CSBK, in a couple of years, as a result? It’d be fun if it happened.
Or maybe none of this will happen, and the Hornet won’t even come here. But we doubt that—given Honda’s current business model, we’d be surprised if they stopped at four models. A cruiser and a scrambler would also seem like logical additions!
Don hold your breath waiting for these 750s. Honda continues to stiff the Canadian market or we`d have the Super Cub and the Trail Cub.
The Transalp 750 can be a success if Honda don’t put too much electronic …just follow the Tenere recipe .
Happy to hear Honda might be producing a range of 750s or than the NS.There is a very solid 750 roadster out for years. It’s the Suzuki GSX-S750. It’s an in-line 4 with good power and a proven design. 750s are great!