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New Honda Hornet

Interesting "development" over the years. I suppose the 270° twin has become popular enough that revising the bike to a torquey twin from a high revving 4 cylinder was the trendy thing to do and while it's probably a decent bike overall, I still prefer the scream of a high revving 4 cylinder in a package that looks more vintage than the modern style with the rear wheel clearance of a motocross bike.
 
20kg heavier than my 23 year old CB600 Hornet.

You sure about the weight? I thought it was lighter than the old one? I could be wrong though.

I really miss having a mid-sized naked bike like this (last one was a SFV650) and this one looks nice (not keen on the headlight though). Never looked too closely at the specs and such but it seems to be well in front of its competition from the other Japanese manufactures, I'm sure they'll counter in short order. Even though I like inline 4's, I'd take a twin any day over one, I just find the power delivery is usually better for my type of riding. Power from my SFV650 was perfect.
 
Although Honda through and through, if I were in the market, I'd jump at Yamaha's R7 before the Hornet. Yes, they're two different bikes, but Yamaha's aesthetics, for me, are far superior. So though, is the price at some £1400 (US$1550) dearer, BUT Yamaha gives us two front discs!!(y)
 
I'd beg to differ, I like the idea of the MT07 Yam but think it looks awful, IMHO this new Hornet is better looking.

And it does have twin front discs, complete with 'radial' calipers, whatever that means.

My Cb600 allegedly weighs 173kg dry, this new one 190kg, so I did exaggerate the weight differential a bit.

And the new one has skinny tyres, only a 160 on the back, even the 250 Hornet had a 180. Not that that makes a real world difference, of course.

Regarding the SV650, I've never ridden one of these, or an MT07 for that matter, it's a gap in my experience that I regret but am unlikely to fulfil now. When I bought the Hornet, my shortlist of bikes was the naked SV650, Yam Fazer 600 and the Hornet. I dismissed the SV when I saw one in the flesh, just seemed too small. I had a go on the Fazer, which on paper seemed to be my best choice, but I found it rather bland. Then Skellerns let me have a go on a Hornet and I was hooked. You can pootle around all day at 4 - 5k rpms, or hold it to 13k, where it all goes a bit manic. Again, I've not ridden anything quicker, so probably compared with a Fireblade or R1 it'd all seem a bit tame. Works for me though ..
 
I am pretty willing to forgive the extra weight on these bikes, as long as the bike feels light. I was able to put a few track and backroad miles on a friend's KTM Duke 890 recently. That 270° twin really is an amazing engine, but that's only half the story. The other half is that it feels as light and flickable as a supermoto, but is perfectly stable at highway speeds.

As for this new Honda (and that new inline twin Suzuki), it's clear they are heavily inspired by the Duke and MT07, I just hope they follow through with the actual feel of the bike. People aren't buying Dukes and MT's just for the pointy plastics.
 
Yes, I was just going to mention the new Suzuki, they have also jumped on the 270 parallel twin bandwagon, now that their aged 650 and 1000 V twins don't meet the regs anymore.
 
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