Honda’s V4 superbike patent drawings leaked

New leaked patent drawings have revealed Honda’s plans of launching an extremely performance-focussed superbike powered by a V4 engine. 

The side view of the complete bike gives us a look at the new engine’s outline and the exhaust routing. You can clearly make out two pipes heading out from the front of the engine and two from the rear, meeting at the bottom to conclude with a side-mounted end can. There are no indications as to the capacity of the engine. While the V4 engine in itself is big news, Honda is also using aerodynamic wings for this motorcycle.  The neatly integrated tail unit of this single-seater has vents to channel air from within the panel, and acts as an aerodynamic wing similar to a car’s spoiler. 

While there have been several rumours about a Honda V4 superbike, this is the first concrete proof of the company’s intentions of developing one. We can expect to see a prototype at the 2017 EICMA Show later this year and a production model by 2018.