Honda announced this week that it is working on developing a new and unique powerplant: a V3. That’s three cylinders in a V formation: two on one end, one on the other.
The news came amid a flurry of communiques at EICMA 2024. I’ll get to a few of the others in time, but this is the thing that stood out to me most.
“The water-cooled, 75-degree V3 engine is being newly developed for larger displacement machines and has been designed to be extremely slim and compact,” explains a Honda press release.
What the release doesn’t really explain is why it’s developing the engine. Or maybe I’m just dumb. Honda’s press release seems to suggest that the reason behind developing an incredibly rare engine configuration is self-explanatory.
“The potential of this new direction is obvious, with breathtaking possibilities in terms of models to come,” it declares.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. This sounds really cool. But I’m just trying to imagine what the V3 riding experience is like. I know that I love inline triples, and I love V-twins, so I’m guessing I’d like this. But I can’t quite picture what the characteristics of such a bike would be.
The internet doesn’t seem to be much help in answering my questions. That’s in part because only a handful of bikes in history have even used the configuration. And, as best I can tell, only two major manufacturers have dabbled with it: Honda and Suzuki. The latter used a V3 in a race bike in 1968 but that bike never actually raced.
Honda has more experience, using a two-stroke V3 in its 1980s NS500 racing bike. It made the engine configuration available to the public via its race replica MVX250F (1983-1984 and sold only in Japan, Switzerland, and New Zealand) and NS400R (1985-1988).
HOW HONDA MIGHT USE THE V3
You can find a few old reviews of the NS400R online but none really speak to the engine’s character, nor why a manufacturer might choose it over, say, an inline triple. Also, those were two-stroke race replicas. From almost 40 years ago. So, whatever might be gleaned from those bikes probably doesn’t shed a lot of light on what Honda has planned. As the company points out in its press release, we now live in “a completely different world.”
Some of the language in the press release suggests Honda’s thinking of this as a platform engine ─ something that will show up in a lot of different bikes of different types. Similar to the way its 1084cc parallel twin shows up in the NT1100, Africa Twin, and CMX1100.
Meanwhile, the stripped-down chassis that Honda uses to showcase the engine in promotional photos reminds me of the CB1000R. Add this to the fact that emissions regulations are making things more and more difficult for inline fours, and maybe it’s the case that Honda is looking to use this new platform as a replacement.
WAIT! Wait just a second. The chassis also reminds me of the CB4X, a sexy sport-touring concept bike that Honda showcased at EICMA 2019. A few months later, patent filings made it seem the bike was on the verge of becoming a reality, but, then, you know: global pandemic and supply chain meltdown. That bike was set to be driven by the 650cc inline four that’s used in the CBR650R and CB650R. But if Honda has decided that it wants to move away from the inline four, we could be looking here at the bare bones of a future CB3X.
Whatever the case, other parts of Honda’s press release give credence to the idea that meeting emissions regulations is one of the major drivers behind the development of this new engine. According to Honda, the engine “features the world’s first electrical compressor for motorcycles, which is able to control compression of the intake air irrespective of engine rpm, meaning that high-response torque can be delivered even from lower rpm.”
More importantly, it probably also gives greater control over emissions.
“In addition, the electrical compressor allows a high degree of freedom of layout of all components in the limited space available on a motorcycle, and an efficient centralization of mass,” says Honda. “It also does not require an intercooler.”
I don’t know enough about engines to know what any of that really means, but it’s still fascinating. In some parts of the world internal-combustion engines are not too many years from being banned, yet here’s Honda developing an all-new (and very interesting) one. We live in exciting times.
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