Honda EVO6 Concept: 2-Wheels

Car concepts are a dime a dozen these days. If there's a motor show on, you can guarantee there'll be a concept car. But the concept bike is an entirely different commodity. It's a far more rare beast, and sometimes far more interesting.

Headed for the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2007, the EVO6 Concept is Honda's latest attempt to test the naked performance bike waters again. When we say performance, we mean it.

This EVO6 Concept is powered by a 1.8-litre 6-cylinder engine. And it's no ordinary V6 or straight six either, it's a horizontally opposed, or boxer six. Using the same principles as the engine that sits in Subaru's WRX STI and Porsche's 911 Carrera, the EVO6 Concept would make a mockery of the quarter mile drag, while dispatching the zero to 100km/h dash quicker than a Bugatti Veyron.

The huge 6-cylinder engine comes from the Honda Gold Wing, one of the Honda's largest bikes. It's also one of the heaviest bikes on the road too, while the EVO6 is a naked bike, stripped of all its fairing and other parts to leave it not only lighter, but far sexier too.

The huge 1800cc engine is clearly visible as a stressed member of the bike, surrounded by a barely any frame. Huge front brake discs and sports tyres indicate that this concept bike has been developed to be a serious-ish ride, and the front end with its stylised headlight, ram air intakes, and upside-down forks look good.

There's also a single-sided swingarm, 8-spoke chrome wheel rims, and the tail end is impressively minimal. With a good amount of chrome and not too much plastic-fantastic, the EVO6 would make for a very pretty naked bike.

As it's only a concept at this stage there's no plans on building a production model but it does show intent. Honda's rivals have recently taken the lead in the naked bike class, one of the most popular in the world, and it's now clear that Honda wants to drop a bomb on the genre.

Suzuki is planning on shoving its legendary 1340cc Hayabusa engine in a new unfaired motorbike, and there's even been talk of Kawasaki using the engine from the ZX-14 for a naked bike.

We would expect the EVO6 Concept to deliver about 240hp or about 179kW. But more importantly it will deliver huge amounts of torque.

Stay tuned to the Motoring Channel for all the new motorbike and car releases fresh from the Tokyo Auto Show.