Anyone heard anything from Honda about the new 440 Design? I heard that it is to have the displacement of a twin. Single cylinder (oval), 8 valve, 2 spark plugs. I'm just wondering how true or if there is anything else in the works?

 

Most people are saying when honda comes out with a new quad it will use some form of a crf450 engine. That oval engine would be cool though.

 

Nothing is true. Honda has a huge thumb stuck up their butt.

 

I did a post on the oval cylinder thing a while back. Mostly, it was met with a lot of speculation. If they went oval cylinder, I would expect it to be a big bore, not a 450. The idea is to mimic a big twin, but without all the extra surface area of twin cylinders, therefore reducing friction. They already have a 450 and a 650 engine in their stable, so it is more realistic to expect something along those lines.

 

The oval piston thing was started by a magazine editor with page space to fill & old pictures of a 750 class race bike engine Honda built in the late 80's, that even back then cost $50,000. In my opinion, it was a very irresponsible editorial piece based on total fiction.

If you honestly believe that Honda would use this technology in a "new quad", I've got some swapland in Florida I'd like to talk to you about.

Honda scrapped the project back then, and offered to purchase all the bikes back that it originally sold. It was an experiment. From what I understand, it went well, but there are a lot of issues that make it not feasible engine for a consumer vehicle - one of which being cost.

You'll see a rocket powered quad from Honda before you see one with an oval pistoned engine. Honda, the largest engine manufacturer in the world, doesn't use this engine on any other vehicle they produce. Why on earth would they offer it in a quad, which typically gets leftovers from old dirtbike engines? If they were to spend a ton of cash on R&D to make this engine work in a consumer environment, it would be in a vehicle that's more in the spotlight and more associated with racing than a quad - like the superbike it was originally in.

If Honda comes out with any new sport/race quads this September (which is very probable), rest assured it will use one of two engines - most likely a CRF450R engine that has been worked over to hold up under quad use, and/or an XR650 based engine that's had the same done.

Let's rise above the level the magazine editor sank to when he wrote his absolutely baseless BS about the oval engine and put this topic to rest.

 

Yes, the new Honda will be out next week or so... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I think it was the RC45 that had the oval cylinders. Pretty advanced back in the day.