Honda's 750cc NM4 Vultus: A new species of motorcycle

Honda's 750cc NM4 Vultus: A new species of motorcycle

Honda has announced a new motorcycle – the 750cc NM4, which will be known as the Vultus in European markets – and it's a new species of motorcycle that represents such a bold departure from tradition that it could become a landmark in the evolution of motorized two-wheeled transport.

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The NM4 (NM stands for "New Motorcycle") is styled along “Japanimation” lines, and though the cult anime/manga bodywork is no doubt challenging to the eye of existing motorcycle enthusiasts, it’s not the styling that sets the NM4 apart – it's the combination of the very low seat height, semi-recumbent, feet-first rider posture, adjustable backrest and large futuristic dashboard to create what Honda describes as the seating position and cockpit of a “fighter pilot.”

At just 650 mm (25.5"), the seat height of the NM4 is much lower than anything we've ever seen before in a 750 cc class, mass production motorcycle an indication that Honda is intending to produce large capacity motorcycles for people less than 170 cm (5' 7") tall.

What's more, the NM4 has been designed for ease-of-use. It comes standard with Honda's proprietary Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) and Combined Brake System that includes a dual-channel Anti Lock Brake system (ABS).

Between the two systems, the two most-difficult aspects of riding a motorcycle (braking and changing gear) have been reduced to scooter-like simplicity. At the same time, by removing the necessity to have the rider's feet at the foot controls of a traditional motorcycle, it is offering a great deal more choice about riding position (while the foot brake still exists, its use is optional because the brake lever on the right handlebar operates both front and rear brakes through the linked braking system).

The design of the NM4 facilitates several potentially rich new sources of customers for Honda.

The first and potentially largest new marketplace for the Vultus is in young style-conscious Asian countries where edgy futuristic Manga design is a highly desirable attribute, scooters are the most common form of personal transport, average height is considerably less than in Europe and North America, and riding motorcycles is not almost exclusively gender-specific as it is in Western society.

Seat height is already a key decision-making criteria in the purchase of motorcycles for the small percentage of women in Western countries who buy them. In Asian countries nearly all existing large capacity motorcycles currently preclude women from the mix by virtue of their seat height, not to mention a significant proportion of males. Two-thirds of the world's population lives in Asia and has been raised in an environment where scooters ARE the family car.

The NM4 can also be expected to cultivate new customers in Western markets, as it will undoubtedly be the first large capacity motorcycle to appeal to non-enthusiasts with its futuristic Japanese cult styling and ease-of-use.

Known collectively as “Japanimation," both genres are established adult entertainment in Japan, woven into the fabric of society. Now, the philosophy, attitude, fashion and feeling of this originally Japanese entertainment form have spread worldwide and become a mainstream phenomena.

Finally, Honda is keen to attract car drivers onto motorcycles and it recognizes that the current state of the world's increasingly congested roads is driving change in the global personal transportation marketplace.

In advanced economies, a wind of change is sweeping through motorcycle land. After decades of refinement, enthusiast motorcycles are now astoundingly good and the enthusiast is already well catered for. The NM4 caters for the non-enthusiast who is not mired in traditional, often spartan motorcycle form factors.

The imperatives of ever-increasing fuel pricing and road congestion are about to generate a new reason for the world's commuters to consider motorcycles as a form of transport, a reason which won't go away and will gradually increase to the point where it cannot be ignored. The time is coming where enthusiasts will no longer dominate the motorcycle market – commuters will rule.

Just as technology freed the first generation of motorcycle riders from an array of hand throttles, advance-retard mechanisms and chokes a century ago, technology will now remove another layer of anachronistic control mechanisms left over from a prior generation.

My take is that the NM4 is designed by Honda to emancipate motorcycling one further step, to make riding a motorcycle as easy to ride as a scooter, and the Japanimation styling is just a sugar coating.

The introduction of a bike as radically non-traditional as the NM4 is brave new territory, even for a company with the resources of Honda. When announcing the bike at the Osaka Motorcycle Show, the synopsis in the first paragraph of the press kit read thus:

New model: A ground-breaking machine inspired by the desire to establish a unique riding experience and an identity not bound by standard motorcycle design, with strong echoes of futuristic bikes seen in Japanese movies. Created by a young design team who remained true to their original concept at every stage through to production, the NM4 Vultus brings radical style to the streets, with function from the future for a new breed of rider.

Then followed the carefully chosen words of Mr Keita Mikura, the Project Leader for the NM4 Vultus, which are worth considering in context. Kimura's brief statement is reproduced under the image above.

Given the lukewarm reception Honda experienced with the DN-01, it has every reason to be nervous about how the NM4/ Vultus will be received by its public. Mikura's above words suggest the company has decided to forge ahead in this direction regardless, and we can expect the NM4 to be on the market a lot longer than its direct predecessor – theDN-01 was announced in 2005 at the Tokyo Motor Show, came to market in 2008 and was withdrawn in 2010. I was attendant at the 2005 launch of the DN-01, and I have no doubt that Honda thought the moment was a very significant one in its history.