Dear Honda, why do you tease us so? First you go ballistic on the Africa Twin, endowing it with more off-road capability and a retro paint scheme, now you give us this: the CB4 Interceptor. Honda, just when we think you’ve let the Accord designers take over the drawing board, you remind us why we fell in love with you in the first place.
Unfortunately, unlike the Africa Twin, the CB4 Interceptor is just a concept, but hopefully it’s more than just an exercise in design. Honda-philes may recognize the CB4 name. Honda showed the first CB4 Concept, a retro-style standard, in Milan at EICMA 2015. While that bike was based around the CBR650F, the CB4 Interceptor appears to be based around the CB1000R, which makes it all the more enticing.
Since it’s a CB model utilizing an inline-four engine, the Interceptor name is a bit befuddling, Honda traditionally applying that storied name to its VF-based V-4s. Like VF/VFR models, the CB4 Interceptor Concept uses a single-sided swingarm and five-spoke wheels.
Clearly, this machine is not destined for production in its current form. Take a look at that undertail exhaust. No way that thing’s passing Euro 4. There’s also a fan in place of the headlight, which, word has it, powers the touchscreen dash. Why not?
Still, we like seeing Honda experimenting with new design directions, especially when they feature drilled fairings (think: original CBR900RR) and single-siders that recall the RC30 and Hawk GT.
What do you think? Would you like to see Honda adapt this design ethos for what would be a modern café racer on steroids?