Honda Motorcycle Japan has said that it plans to exhibit 21 two-wheeler models at the upcoming 32nd Osaka Motorcycle Show to be held from March 19-21, and the 43rd Toyko Motorcycle Show that is from March 25-27, 2016. Among the concept models, the company plans to showcase its popular City Adventure concept, which was first unveiled at the EICMA Show in Milan, Italy last year.
While the City Adventure concept can be understood as Honda’s futuristic outlook of city-specific scooters equipped with (mild) off-road capabilities, the concept has also been assumed to be a crossover between a scooter and a motorcycle. Another interesting concept from Honda at the upcoming shows will be the CB Type II concept. While the concept will see its world premiere next week, Honda says that the Type II, which is expected to be an extension of the concept CB unveiled last year, will bear a new direction in the air-cooled CB models. The concept CB will also be displayed alongside the Type II variant at the events.
Honda will also showcase a concept based on its globally popular off-road adventurer touring motorcycle Africa Twin named as Africa Twin Adventure Sports Concept. Among the planned production models, the company will showcase many motorcycles from the CB series such as CB1300, CB1100, CB400 and other variants. Honda’s retro-modern street bikes – CB1100 and CB1300 – are known to be powered by timeless four-cylinder engines, with displacements of 1,140cc and 1,284cc respectively. Both the globally popular models could be understood as potential rivals to Triumph Motorcycles’ Bonneville and other retro-modern bikes. Honda’s 125cc Grom, a Honda NAVI look-alike, is another model that the company plans to showcase at the upcoming events. The display will also include CRF250 Rally prototype, which is an adventure concept based on the CRF250L – a dual sport bike with off-road capabilities – with design cues from the CRF450 Dakar rally racing machine.
Further, Honda’s massive display list also includes its production models such as CRF1000L Africa Twin, NC750X, 400X and CBR400R and others at both the events.
Amit Panday (Autocar Professional)