With the arrival of Euro 5, the V4 at Honda went out like a night candle, but that turns out to be only a temporary farewell. Honda has applied for a patent for a V4 in which the rear two cylinders can be switched off.
The subject of cylinder deactivation is not new, more and more brands are choosing to switch off one or more cylinders in particular driving conditions, such as in city traffic or during stop-and-go use, especially with large engines.
Harley-Davidson, Indian and Ducati have already used the trick to protect the temperature of the rear cylinder(s) on the one hand and to reduce consumption on the other. Honda had filed a patent for this in Japan in 2013, but also filed an application in Europe a few months ago.
The Honda patent aims to make the V4 work permanently as a V2 at low revs, while using all four cylinders at high revs. The advantage of this is that the engine in twin configuration has cleaner exhaust gases and better fuel consumption, two things that you can no longer ignore in the entire emission and CO2 discussion.
The second interesting thing about the patent drawings is that the engine view shows a strong resemblance to the current Fireblade, but in V4 configuration, which has fueled the Fireblade V4 discussion. However, it remains a sketch for illustration, but it could also be a new VFR.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.