If you’re a fan of Japanese sportbikes like I am, chances are you absolutely love small-displacement four-bangers like the Honda CBR250RR, Honda VFR400 NC30, and much more recently, the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-25R and ZX-4R.
It’s a shame that it’s only Kawasaki who makes a small-displacement inline-four out of the Japanese big four these days, but it seems that this could all be about to change.
You see, our friends over at Motorcycle.com managed to uncover a new trademark filing from Honda. Dated August 27, the trademark was filed with the Japanese intellectual property office bearing the name “CBR400R Four.” In the past, Honda has made use of the “Four” moniker to denote one thing and one thing only—a four-cylinder engine.
We saw it hit the public domain for the very first time with the Honda CB750 Four way back in 1969, and this bike would go on to become one of the most highly sought-after models in Honda’s entire catalog. In the case of the new and hopefully upcoming CBR400R Four, it’s more than likely that Honda threw in the “Four” moniker to differentiate it from the parallel-twin-powered CBR400R sportbike sold in Japan.
For reference, the existing CBR400R is essentially a CBR500R, albeit one whose displacement has been decreased to 399cc to make it more accessible to riders in Japan given their stricter licensing regulations. Clearly, should the CBR400R Four ever make it to production, it’ll be a very different, more performance-oriented machine.
In a similar fashion as to how Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-4RR coexists with the Ninja 500, an upcoming Honda CBR400R Four would definitely be a welcome addition to Honda’s sportike lineup, particularly for performance-oriented riders looking for that high-revving goodness.
And in the context of the global market, the move back to small-displacement inline-four engines could just be what makes Japanese sportbikes great again.
Recent years have seen an influx of really great small-displacement sportbikes like the KTM RC 390, Aprilia RS 457, and CFMoto 450SS. These bikes definitely impress riders with their punchy single or twin-cylinder engines and razor-sharp handling. But there’s no denying the silky smooth linear power—not to mention the sound—of a high-revving four-banger.
After all, small displacement sportbikes like the CBR400RR and CBR250RR from the late ‘80s pretty much paved the way for sportbikes to become what they are today.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that not all trademarks give birth to real bikes that you and I can buy from the showroom. Nevertheless, I think Honda would be remiss to miss out on this opportunity, especially given the massive growth in the sub-500cc sportbike segment, and not to mention, the dominance of Kawasaki and its ZX-4RR in the global market.
