Hornet is a storied nameplate in the motorcycle landscape. Well, it is everywhere but here, anyway. Back when the Hornet originally launched back in 1998 Chrysler still held the Hornet name in the U.S. market thanks to a long dead AMC product, so here it was known as the CB600F. Maybe it would have done better with a name instead of alphanumeric soup, but it gained a huge following in Europe and sort of died on the vine here in the U.S. Now it’s time for the Hornet name to come back, and hopefully be a global name as it has always deserved to be.
The Hornet gained a reputation for being practical, comfortable, and versatile in equal measure. This was the kind of bike that could be pressed into daily commute status, while still being capable of track work or a hard weekend in the mountains. Heck, if you equipped it right with optional luggage and windscreen, it could even be used for medium-distance touring without too much concern.
While the images released, and the video below, make the Hornet look like a straight-out-of-Tron lightbike, it appears the finished production version will be much more of a traditional motorcycle design. To keep costs down, Honda is apparently looking to build this bike around a 750cc parallel twin. I was really hoping this would be electric, personally, but it’ll still be cool when it officially launches.
In any case, this bike should officially launch at some point in the 2022 model year for delivery shortly thereafter. Apparently this bike is quite far along in its development cycle, and will be entering production quite soon.
I really hope Honda gives me a buzz to come ride the thing. It sure looks like it’s going to be a real stinger.