We had given up Horex for dead several years ago, with the German brand struggling to get its VR6 platform to market and in the hands of customers.
But, don’t discount this motorcycle company just yet, as the Horex VR6 Raw debuted this week in Cologne, for the INTERMOT trade show.
As such, the attractive roadster is an exercise in black-on-black, with virtually every component on the six-cylinder machine murdered out for a sinister effect.
Just over a week ago, we broke the news that a massive recall was coming to motorcycles equipped with a particular Brembo master cylinder. Since then, we have seen recall notices from Aprilia and Ducati (affecting roughly 10,000 motorcycles in the USA) with more recalls expected from other brands.
Because recalls in the United States typically come from the motorcycle manufacturer and not the part supplier, mum was the word from the folks at Brembo, though there were a number of questions regarding these recalls that weren’t answered in the NHTSA documents.
Today, Brembo has finally decided to speak about the recalls that are underway in the United States, and presumably will be occurring in other markets as well.
Though not discussing the cause of the issue, or any particulars, from Brembo’s terse statement we at least now know what other brands have been affected by this master cylinder recall. You can read Brembo’s statement, after the jump.
It’s been a rough year for German manufacturer Horex, especially after the company declared bankruptcy this September. With no new investors in sight, Horex has had no choice but to close it doors, and layoff its staff, including management.
The Horex project had a rough start, and was fraught with production delays and key design changes. Posting to the company’s Facebook page today (translated into English after the jump), it would seem barring a miracle, this is the end of the Horex brand’s rebirth.
The restart of the German Horex brand hasn’t been an easy one, as we watched the company’s impressive plans for a supercharged VR6 roadster slowly become watered down into a handsome, although entirely uninteresting naked bike, which included the addition of the derivative “Classic” and “Cafe Racer” models as well.
It’s not that the Horex VR6 wasn’t received well, it’s just no one wanted to purchase the bike at its $30,000+ price tag, especially after the numerous production delays. As such, we sadly report that Horex has become insolvent, and filed for bankruptcy, according to reports out of Europe.
We were excited when it was announced that Horex, a revisited German brand, was getting a second chance at life and again making motorcycles. The team announced a new street-standard with a VR6 engine — even more interesting was that one of the models was to be supercharged and deliever 200hp.
As time has worn on though, we have become less interested. While the finished Horex VR6 is a beautiful bike, you would be hard-pressed to understand its €24,500 price tag. Disappointingly too, the supercharger model never materialized.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a follow-up for the German brand either, and after debuting the “Classic” model in August of last year, today we get out third flavor of the Horex VR6: the oddly named Horex VR6 Café Racer 33 Limited.
Just the other day we were wondering what was going on with Horex, as we haven’t heard from the German brand in nearly nine months. Finally shipping its first bike, the Horex VR6 Roadster, Horex has now announced a second model that is geared more towards mass consumption, the Horex VR6 Classic.
A re-styled, and apparently de-tuned version of the Roadster model, from what we can gather from Horex’s press release, the big changes for the Classic are its new aesthetic and reworked motor, which produces 124hp compared to the roadster’s 161hp peak figure.
All things considered, it hasn’t taken Horex that long to come to market with its first machine, the Horex VR6 Roadster. Not the supercharged street-standard that we first saw (there’s been no update when that variant will be available), but still a plucky 161hp motorcycle that should attract the discerning buyer.
Featuring a 1,218cc, 15°, VR6 motor, the Horex VR6 Roadster has had a number of delays in its production (here & here), not to mention the set-back with the supercharged model, but bringing a new model to market in less than three years is still quite a feat in this industry, so our hats are off to zie Germans.
After seeing the production schedule of the Horex VR6 pushed back several times now (let’s not even mention the DOA-status of the supercharged version of the bike), it looks like the revival of the German brand is nearly ready for primetime, as Horex has released a video of the VR6 scooting about (sans its triple-pipe exhaust). The aptly named Horex VR6 features a 15° VR-shaped six-cylinder motor, which with its 1,218cc displacement produces a stout 161 bhp.
Built with classic roadster styling, Horex has been tight-lipped on the bike’s pricing, though we expect that it will be well north of $20,000 when it reaches American shores. While we’ve already heard the supercharged Horex testing on the company’s engine dyno, this is the first we’re heard from the naturally aspirated model. Check it out after the jump, and let us know if you think it was worth the wait.
Production on the Horex VR6 Roadster has been delayed again, which is funny because the German motorcycle company announced it was about to start production in February, after encountering delays in September of last year. Citing the addition of a secondary air injection system (SAIS) as the cause for the delay, Horex says the VR6 Roadster will meet current and future emissions standards once it becomes available.
In the past when a new motorcycle entry has come to market, we are bombarded with a bevy of media releases about the company’s two-wheeled offering. Usually this also means that Twitter gets lit up like a Roman candle, and Facebook turns into a digital burlesque show where each piece of the bike is slowly revealed and teased in front of us. Such is not the case with Horex however, as the revived German motorcycle brand is being very…well, German about its VR6 roadster.
Set to being production on the non-supercharged Horex VR6 in the coming weeks, the jewel of the German company, its six-cylinder narrow-angled VR motor, will be built in Augsburg, Germany. Initially making only a few bikes a day, Horex’s assembly line will feature the “one man, one bike” approach, where a single-worker will work on the same motorcycle throughout the company’s four-stage build process (read: more Ferdinand Porsche, less Henry Ford). Each bike built by Horex is made to order, though we are not sure how any pre-orders have been made with the company, let alone what the price tag could look like.
Zie Germans are still hard at work this winter back in zie mother country, as the final production version of the Horex VR6 is coming together. Today, the German company has announced the official performance figures of its new street bike, and the base 1,218cc six-cylinder VR motor comes with 161hp on tap and 100 lbs•ft of peak torque.
Making its peak power at 9,000 rpm, the Horex VR6 also makes most of its torque extremely low in the rev range. With 66 lbs•ft of torque at 2,000 rpm, the German roadster reaches 74 lbs•ft of torque at 3,500rpm, which fits well with the company’s hope of making the VR6 easy to ride on city streets.
Perhaps more interesting that the performance figures is the announced constant solid-graphite chain lubrication system. As the name implies, the Horex VR6 will constantly lube its chain, but instead of using oil or wax, as is traditionally used, the German motorcycle company has partnered with specialists at the Schunk Group, who have created a system that constantly coats the chain drive with a thin layer of graphite.
Less messy, and not prone to being flicked off the chain by centrifugal forces, the dry chain lubrication system is an industry first brought to market by Horex, and sounds intriguing on paper. With claims that it increases maintenance intervals over standard chain lubrication systems, this is a feature owners will be particularly interested in seeing reviews of as the VR6 hits dealer floors.