Which one?
you mean the bike?

I also dont get the, "honda builds what they want." Isnt that will all bike companies. I've never read that, "Suzuki added a turbo to their 1000cc bike cause thats what consumers wanted."

Ever heard of focus groups? Surveys? Manufacturer personnel going out and interacting with dealership personnel, or with riders at seminars, trackdays, etc. There's a wide variety of ways they can learn what the consumer wants. Some do it better than others.

Fuck, I agree. I don't care who you are, Honda dropped the ball on this one. Had they done this bike right, it would have been one of the highest selling bikes this year. People have been wanting a liter VFR for years and it would have sold like crazy.

Could be like ducati when they put out the 999 and that flopped in the looks dept and want back to the 916 style.

Honda has always stressed design. Always searching for breakthroughs, always seeking innovation. They spend R&D money on robots for Chrissakes.
Everyone wanted a sporty new VFR that was ergonomically sane, some really hoped for a V5. Honda wanted to try new innovations to find the future of 2 wheel transportation...See what we get?

Thank goodness my 04 only has 36,000 miles on her!!

Perhaps, and I am just thinking aloud here, maybe Honda saw diminishing returns in the Goldwing demographic and were reaching out to the surviving and maturing sportbike crowd?

Interesting point, I just dont know if the goldwing demographic would be shrinking. I would think most of them are rather succesful people to afford those bikes and to take all the time off to log the miles many do on them.

:?:

If anything, the previous VFR had a more sportbike-like appearance than this new one.