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.
“The testing was aimed at determining the final engine control settings for homologation. The performance results for our naturally aspirated VR6 engine are definitely impressive,” said Horex CEO Clemens Neese. “Our goal was to achieve an engine profile that delivers plenty of torque slightly above idle and then dynamically increases on a continuum up to the maximum torque output. And we clearly achieved this objective.”
“Our goal in developing the driveline was to combine riding comfort, i.e. stability and excellent front-to-back ratio, with low maintenance,” explained Horex Chief Engineer Robert Rieder. “A chain drive with a graphite-based solid lubricant system is the best possible solution.”
Horex hopes to have the base model Horex VR6 out in the Spring of 2012, with the supercharged version to follow later in the model’s future.
Source: Horex
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