Sure did. Best choice for a KTM. I did have real knobbies on the bike, but I could make it to work on dirt roads. Only took the freeway if I was running late.

The Kawasaki 1400GTR is the only Japanese bike (possibly only bike in the world) with variable valve timing of any sort, there is no "vtec" on Honda bikes. The best they've done before that is closing off half the intake ports at low rpm.

Oh wait, nevermind seems like they do have a few VTEC bikes from the past.

Anyways, even though I am a massive wimp I would be extremely tempted to get into motorcycling if anyone made something like a CBR400RR or CBR250RR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB400

From 1999 on, CB400 Super Four's have had VTEC engines. I've heard some people say that the VTEC on Honda's CB line of bikes isn't "true VTEC", whatever that means. Considering it's a trademarked term Honda owns, we're lucky they're not slapping it on everything they make, lawnmowers included.

And I don't care about the name. All I know is that the engine on those bikes, in its most recent form (the VTEC Revo), is the most sublime piece of art bolted to a motorcycle frame I've ever encountered. Fuel efficient and manageable for daily riding, with adequate torque and power for getting around town or merging onto a highway; but once you got the revs over 6500 (when the additional valves opened), it became a beast. I inadvertently had my front wheel come up a few times while accelerating hard, and this was not something I expected from a 400cc bike, with an, err... "American-sized" rider. I tried every avenue I could think of to bring that bike back with me when I moved back to America.

That's why I was so sad to see that they're putting a damn parallel twin on the CB500. It might just be a great overall bike, especially in an American market that's sorely lacking in standards and nakeds; but to me the whole package feels like a step down. The CB500 doesn't even have adjustable front suspension, which the CB400 had. I just don't get why Honda is re-entering this market with a less refined bike.

Nah, as soon as I can find a dealer who'll return my calls, I'm putting a deposit down on a CB1100. Don't like that it's an air-cooled engine, and I'm not a die-hard nostalgia look fan, but the handling on those is supposed to be great, and it's a serious effort at producing a truly great "standard" motorcycle. I think we've gotten stuck in a marketing rut, where manufacturers think Americans only buy crotch-rockets and hawgs... because we only have crotch-rockets and hawgs for sale here.

Not sure I understand. Honda does make a CBR250R.

JoeBoxer...I have a thing for smaller displacement bikes, and I like that 500, except for one thing... It's a parallel twin. Don't like 'em. If it's gotta be a twin, make mine a 90 degree V. It's just my personal preference...the sound of a 90 V-twin (like the Ducati) is music to my ears. The parallel twins sound flat and buzzy in comparison.

As someone else mentioned, the '04-up CB600F/599/Hornet 600 was also a good bike. I had one and loved every minute of it.

The SV650 and its derivatives have been proven to be good bikes.

TuxedoCartman... There was a 400 for a short time. I wish the still made one to go along with the larger CB series bikes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB-1

RRnold... the RR is nice, and I'd love to have one, but the RVF 400 does it for me just a bit more.

600rr is a great bike
i do stunts and love my f41 but for cruises and wheelies only i use my 12 600rr

Single cylinder, doesn't rev as high doesn't sound as great :/ Ninja 300 seems like a neat little entry level bike though.

It's the blood curdling scream of small inline 4s at 15000+ rpm that makes me want a bike hehe.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN2hag8J1rY"]CBR250RR On Limiter 20,000RPM - YouTube[/ame]

Yes, it closes off one of the intake tracts with a valve for better low end combustion stability. Doesn't have anything to do with valve timing. Basically the same as TVIS on the 4A-GE. I believe the dual fuel injectors utilized on supersport bikes nowadays does the job about the same.

It would be nice if motorbikes had 2 position intake cam phasing ability, nevermind continuous. Retarded cam position for all low load, and low speed situations would improve the lopey idle and low rpm bogging a lot. Just a simple valve that's fully open or fully closed, sends oil pressure into cam phaser.

The Ninja 300 is a parallel twin also but sound pretty good in the dyno video, it has 10 more hp than the 250 and the torque curve is pretty smooth. It looks like there is going to be a lot of competition which is better for us as long as they sell. Hopefully we will see some more options come out, call me lazy or whatever but i would really like to try the Honda DCT transmission they have on the VFR and NC700x too, i would be worried about long term durability of it but being able to focus more attention on the road and other drivers by not having to clutch or even shift if you don't want to sounds cool to me.

Honda does indeed have some sweet "newb bikes" out! FYI We've a Duc dealer here in KS. Far is too far to drive? Good luck brother!

I think there is a Ducati in Tulsa also, there's a possibility i could be moving to the NW Arkansas area next summer if thats the case i will definitely try to find a used Monster.

So how many cool new bikes are coming to usa?

CB500 and Duke 390.

Anything else?

CB1100.

Lots more i'm sure what kind of bikes are you interested in?