HOREX - Online-Newsletter - 16.09.2011
A few changes were recently made to the project planning
for the new HOREX VR6 Roadster.
HOREX CEO Clemens Neese talks about what’s behind
these revisions.
"The positive economic trend in Germany is great. But it also has its negative side. Order books are full for many of our suppliers. At the same time, this means that, while they meet the demands of their major customers, they are unable to adequately supply us – as industry newcomers – with some of the key parts we need to build our bike. As a result, this has forced us to delay our production start. We expect the first HOREX showroom models to be delivered to dealers in March 2012 and the first production bikes will be delivered to customers shortly thereafter.
The supply problem has also forced us to revise our model planning. Since the backlog primarily affects the delivery of peripheral components of the compressor, this would have delayed production of the supercharged model. So we decided to go ahead and launch production of the non-supercharged VR6 Roadster earlier than it was initially planned. This will be the first new HOREX introduced to the market in spring 2012. The supercharged version of the bike will appear in showrooms somewhat later.
We also decided to modify the bike’s secondary drive. This is based on the Horex premise of low weight with optimum power transfer and maximum riding comfort. The roads tests conducted with the prototype bike showed that a secondary belt drive does not meet these guidelines – especially in terms of riding comfort and shock damping. Therefore, the new Horex will arrive on the market with a state-of-the-art chain drive system.
These changes are unfortunate. But at the same time, we are convinced that the non-supercharged version of the VR6 Roadster is a truly fascinating bike. This model weighs less, and with a performance of about 160 hp, it is nevertheless an outstanding motorcycle.
Our engineering program for the series-production bike is still running full speed ahead. We are currently finalizing the ABS setup. The latest photos from our road testing program can be found in this edition of the newsletter and on the Prototypes page of the HOREX website. Please note: The series parts for the chain protector are not on the test bike shown. For illustration purposes, we created the image shown here using a CAD file and a prototype photo."
As always, you will find further details on the new HOREX Roadster and the project development on our website www.horex.com and on the HOREX Facebook page.
The next newsletter will focus on the development of our dealer network.