My first big bike was a Honda Transalp 97 model. It was a great bike for what it was. A bit heavy and topheavy, a bit thirsty too and the range could have been better. But all in all it was a great bike and a great first bike. I had it for 5-6 years and rode it 45 k kms. Not any big overland trips though. I have nice memories of the Transalp...

A V-twin engine would have been great although I doubt it will come into production. Paralell twins seem to be what all bike manufacturers make on their 500 - 1200 cc models. Except the V-Strom models from Suzuki I could only find one V-twin model amongst all the Japanese manufacturers and that was a 950 cc Yamaha cruiser model. Yes the american brands still make V-twins and Moto Guzzi also makes their transverse mounted V-twins, Ducatis of course and KTM still have a V-twin engine in their biggest bike (but for how long?) but except from those - nada!

For Hondas I think their possible new Transalp will be equipped with the engine they have in their NC750 paralell twin. Maybe refined a bit. Its a very moderately tuned and fuel efficient engine and that is what many people ask for nowadays as fuel prises rises.

I suspect Hondas potential new socalled middleweight adv-bike will use the 750 cc engine from the NC 750 line up and I suspect this new middleweight bike will be 210-220 kilos wet weight

But if Honda makes a brand new Transalp with a V-twin engine and keep the wet weight well below 200 kilo - that will be a winner for sure!

This aussie guy (who imo is person that knows a bit about what he is talking about) talks about a potential new Transalp here: https://youtu.be/QT3TBB99tpk

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Sorry - I couldnt help it. Its faaar offtopic, but since we have a thread talking about small and middle sized V-twins I thought it was appropriate to mention this bike:
Look here what great small V-twins Honda made almost 40 years ago. 350 cc V-twin, 43 HP, 18 liter gas tank, top speed was said to be 160 km/h. It was a bit on the heavy side though.....

https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/mo...v400sp_83.html

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

That was a 500 in the UK and sold as the VT, I owned one which I bought to ride to work on and while it was a perfectly capable bike it was so boring to ride it didn't last a week, by the Friday I was back on my XR125 which was more exciting.

My wife’s first bike was a VT500.
When we went to see it the chap who owned it was out and left his wife to do the deal. First thing she said was “I want it out of the garage as my new sports car is arriving in a couple of days” I offered her £200 and she nearly bit my hand off

To be fair it was a bit of a wreck and smoked like mad. Still it did for six months until my wife was up to speed then she gave it to the local motorcycle mechanic college.

We called the bike Smokey and her next bike was a Bandit