What did I see?

I only got a glimpse of the sportbike from the side, and the fairs and everything were flat black. Decals were light gray, so basically invisible.

But, distinctively, it had four tailpipes under the seat that looked like they bent outwards, then angled in again to converge on an imaginary point a couple feet behind the license plate. ("Angled" is key - the tips were not round and the pipes didn't look curved so much as bent, the styling implied that curves and other "soft" shapes were avoided intentionally)

And the SOUND! It didn't sound at all like any motorcycle engine I've ever heard. It was irregular and deep like a crossplane V8. The dissonance between the visual and the audio left me completely baffled. It didn't sound at all like a V-twin or an inline four or even a triple.

Any ideas? I got to know what sorcery was making something that looked like that, sound like that!

MV agusta f4

MV Augusta?

It has a v4

I missed it by this much....

singleslammer wrote: It has a v4

Could be it. The exhaust doesn't look quite right.

I found some videos on YouTube about crossplane R1s that sound kinda like what I heard.

And they make me want to find an LS1 that blew a cylinder wall out, and make an inline four out of it.

A lot of sport bikes from around the turn of the century had under-tail exhausts so they could have longer pipes without tight turns. Anything liter-bike with a punchy 4 cylinder is in play.

Hyabusa with aftermarket

Z1k

CBRS, MVs, literally anything of that era could be it. There were aftermarket kits for everything that didn't already have one stock so the angled square stuff could have been a bolt on. It looks cool but it's stupid and it makes all your E36 M3 you put on the rack or wear on your back smell like exhaust fumes.

Huckleberry wrote: It looks cool but it's stupid and it makes all your E36 M3 you put on the rack or wear on your back smell like exhaust fumes.

Guy I work with has a first year ZX10R. He saw it at the motorcycle show, sat on it, and immediately placed an order. He felt really, really good about his purchase when the second year bike had an underseat exhaust.

It does seem pretty silly to me, too.

Actually, F4 was inline, not V.

I stand corrected, I was thinking of the Aprilia unit!

Crossplane r1 with toce exhaust?

carknut wrote: Crossplane r1 with toce exhaust?

Could be. The tips look wrong but the taillight looks right.

singleslammer wrote: I stand corrected, I was thinking of the Aprilia unit!

Mmmmm.... Aprilia RSV4 RR sounds amazing too. Aprilia, when you don't have enough douchebagness to ride a Ducati but still want italian.

carknut wrote: Crossplane r1 with toce exhaust?

Came here to post this. The crossplane R1 has a very distinctive sound unlike any other inline four.