Honda VT500

The Honda VT500 is the name given to a family of middleweight motorcycles built around a 491 cc liquid-cooled four-stroke V-twin engine that Honda introduced at the Cologne motorcycle show in September 1982. Unlike a conventional V-twin with its cylinders at 90 degrees, the engine splays its cylinders 52 degrees apart and uses offset crankpins to keep vibration low without balance shafts, which allowed a compact engine in a slim, manoeuvrable frame. The family was sold between 1983 and 1988, depending on model and region, as the VT500E Euro, the VT500C Shadow cruiser and the VT500FT Ascot, which was offered in North America only in 1983 and 1984. All of them used shaft drive and a six speed gearbox with an overdrive top gear, and the engine later formed the base for the NTV, NT, VRX and XLV engines of 400 to 750 cc.