Harakiri

[Verismo]

Welcome to the forum.

Volkswagon beetles had the flat 4 design first then they expanded their engines to fit their Porsche sibling line that needed flat 6's,
German engineering copied by the Japanese. Subaru's have flat 4 and flat 6 engines. Ferrari had a flat 12 at one time.

Thanks for your response. I was aware of the prior employment of the horizontally opposed engine in several cars. Just not in motorcycles, especially in the American segment. I'm more interested in how the Japanese engineers went about this transition, especially considering what a radical departure it was from American twins.

Jason