I ride a trusty '94 Honda Shadow VT1100C. She cost me $3k and was already tricked out with a Mustang seat with a driver's backrest, driving lights, a passenger backrest, Leatherlyke locking bags, a windshield, engine guard bars, a tool bag and some extra chrome...plus 52k miles and a dodgy alternator. She has since gotten a bunch of ordinary maintenance TLC, a new alternator and regulator, new battery, new fog and driving lights with winkers, blinking LED tail lights, an auto canceler for the directionals, red lenses for the rear blinkers (since they now stay lit as running lights as well as flash as directionals) and a RAM GPS mount (I love RAM products)...to say nothing of a fresh pair of Metzler tires. She gets periodic heavy doses of Berryman's B-12 (enough to treat 20 gallons of gas goes into her 3.7 gallon tank) to keep her jets clean and got new iridium spark plugs to boot. She runs like a top.
OK, she runs like top with a mid-90's vintage 1.1 liter vertical twin and 4-speed tranny... Yea, you read right...a 4-speed. It is a long way from gear to gear and she really does not like to accelerate or pull a hill in too high a gear. She bucks like crazy if you fail to down-shift to her satisfaction. And at high speed or climbing a hill or just accelerating, she lets you know how hard she's working with every stroke. She is never really complaining mind you, just keeping up a steady relentless vibration... Somehow she never gets to "smooth".
Well, it is not at all clear that anybody should ever expect a vertical twin of any stripe to be smooth. By all appearances Harley considers rough a virtue. I am not so sure.
I have seen some twins that seem noticeably smoother. Some late model Victory bikes for example (but that is just from looking, not riding one). And I figure if anybody can tame a vertical twin, Honda has got to be the top candidate. Are the newer vertical twins smoother? Smooth enough? As little as I like the fact that they copied an American icon, the fact is that they (and the rest of the Japanese manufacturers) have put the focus in the right place...making the product better. You gotta respect that. I do. I have no doubt that my next bike will be a Honda. They just work better. There is almost no doubt it will be used. There are too many low mileage bikes out there for so much less than new... The question is, which one? I have an itch to log some big miles. Which tool for the job?
Cruiser - VTX1300
Sport/Touring - ST1300
Touring - Goldwing 1800
Stay tuned...
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