Quick Ride
Quick Ride
HONDA VTX1300 TOURER A cruiser in cross-country clothing
REMEMBER THAT encouraging quip about how, when life hands you a lemon, you can make lemonade? That's what we have here, in the form of a ready-to-tour cruiser from Honda.
The lemon, meanwhile, comes in the form of disappointing motorcycle sales through the ’07 model year. The cruiser segment of that market has been slower than hoped for, so Honda has followed standard sales practice and added to the value of a model already in reasonable demand.
Perhaps the only surprise here is that the VTX1300, a 1312cc, 52-degree V-Twin with liquid cooling and shaft drive, a 65.7-inch wheelbase and a topped-off weight of 748 pounds, is considered, by the factory at
least, a middleweight.
Yes. And to be fair, the 1300 is dwarfed by the VTX1800 and the heavyweights from other brands, while Honda’s 750cc cruiser Twins and the kiddie-sized Rebel are now the lightweights, and let’s not hear from the vets who began on 125s, okay?
The Tourer part of our title comes because this model appears on the show-
room floor already fitted with windshield, passenger backrest and genuine leather saddlebags-the extras most buyers have installed after purchase.
Honda’s marketers say that first, the extras sell for less on the bike than after the sale and second, the $10,999 Tourer model will
result in a higher bluebook value at trade-in time, making for that extra incentive.
All of which sounds reasonable, fair even.. .but what about the actual motorcycle?
Powerpoint One, the VTX Tourer perfectly fits the class profile, the look of yesteryear, right (literally) down to the floorboards, rocker gearshift and rear brake pedal, and we won’t even mention the parts that
could be mistaken for another brand’s air cleaner or oil bag.
Next, it would be hard to find two words that better fit the same sentence than Honda and Competence. Everything on this motorcycle works, just as we expect it to. Our moaning about the continued disappearance of self-canceling turnsignals has fallen on deaf ears, but that’s the only shortcoming noted.
Instead, there are limits. This isn’t a sportbike and the Tourer rider will visit the mountains for the vistas, not the curves. The weight means you need to rev the engine rather than slog uphill on torque and sure, it’s heavy off the sidestand or when parking but that, surely, comes with the territory.
Niche marketing is the bottom line here. The rider who wants this profile, isn’t in a tearing hurry and sees no reason to ante up the extra couple of grand for a really heavy bike, will find value here. —Allan Girdler
