Honda Cruiser 2014

I have ridden hondas since 1980; my last honda purchase was a 2003 VFR. That may very well be my last. The only word I can find that describes how I feel about Honda now is “vanilla”. Since selling the VFR I have owned (and still do) a HD XR1200X and a Kawasaki Ninja 1000. Those are not world shattering leaps in design but they do stir my soul. There is nothing that honda makes now that stirs the soul. Every new bike that they released in the past 12 months are focused on commuting to a myopic extent. I see no passion in the design or function. I guess that is what selling 20 million bikes a year does to a company; creates a total disconnect with what ridding in America is all about. Don’t get me wrong, commuting on a bike is very important. However, if your budget only allows the purchase of a $5K bike, then that is probably your only bike. Wouldn’t it be nice if that one bike could whip through a canyon road with some measure of excitement. Look at the Ninja 300. Kawasaki gets it.
I like their new CB1100 but wish that they had stayed closer to the original design where the fuel tank and side covers are concerned. There’s a company in Japan that now sells side covers and an original style tank and paint job for the CB1100 – the bike looks fabulous with those parts on it.
Honda should be offering this bike in two versions, a GT/Cafe version and a more retro version, spokes, original tank and especially chromed headers etc.
When designing the new CB1100 it’s like they did not have the courage of their own conviction and didn’t follow through with a more authentic classic look. After all there are a lot of folks out there that want that type of bike…just look at how successful Triumph is with its Bonnevilles, Thruxtons and Scramblers.Producing something that can qualify as a museum piece yet still do the job and still have a strong following is only testament to a sound design. Lots of spares and aftermarket support. I ride mine hard and will buy another XR when it wears out as long as Honda keeps building them. Great bike, its been around for decades for a reason. Kudos to Honda for continuing to build a real enduro dual purpose bike. Warning, ths XR is not intended for armchair critics and “adventure pretenders”.
Everyone loves another black cruiser. Apparently if you change the fender they become new models.
I place the moment of decline to the day they released the Ruin. Moment of death marked with the release the VFR1200.
However, disregarding these black vtwins it’s possible to detect a pulse with the release of the Grom. There is also the upcoming v4 superbike which I’ll never afford, but at least it will return some of my vanishing Honda pride. I wish Honda nd the other manufacturers would take a hint from Triumph and stop trying to copy HD and instead come up with their own cruiser designs. Give me an inline 4 on an aluminum frame with sportbike performance and tight handling, cruiser ergonomics, and a curb weight under 500 lbs. Enough of this over-weight underpowered v-twin bullshit! Those are some really ugly V-twins right there. No wonder people still prefer Harley’s. Seems to me that the only fun bikes Honda is building are the 500′s in Taiwan. Whatever happened to their innovative engineering and design department?