Honda CTX1300

Are you kidding me? Not attractive? What is your idea of attractive? The engine is beautiful. The fairing is elegant and looks in the pictures to be sleek functional. It was designed to attract TOUR riders. Kids will ride the fugly crotch rocket sport bikes. Mature riders, the ones with actual money and experience will love this machine. It has the seat height of homely V twin cruisers, a relaxed riding position and the seat looks comfortable. It is NOT too big. It's not as bulky as the ST1300, and not nearly as huge has the current Gold Wing. I think Honda's only drawback here is that it is priced two thousand dollars too high and it needs a cruise control. At $15,000 it would attract a huge following to those of us who don't want 800 lb plus touring bikes.Some motorcycles take a proven formula and change it up a little. Then there’s Honda’s new CTX family of bikes—they’ve blown their class wide open and completely reinvented it.The new CTX1300 is a great example: With a 1261cc V-4 engine it has plenty of power. Innovations abound in the integrated bodywork. Best of all, it’s available in two versions: the CTX1300 and the CTX1300 Deluxe, with Bluetooth® Audio, anti-lock brakes, self-cancelling turn signals, traction control and a blacked-out look.Honda’s CTX line of motorcycles are some of the most innovative we’ve ever produced. One look can tell you that, and that’s really saying something when you realize that no other company leads the way in innovative solutions and technologies like Honda. Just check out the new CTX1300’s long list of features, and you’ll see that this is a bike that can take you cruising into the next century.Nothing sounds like a V-4 engine, and nothing feels like one either. Longitudinal engine mounting improves power transfer and drivetrain efficiency, two engine counterbalancers eliminate vibration for super-smooth running, and its specially tuned 1261 cc engine offers plenty of power for long-distance touring.Available on the CTX1300 Deluxe, traction control gives you additional peace of mind under challenging riding conditions.The dual pre-load adjustable rear shocks pair with the CTX1300’s aluminum swingarm to allow you to dial in the level of comfort and handling that’s right for you.A feature that not only looks great but works even better, the CTX1300’s inverted fork helps with the bike’s precise steering and excellent comfort and handling.Motorcycling can throw you lots of unexpected surprises—that’s where Anti-Lock Brakes can be a big help, when you need to make controlled stops in less-than-ideal conditions. Under normal operation you’ll never know it they’re there, but when you need them, they’re always there to back you up.A fat 200-series rear tire and stylish 10-spoke cast wheels give the CTX1300 aggressive style—on the Deluxe model, the wheels are blacked-out to match the other styling elements.The CTX1300’s weather resistant, lockable saddlebags are big enough for many full-face helmets or a weekend’s worth of gear.Nice and low—that’s how most riders like their seat heights, and that’s exactly how we built the new CTX1300. The low seat makes it easy to flat-foot it in parking lots or at stoplights, and just plain feels great, too. The low seat and uniquely designed fuel tank help lower the bike’s center of gravity and inspire confidence.The CTX1300’s fairing helps make both your commute and long distance trips a whole lot more pleasant. Stylish and functional, the bodywork reduces wind buffeting and provides some extra storage, too.Tucked into the CTX1300’s fairing are two storage containers for smaller items. On the Deluxe model, you also get a USB port to charge your phone or play MP3 music files.Tucked into the CTX1300’s fairing are two storage containers for smaller items. On the Deluxe model, you also get a USB port to charge your phone or play MP3 music files.Clear, crisp, bright: the latest LED technology lets the CTX1300’s headlight and unique accent lights do more than just light up the night—it gives the bike a strong styling element.. The tallight and turn signals are also brilliant, long-lasting LEDs.The low-cut windscreen helps reduce wind buffeting and blends perfectly with the low, lean styling of the CTX1300. Need a taller screen? No problem—there’s one available as an accessory.Mounted in the center of the instrument console, the LCD screen provides useful information such as fuel range, MPG, ambient air temperature, and trip odometer. The Deluxe model can also display song and artist information from your device.I see nothing attractive in that bike - especially from a company that has the goldwing. Innovation? Where? The seating position looks reminiscent of the terrible DN-01, styling makes it look plastic with an unfinished front fairing, the exhaust looks bulky, heavy, and FAR too big and while it looks like the wet dream of a kid in the 80s, is that kind of styling current today? So many manufacturers are showing the engines, calming down on plastic, and focusing on the ride rather than trying to attain a modern look - it seems outdated and attractive only to a short term minority (nobody will be excited about buying this second hand in 5 years). In my opinion If it's under 10k they have a shot, if not, I suggest another flop in Honda's history. Shame, the used to produce some great bikes.

Honda Valkyrie

The first Valkyrie used a simple formula well-known to American hot-rod builders: take the frame and motor of a big, heavy car and chop away everything you don’t need. That first iteration was built right here in the USA from 1996-2003 and still has legions of fans. It used the flat-six, liquid-cooled 1520cc motor and five-speed gearbox from the old GL1500 Gold Wing (1988-2000), but with a different tube-steel chassis. It weighed in at 682 pounds dry—much lighter than its touring brother. Owner forums for the Valk are still active (hot topic: using a car tire on the rear wheel), and one thing is clear: these folks love their bikes. They handle well (for something so heavy), are comfortable, reliable, smooth, fast and have a heck of a presence—for a while, it was the biggest, baddest cruiser you could buy. “Surely, with this motorcycle,” speculated Motorcycle.com’s Andy Saunders in 1997, “Honda has reached the limit of cruiser size.” How quaint.
If anything, the new Valk is a Rune for the masses, as it uses much the same formula, albeit for a broader audience. The frame, swingarm and powerplant are all from the GL1800, but with lighter, more minimal bodywork. A low 28.8-inch seat and blacked-out one-inch cruiser bars scream “cruiser,” but an 45mm cartridge fork, twin-spar aluminum frame, radial tires (130/60-19 in front, 180/55-17 in back), single-sided Pro-Arm with linkage rear suspension and 310mm discs with four-piston Nissin calipers (that look like what Honda used on its sportbikes from the late ’90s to the mid 2000s) all scream out “sportbike.” After all, the GL1800′s Large Project Leader, Masanori Aoki, came from the sportbike side of Honda, developing bikes like the NSR250R and CBR600F3.
All that development nets a bike that weighs in at 750 pounds—154 pounds lighter than the GL1800. Heavier than the original Valk, perhaps, but it does have a lot more power—the GL1800 makes over 100 ft-lbs of torque at the wheel, and the number stays above 90 from 1500 to 5000 rpm—and a six-gallon tank, bigger than the ‘Wing’s.
Other features include removable passenger seat with grab rail, included solo cover, black-out treatment on the frame and engine, LED lighting (everywhere, including the headlight), a multi-function LCD instrument cluster and those big shrouds covering the side-mounted radiators (which duct heat away from the rider). The styling could be controversial, but it is growing on me, and I actually really like that big front wheel.
Pricing is not yet set, but Honda says it will be in the range of $17,000, undercutting the F6B. It should be available in US dealers next spring. I’m also really looking forward to riding one, but maybe not as much as the many Valkyrie fans—Christmas may have come early for them.
Honda killed the old girl in 2004, but that year a limited-edition custom called the Rune arrived—you may remember it. At $27,000, it was kind of a legacy bike, a made-to-order custom designed more to showcase the brand than to dominate the heavyweight cruiser market. Still, it was good-handling and luxurious-feeling, something Editor Edge and I took great pleasure in riding.
Another possible direction was the EVO6. Honda displayed this concept bike at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, and it made a big splash—how can an 1800cc, six-cylinder sporting standard not? It was missing the clutch lever and gearshifter—would the next Goldwing use an automatic transmission?
As I write this, there are three hours left on American Honda Motor’s embargo on posting photos or writing about its new Valkyrie—and I’m amazed there’s nothing yet on the Internet. There’s been no speculation about a new Valk that I could find, so you’re probably as surprised as I was when I got these photos of the new model.
The first Valkyrie used a simple formula well-known to American hot-rod builders: take the frame and motor of a big, heavy car and chop away everything you don’t need. That first iteration was built right here in the USA from 1996-2003 and still has legions of fans. It used the flat-six, liquid-cooled 1520cc motor and five-speed gearbox from the old GL1500 Gold Wing (1988-2000), but with a different tube-steel chassis. It weighed in at 682 pounds dry—much lighter than its touring brother. Owner forums for the Valk are still active (hot topic: using a car tire on the rear wheel), and one thing is clear: these folks love their bikes. They handle well (for something so heavy), are comfortable, reliable, smooth, fast and have a heck of a presence—for a while, it was the biggest, baddest cruiser you could buy. “Surely, with this motorcycle,” speculated Motorcycle.com’s Andy Saunders in 1997, “Honda has reached the limit of cruiser size.” How quaint.

MV Agusta F3 800

The F3 800 is loaded with top shelf components and electronic assist mechanisms. The Marzocchi forks measure 43 mm in diameter and are fully adjustable for spring preload, as well as compression and rebound damping. The Sachs shock features a separate nitrogen reservoir, and is also fully adjustable for preload, compression and rebound.
The brakes are a fantastic spec, including particularly the Brembo monobloc, radially-mounted front calipers and 320 mm discs, controlled by a Nissin radial master cylinder. Acceleration and braking forces are transferred through Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa tires (including a rear-sized 180/55-17). For our track testing, Pirelli DOT racing tires were fitted.The electronics package is about as sophisticated as you can find on a showroom floor. MV calls the system MVICS (Motor and Vehicle Integrated Control System) and, according to MV, the ride-by-wire throttle “makes it possible for the ideal throttle body aperture to be defined at any moment in time, so it is not dependent on the angular rotation of the twist grip.” Utilizing an ECU from Eldor (supplier to Ferrari and Lamborghini, among others), MV claims it has made the throttle twist completely linear with regard to torque creation, i.e., 50% throttle results in 50% of the torque available from the engine at the current rpm given the current load factors. Four maps are available for rider selection in the MVICS system, including Sport, Standard, Rain and Custom. Within the Custom setting, the rider can fine tune several variables to his liking, including but not limited to throttle sensitivity and engine braking level. Tommy adjusted both of these settings to great effect on the track (more about that later).Traction control is also available, of course, and can be set at any one of 8 levels (from least intrusive to most intrusive), as well as turned off entirely. In 3 of the 4 maps, the rider can choose any one of the TC settings, while in Rain mode, the TC setting defaults to level 8.Upshifts are aided by an electronic ignition cut, and corner entry benefits from a slipper clutch. For added strength (given the added torque), the F3 800 clutch has an additional 2 plates in comparison with the F3 675.MV Agusta readily admits that, in the past, it has struggled somewhat with fuel injection mapping, something that has become increasingly more complicated as ECUs have become more sophisticated. We remember Hinkley Triumph having the same problems for several years before ironing them out. MV says it has worked extremely hard at fine-tuning the maps available on the F3 800, and continues to update maps to “state-of-the-art” from time-to-time. Notifications on the MV web site allow owners to determine when new maps are available, and your MV dealer will update your maps free of charge.During our track testing, it was immediately clear MV’s claim that the F3 800 changes directions easily was accurate. Despite all the added power and torque, together with the heavier crank, the F3 800 changes direction as easily as a 600 on the track. In fact, the bike feels lighter than the claimed 381 pounds likely as a result of the counter-rotating crank shaft uniquely employed by MV in its production machine. Very impressive stuff!Together with the nimble handling, the F3 800 delivers big power in a smooth, linear fashion. Our test rider is used to highly tuned race 600s, and he felt peak power was similar from the stock F3, while torque represented a substantial increase over the supersport class machines.Three cylinder engines can combine some of the best traits from both twins and in-line fours, and the F3 800 is no exception. We were able to exit corners a gear higher than peaky 600s, and drive hard through a broad powerband straight through to the 13,000 rpm power peak. A very flexible motor that is deceptive in its smoothness and linearity, but very quick.
Back to the subject of handling. The F3 800 feels extremely light and agile, allowing you to put it anywhere you like on the track, but at the same time offers excellent stability. It also allows you to hold the line you select through bumpy corners.The brakes provide exceptional power and feel, on par with well set-up race brakes. Suspension is firm and damped well for track use, feeling well-balanced front-to-rear.MV Agusta seems to have cured any problems with abrupt throttle response found on some of its earlier models. Using the custom mapping feature, we were able to dial in a very smooth, progressive power delivery coming out of corners at a large lean angle. Exactly what you need from a race bike or a track day weapon.After becoming comfortable on the bike, Tommy turned off the traction control and played with some big power slides coming out of slower corners … reporting that the throttle and engine response made these maneuvers easy to control, due to their predictable nature.The electronically controlled speed shifter worked well even though the ignition cuts seemed a bit longer than necessary. We had no problems with the transmission while shifting either up or down. With the Custom map feature, we were able to reduce engine braking to provide more control, and maintain rear wheel traction, during aggressive corner entries. This is a very useful feature for the track.After making some minor suspension adjustments, tire pressure adjustments and tuning the Custom map, it was hard to fault the performance of the MV Agusta F3 800 on a race track. This is probably the best bone stock, street legal bike we have yet tested on a race track.Criticisms are few and minor. The footpegs are a bit slippery, and the wind screen offers a blurry view when tucked in tight at the track.MV Agusta is a relatively small manufacturer, for sure, with only 212 employees. Its bike line-up has expanded rapidly, however, from 3 models in 2010 to 14 models for 2014. MV sales have grown 130% during the same period, despite a significant reduction in the total, relevant motorcycle market these past few years.With so much going on, it seems MV Agusta never

Ducati New Monster 1200 S

I think the only miss step with this bike is the name. using “Monster” was bound to elicit strong reactions. however (comma) if they used the name “Dragster” or “Monster Drag” it would be perceived differently. swap in the old swinger and seat section and the uninitiated wouldn’t know a ’14 from a ’13.For all you guys saying this bike is anything but gorgeous… get your eyes checked! What a stunner… my question is how this bike can live next to a the Streetfighter – or did Ducati discontinue it and I’m not paying attention? If they have both bikes in the lineup they seem to be very similar.And the only thing that makes it look like a Diavel is the frame (somewhat) and the rear fender thing. Otherwise, not even close.I like it. Gimmee! Beautiful. The dash sounds very interesting . Looking forward to seeing close up pis of it or in person.
Again, just ignore all the negative, critical, angry sounding commenters who just seem to relish criticism of almost anything shown here.
Wow. Just enjoy all the new and different things coming from the manufacturers.
Hopefully, the industry is recovering quickly and we will all benefit from the new products and technology. We are blessed to be here today with so many high quality motorcycles. Had to go look up the actual wb and it is 59.5 which is about IDEAL for a monster with this engine. L twins need a little more wb the more power they have.
Monsters are great blur-bikes and as long as it is red I do not can’t see too much when riding them- scarcely notice the telephone poles .
OK, I am not going to call it “ugly” like so many do about some recent motorcycle styling. But, this thing is kinda weird, with too many different styling cues on too compact a package. The Ducati Monster concept started with attractive simplicity, but has gradually become more, ah, comprehensive.
This latest version has crossed SOME kind of line. Well, well, there’s been a paradigm change at Ducati. Higher/closer bars and a comfortable flat seat on a Monster? What took them so long? That’s exactly what I’ve done with my 1976 Monster750 in order to make it fit an average rider! Hopefully the new version has better more-compliant suspension than mine and can be ridden for rather longer.
Why doesn’t this new Monster have that ubiquitous license plate/taillights extender thingie seen on so many other naked sportbikes such as the FZ-09 and Street Triple? If Ducati doesn’t have to have that, why do the others?
Otherwise, as gorgeous as this thing is, I think I’d still have to go with the Tuono V4R or, especially, that crazy new KTM Super Dukaholic. With the naked BMW R1000RR also coming along shortly, wooo, these look to be wild times for the naked sportbike enthusiast.

MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800

VLJ, I’ve ridden the Daytona 675 a number of times and now this F3. Both nice machines, but the MV has a lot more tuned intake/exhaust sound (that I love to hear), it spins up much faster (appropriate for a sport bike, I think) and it has styling that looks good from every angle (character is appearance also). The bike comes off a lot edgier than the Triumph, which some will praise and others will fault, but I love it. It reminds me of the Ducati 748R I owned for several years – a racebike for the street. MV keeps adding new and improved bikes. Great job! The new dash looks fine! Try to ignore all these super critical commenters. They must be miserable to be so angry and critical of almost anything posted here. This is such a great time of the year. Lots of new and exciting new bikes! Enjoy the show. We live in such a great time.The “only 36 MV dealers in the US” comment is valid, but as the owner of a first-year F3 I can say the bike has been reliable so far and has so much more character (in a good way) than any Japanese bike or even the Triumph triples. I’m not so enthralled, however, with the styling – too “adventure bike” for my tastes and inseam (34″ seat height!).What is thing but a Weestrom in fancy duds? Set them side by side, they have the same lines and the same function.It’s funny how when the Italians copy the Japanese, they make the bike look alot better and jump the price. When the Japanese mimic the Europeans, they make the bike look a whole heck of alot uglier, but lower the price.And this rule almost never varies. It’s like a law of nature. Must be cultural differences between the two societies on how they view and value copying and mimicking.This is a “Watershed” moment, for me at least. This is exactly what I’ve been asking for low these many years. Upright Ergos, Very Capable SportBike handling & weight, all in a package with decent touring accuterments; wind protection & hard bags.The closest thing was the BMW F800 GT, but I wouldn’t spend that kind of $$$ on a buzzy twin. The next was the KTM SM-T but it had the tallish suspension, which I don’t need/want.I think its a beautiful sexy Italian designed bike but its also got all the limitations that being an Aprilia has, namely; snatchy EFI, questionable long-term reliability and limited dealer network.So I’m still waiting for Yamaha FJR 09 or the Triumph 800 cc motor to get the Daytona Treatment and then be assembled into this format, or a Speed Triple with the wind protection and bags and better seat . Yes, I love triples. Have you ridden one?There would simply be no comparing this to the 600-700 lb tourers, even those with 150+ HP because you’ve got 200+ lbs of bike to drag around.I hope its a sales success and that the other manufacturers follow suit. I hope this is the dawn of a brand new sector of bikes; The lightweight, midsized, upright ergo’d tourer with long distance serious sport riding as the target.OK, looks totally righteous, but… It’s 43 degrees out and raining. It will be raining all day. I need to ride 600 miles that day, then ride another 500 the next, and another 700 the day after that, then back home on the last day, a 300 mile jaunt. I do not like wearing sox or underwear on successive days. I will need to see someone at a nice restaurant on day 2 and will need to have a decent shirt, slacks and shoes ready to wear, possibly a sport coat. I’ll be spending at least half my time on big slabs, on cruise control, and where I can I’ll be riding rather less sedately on secondary roads, but I have a schedule to keep. Now, will the MV be able to cover this? I’m not so sure. Until it can, it’s better designated a SST rather than GT. My 2008 K1200gt (sofa strapped to surplus shuttle booster) does GT quite well. Not so sure I’d dump it for the MV.