Honda drops MSRP on Shadows

Thank you, sir. There's no reason we can't be civilized here, even if it is the intertubes.

Had a 2003 750 ACE, in 2004 Honda replaced it with the Aero. I liked the ACE much better, it had 2 carbs, the Aero only had one, and the ACE was chain drive and I replaced the 41 tooth rear sprocket to a 38 tooth sprocket.
It was a decent little bike, but I like my CB500x much better.

i like the shadowrs, but with only 40hp? whats up with that? its a nice looking street bike, though. and honda likes to promote its more standard then cruiser riding position. does it make enough power to get on and around SoCal freeways?

this riding position is nice and seeing a red, white, and blue one on the road like this one recently, it looked really nice!!

The RS isn't just a cruiser Shadow with different tins and seating position/reach. It's a different frame with different steering head angle (32.3* versus 34*) with an inch less trail.
And the RS has a different swingarm and chain drive.

It's powered by the same engine, but it's different in small but significant ways.
RS
503 lbs/40hp= 12.6 power:weight ratio

883
573 lbs/ 45hp= 12.7

Bolt
531 lbs/ 46= 11.54

Vulcan 900
610 lbs/ 50hp= 12.2

Shadow Phantom
549 lbs/38hp= 14.44

So you can see that the average weightower ratio is pretty close with a lot of these bikes. The shaft drive 750's take a beating for extra weight, I guess, and parasitic loss through the shaft drive.

There are hot rod tricks you can do, like pipe, intake, changing the timing sensor location, and remapping the FI. Generally you can get them around 50 hp pretty easily with mods, which makes it around 10.0 ratio. That gets you close to the performance of a CB500 (461lbs and 47hp)
Changing the pipe usually sheds about 15+ lbs too, so that helps things. And you can change the sprockets on the 750 to increase lower speed performance.
It's good for about 95mph in stock trim. With mods and some pork trimming, probably 110.
Perfectly fine for commuting.
For comparison: the average untuned '12 Corolla you're in traffic with is about a 20 on the weightower ratio. (2700lbs/130hp)

Sorry this is so long and "wall of text" ish. I didn't have time to write a short post.

Vulcan 750 makes 60 hp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Vulcan_750) I could easily live with 40 (RE makes about 25) but I would have to have a way to fix a flat. I've had 3 XS650s and they had plenty of power for me. Why can't Honda either add a centerstand, or make a cast wheel model? I might have bought that red white and blue model if it had cast wheels.

Have my '06 Shadow Spirit up for sale and have a deposit put down on a 2010 Shadow RS ... am anxious to eventually get the RS ... truly a good lookin' motorcycle!

That RS is a nice looking bike, extra sharp in the red, white, and blue.

Sarah

Yeah, the RWB is tight. Congrats!

That paint job and a bit more horsepressure, before July 4th, with a patriotic name. Bet it'd sell.

Never liked their cruisers precisely due to the lack of power , but like someone said, if it had stones enough to lighten the front coming out of a turn, it'd be a blast!

Wow, that was a bit of a down-grade. Too bad.

honda shadow with fuel injection makes 37. i think the older ones are more like 32.

http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/technical/2013JanPerfIndx.pdf

I'm sure the Shadows do better than 32HP?? ... Suzuki's LS650 does 28-30HP; I've owned both and even with the extra bulk, the Shadow seems like it has more grunt & top end than the Savage/S40 ...

Why do you like the CB500X better ?......eventhough it has shimmed valves and the Shadow has screw type valve adjustments . TIA

Chain vs shaft drive makes a significant difference in wheel hp too. And you can fiddle with sprocket ratios on the chain whereas shaft leaves you with what you got.

The RS is chain drive.