New Honda 1200 V4 CrossTourer!!!

[stevh0]

Just picked up my Cross Tourer Press bike.

I cant believe how well balanced this bike is. Granted in OEM form its not a 1200GS but its a lot quicker and the top end is insane!

Lowered foot pegs, crash bars and a skid plate would make this bike oh so worthy. Right now, its a super "adv" bike!

Keep an eye out for my hooning around pictures...

[stevh0]

Originally Posted by twinrider

How was the standard Crosstourer compared to the Super Tenere? That's the other candidate I'm considering but can't demo either.

Out of the gate the S10 is a better dual purpose bike. I can tell you now that it is slower though. The XTourers brakes are incredible on dirt, even with the stock scorpions on. The S10 struggled at about 215kph, where I shift to 6th gear a 230kph (gets there very quickly)

Throw a couple of bucks into the Xtourer and you have a Superbike slaying Adventure bike and a very very worthy dirt bike. 130hp is a lot on dirt. The up and coming 150hp KTM will not be very manageable in the street setting.

Traction control is better on the Sten due to the different settings. From what I can understand, traction is either on or off on the Xtourer. But, the traction control works great on the Xtourer too. Being able to switch between a full TC and a off road Tc (which allows more wheel slip) is nice.


tough choice!

[twinrider]

Originally Posted by stevh0

Out of the gate the S10 is a better dual purpose bike. I can tell you now that it is slower though. The XTourers brakes are incredible on dirt, even with the stock scorpions on. The S10 struggled at about 215kph, where I shift to 6th gear a 230kph (gets there very quickly)

Throw a couple of bucks into the Xtourer and you have a Superbike slaying Adventure bike and a very very worthy dirt bike. 130hp is a lot on dirt. The up and coming 150hp KTM will not be very manageable in the street setting.

Traction control is better on the Sten due to the different settings. From what I can understand, traction is either on or off on the Xtourer. But, the traction control works great on the Xtourer too. Being able to switch between a full TC and a off road Tc (which allows more wheel slip) is nice.


tough choice!

Thanks for that info, looking forward to hearing more about the bike as you rack up the miles!

[bluesman]

Originally Posted by stevh0

Throw a couple of bucks into the Xtourer and you have a Superbike slaying Adventure bike ....

This is myth. I heard it many times about different bikes but never seen it proven with equal skill rider. Get to group of good superbike riders on well paved road and any of those SUV hyppos will eat dust no matter what bucks are in.
I have seen enough of such "races" in Alps...
People often fooling themselves after smoking 18 years old boy racer on liter-sport and get wrong impression.
It is possible to broaden abilities by any bike but almost impossible to change it's main purpose. I rebuild and modified lot of them and learned it hard way.

[stevh0]

Originally Posted by bluesman

This is myth. I heard it many times about different bikes but never seen it proven with equal skill rider. Get to group of good superbike riders on well paved road and any of those SUV hyppos will eat dust no matter what bucks are in.
I have seen enough of such "races" in Alps...
People often fooling themselves after smoking 18 years old boy racer on liter-sport and get wrong impression.
It is possible to broaden abilities by any bike but almost impossible to change it's main purpose. I rebuild and modified lot of them and learned it hard way.

You dont think a Multistrada 1200S can keep up with the CBR1000s on a tight track?

[bluesman]

Originally Posted by stevh0

You dont think a Multistrada 1200S can keep up with the CBR1000s on a tight track?

Tight track?
Multistrada won't keep with KTM Duke 690R on tight track.
On proper superbike/open class track - no, Multistrada won't keep with CBR1000RR if drivers are equally skilled.
Check power/weight ratio, check mass center location, check tyre sizes (equal contact surface?). CBR1000R is 170+ bhp 86 Nm bike that weights199 kg "wet" in stock state (and nobody runs it with heave stock exhaust) - and Multistrada is 239 (remove exhaust - save 6 kg) and 150 bhp bike. And CBR not even in top list for superbikes since few years.
With equal driver - no, CBR1000RR will take over.

Those experiments can be seen on most of Swiss and German tracks.
What about rephrasing: will Multistrada 1200 keep with Ducati Panigale?
Will Xtourer will keep with CBR1000RR?
Will Supertenere keep with R1?
Will Varadero keep with Firestorm?
If yes - what the hell manufacturers doing making those?

One of my colleagues - track addict - tried this. Did not work. He back on his GSXR K8 I think

Problem with liter-sports - in 80% cases they ridden by people, who got little skill to realize potential of those beasts.
At least here.
I was guilty of that myself. Took me 5 years to really get able to use it as intended. They are unforgiving bikes.

[twinrider]

Originally Posted by bluesman

Problem with liter-sports - in 80% cases they ridden by people, who got little skill to realize potential of those beasts.
At least here.
I was guilty of that myself. Took me 5 years to really get able to use it as intended. They are unforgiving bikes.

In short, it's usually the rider that matters most, not the bike. Which is why adv bikes in the right hands can be a lot of fun...

[bluesman]

Precisely.
Not sure it needs all those $$$ to have fun :) minor tweaks kinda (revalve etc.) - may be

[stevh0]

To give you an idea of how far Honda has come.



The 1200 is a brilliant bike. Just look at the brakes.

[stevh0]

[Heno]

Originally Posted by stevh0

To give you an idea of how far Honda has come.


The 1200 is a brilliant bike. Just look at the brakes.

Maybe it is a brilliant bike, but absolutely incomparable to Africa Twin, because it has nothing common with enduro bike, which Africa definitely is.
Just to imagine, take it to Mongolia or Kazachstan and you are done in 1 day.

[cug]

Originally Posted by bluesman

Get to group of good superbike riders on well paved road

There is nothing like that here ... well paved road ... haven't seen one since my vacation in June in Germany ...

Originally Posted by bluesman

People often fooling themselves after smoking 18 years old boy racer on liter-sport and get wrong impression.

I rather think that people extrapolate from tight backroads to fast sweeper roads. You have to consider what people consider "twisty". I think Mount Hamilton Road here in is twisty, others think Skyline Blvd between Hwy 9 and Hwy 84 is twisty.

On one you can go an average of 35 to 40 on the other you can do an average of 70 to 80 ... And I don't consider Mount Hamilton Road as "tight". Just twisty. And there I would smoke "myself on a super bike" any day with one of the better Adventure bikes, just because it's fairly tight, bad pavement, dirt in nearly every corner, bumps and holes everywhere, ... I'd smoke myself on Skyline the other way around - but I wouldn't enjoy it at all.

[JNRobert]

Originally Posted by stevh0

You dont think a Multistrada 1200S can keep up with the CBR1000s on a tight track?

ok, this doesn't prove anything but it is fun to watch

[bluesman]

Originally Posted by cug

There is nothing like that here ... well paved road ... haven't seen one since my vacation in June in Germany ...



I rather think that people extrapolate from tight backroads to fast sweeper roads. You have to consider what people consider "twisty". I think Mount Hamilton Road here in is twisty, others think Skyline Blvd between Hwy 9 and Hwy 84 is twisty.

On one you can go an average of 35 to 40 on the other you can do an average of 70 to 80 ... And I don't consider Mount Hamilton Road as "tight". Just twisty. And there I would smoke "myself on a super bike" any day with one of the better Adventure bikes, just because it's fairly tight, bad pavement, dirt in nearly every corner, bumps and holes everywhere, ... I'd smoke myself on Skyline the other way around - but I wouldn't enjoy it at all.

No doubt. When I refer to superbike I mean superbike used in superbike environment. Like...I don't know....national road to Saint Gottard in Switzerland. Let say there it is full of curves but you can ride them at 160 kmph on sportbike and come to top with shredded rear tyre. Don't ask me how I know. This is illegal :)

On real tight roads - nothing rules over supermotard. Like 690 SMC for example.

But adventure bikes meant to be jack of all trades. Sportbikes, supermotos etc. are narrow use (well, supermoto kinda quite do it all but sacrificing comfort).
Over here mountain deparatamental roads still ruled by naked/roadsters and sportbikes slowly being equalized by supemotards. Those 690s smoke almost everything on such roads. Go one step up in roads and this is purely sportbikes. Roads are good.
One of best times I had was on Sardinia riding my Suzuki DR800 thumper converted to top-shelf suspension and supermoto wheels with Supercorsa tyres. But still - I felt every kg of it's 200 kg of weight.
In my opinion Multistrada quite far from that real adventure bike and closer to sports. Great bike thou.
Xtourer...with all my respect to that bike...it's a real pig despite it is not big in size, it has suspension and brakes to match it's objective and this needs to be taken into account.


Stevh0,
brakes on photo - I am sure everyone recognizes those old trusty Nissin calipers Honda used for ages on almost every heavy bike. Not good example. Better take photo of motor in that bike. That's - that's a new thing.

[bluesman]

Originally Posted by JNRobert

ok, this doesn't prove anything but it is fun to watch

Fun to watch indeed. Thank you!