Re: CTX 1300 - I just don't get it.
I was asked this past Friday from my local Honda dealer where I purchased my last 3 bikes, to take the new CTX1300 out for the weekend and provide some feed back. Listed below is my point of view on this bike.
2014 Honda CTX 1300
Ride Review
This ride review is based on my riding experiences in the last 8 years of owning the following Honda motorcycles, 2003 VFR 800, 2004 VTX1800N, and my current bike a 2006 ST1300, which to date has over 110,000 km.
The bike is a new 2014 Honda CTX1300, with Bluetooth? Audio, anti-lock brakes, self-cancelling turn signals, traction control. (There'll be a tall windscreen, backrest with pad, 12V accessory socket, rear trunk (45L), LED foglight kit, plenty of chrome accents, and more!)
This will not be a technical ride report, stating horsepower, gear ratios, and suspension travel .........
It?s riding the bike the 1st day (3hrs) as a cruiser, with a shorty helmet, enjoying the wind in my face, and the music thru the built in sound system.
The 2nd day (10hrs in the saddle), was riding as a Sport Tourer, full-face helmet and all the gear, music steaming thru the on-board Bluetooth system (iPhone 5s, Cardo Scala G4).
The 1st day ride was good, handling is very responsive, throttle was smooth, braking as effective as the braking on my ABS equipped ST1300. The sound system at highway speed ( 90km/h and over was barely audible, this could be fixed with the OEM larger windshield that is available. The seat was very comfortable and leg room was very good for my 5? 10? inch frame. I rode this bike as I rode my previous 2004 VTX1800N model, and I wasn?t disappointed. This is definitely an option for the riders that are longing for he discontinued VTX1800.
The 2nd day was the best. The day started at 6:00am on a clear blue sky with the temps at 10c. Dressed in full Alpinestar riding gear with a Shoe Neotec helmet and Scala G4. I live in Mennonite Farm land country, no traffic on Sunday mornings, took no time to get the CTX up to speed also the OEM heated grips were quickly turn on to max (1 ? 5), which after a few minutes I needed to dial it down to 3. The bike handle flawlessly, with more power than you can legally use at any gear. If you?re a ST 1300 owner you will recognize the whine of the engine, but will not recognize the rumble of the exhaust, nice touch Honda.
The tire choice & suspension has made this bike very stable in the peg scraping corners, (I promised to replace them).
The seat was surprisingly comfortable, even after 10 hrs. in the saddle I wanted more. In my 3 previous bikes, 4 to 5 hrs. was max on the stock seats, not this bike. As we all know seats is the 1 factor that you cannot please most to all riders.
I also joined a group of ST-Owners on their way to an RTE, (Ride To Eat, an event hosted by a ST-Owner.com member for any ST-Owner members and their riding friends, from anywhere. The RTE had riders from Pennsylvania, New York & Michigan.)
The ride was mildly spirited with no problems keeping up in the 3rd riding position in a group of 8 bikes. The wind buffeting was noticeable but not tiring or noisy thru my Shoe Noetec helmet. The leader was on a VStrom, with that said you cannot expect to follow a Vstrom without ending up on a gravel road, which the CTX handle flawlessly with the TCS.
The saddlebags are certainly not in the class of SportTourers, but I had no problem fitting my MacBook with a change of cloths in one side bag. Full face helmets will not fit but your shorty helmet will, just in case you find a passenger along the way.
The Bluetooth system worked well with music streaming to my Cardo Scala G4 from the iPhone 5s. The LED screen displayed the song, volume and length of song. Controls which are on top of the gas tank were easily operated with gloves on.
To sum it up, if I?m looking for a cruiser seating position with a sport touring persona, this is the one. It gave me all I get from my ST1300 except for the Saddle Bag storage & the adjustable windscreen.
JL