Went to my local Honda dealer to pick up some miscellaneous parts from my favorite parts guy - rode in on my '85 LTD. Had a good chin wag, and just before i left I wanted to find out how a person got to ride the new 1800 demo bike.
I was interested in this because a friend of mine, brand new rider, has been researching bikes, riding gear and whatever associated to motorcycles. He was an academic expert and he was a wealth of information; however, no practical experience. He went up to VI Honda in Nanaimo, BC to do a test ride on the Africa Twin DCT. He had a down payment on one here in Victoria and we convinced him it would be a good thing to do a test ride.
My other HD friend went with him and was going to do a test ride of the new 1800 DCT when my friend on the Africa Twin laid it down in the parking lot for a test ride of some $1500.00 CDN - a few scrapes and such. He has cancelled the purchase of the Africa Twin and went to the Triumph dealer and bought the 800 CC Tiger, he had done a test ride on it and it did not take a nap on him.
Getting back to my story. I asked the sales team what I would have to do to ride the new 1800. Sat down, showed my driver's licence, signed my life away, and was getting a pre-ride brief, about 10 minutes total.
Was given a good brief, and some of the more finer points were demonstrated. Would need some time to take in all the controls and bells/whistles, but I got the jist of most. Had it on the setting where the engine shut off when stopped for a period of time at a light. Even in this mode if you don't want this, you don't have to change the setting, just apply a little throttle and it will start again and idle while stopped. The horn is quite loud and rivals the horn on the older 1800s.
Mentioned when I got back that the pre-ride brief missed the horn and signals, but I found them anyway. the bike is quite comfortable, low centre of gravity, and ride is quite smooth. The front suspension is magic, can't say enough good things about it. The engine sound is a little more throaty than the older ones, and quite nice. Handles well and quite smooth riding. Found the DCT to be a bit harsh on the downshift, but not all the time. You can hear the gear changes as well - this has been mentioned. There are 4 modes as you know but I left it in the tour mode. Wound it up on the highway and it went down two gears and swill make you sit up and take note. No replacement for displacement. Overall very nice, but the front suspension is truly magic, everything else is great, but the front suspension is state of the art. Mentioned that it would be good to test ride in the rain because the weather envelope on the older 1800s is quite good and as long as you are moving, you do not get wet. The same with the my 1200, as long as it is moving you don't get wet, not as good as the 1800 but quite close.
For a purchase price of some $34,000.00 CDN before taxes and fees, I can do a lot of maintenance and work on my two 1200s. You can go a long way on this amount of capital.
Is there a convert here, not in the foreseeable future, or some years down the road. It's like driving Sonya's new 2017 KIA Soul compared to my 2011 KIA Soul, so much nicer but not enough to get me to change.
End result - 1200s are here to stay. Go the same distance, get better comments in parking lots, and I need my projects - keeps me busy and out of trouble.
End of rant on the new 1800.
Cheers
I was interested in this because a friend of mine, brand new rider, has been researching bikes, riding gear and whatever associated to motorcycles. He was an academic expert and he was a wealth of information; however, no practical experience. He went up to VI Honda in Nanaimo, BC to do a test ride on the Africa Twin DCT. He had a down payment on one here in Victoria and we convinced him it would be a good thing to do a test ride.
My other HD friend went with him and was going to do a test ride of the new 1800 DCT when my friend on the Africa Twin laid it down in the parking lot for a test ride of some $1500.00 CDN - a few scrapes and such. He has cancelled the purchase of the Africa Twin and went to the Triumph dealer and bought the 800 CC Tiger, he had done a test ride on it and it did not take a nap on him.
Getting back to my story. I asked the sales team what I would have to do to ride the new 1800. Sat down, showed my driver's licence, signed my life away, and was getting a pre-ride brief, about 10 minutes total.
Was given a good brief, and some of the more finer points were demonstrated. Would need some time to take in all the controls and bells/whistles, but I got the jist of most. Had it on the setting where the engine shut off when stopped for a period of time at a light. Even in this mode if you don't want this, you don't have to change the setting, just apply a little throttle and it will start again and idle while stopped. The horn is quite loud and rivals the horn on the older 1800s.
Mentioned when I got back that the pre-ride brief missed the horn and signals, but I found them anyway. the bike is quite comfortable, low centre of gravity, and ride is quite smooth. The front suspension is magic, can't say enough good things about it. The engine sound is a little more throaty than the older ones, and quite nice. Handles well and quite smooth riding. Found the DCT to be a bit harsh on the downshift, but not all the time. You can hear the gear changes as well - this has been mentioned. There are 4 modes as you know but I left it in the tour mode. Wound it up on the highway and it went down two gears and swill make you sit up and take note. No replacement for displacement. Overall very nice, but the front suspension is truly magic, everything else is great, but the front suspension is state of the art. Mentioned that it would be good to test ride in the rain because the weather envelope on the older 1800s is quite good and as long as you are moving, you do not get wet. The same with the my 1200, as long as it is moving you don't get wet, not as good as the 1800 but quite close.
For a purchase price of some $34,000.00 CDN before taxes and fees, I can do a lot of maintenance and work on my two 1200s. You can go a long way on this amount of capital.
Is there a convert here, not in the foreseeable future, or some years down the road. It's like driving Sonya's new 2017 KIA Soul compared to my 2011 KIA Soul, so much nicer but not enough to get me to change.
End result - 1200s are here to stay. Go the same distance, get better comments in parking lots, and I need my projects - keeps me busy and out of trouble.
End of rant on the new 1800.
Cheers