2010 Honda NT700V Review

We Americans want everything. And when we spot a sexy new model (motorcycle) on the showroom floor (okay, the women too), in Europe that we can’t have, we start whining. But Americans just don’t buy naked-type bikes like the Euros do and the cycle continues.

Once in a while, the manufacturers ante up and bring something stateside despite its potential for dismal sales. They want us to like them, remember? Even more rare is the occasion for the OEMs to bring us a model that we ‘need’ here in the states. Honda has done it for the second time this year, for model year 2010, supplying U.S. riders with a unit that’s already popular in the European Union.

Earlier this summer, we saw the best-selling scooter in Europe come to us in the form of the fuel-injected liquid-cooled economic-minded SH150i. Shipped to the U.S. for the first time, Honda again seeks to fill a gap in its lineup with units priced for everyone’s wallet.

Today we’re looking at the next model to come from Japan, via European consensus, as yet another economical price-point bike for its 2010 lineup, the NT700V.

You’ve already heard the news, maybe even sat on the bike at the IMS show, but we got a ride on the girl this week and we’re impressed with its overall package, if not for it’s striking similarity to the bigger brother ST1300 – a husband and wife combo for sure!

Isn’t the Deville a Cadillac? That’s Deauville, ya dork!

Selling in the EU since 1999, the Honda Deauville has been serving as a popular commuter and weekender-touring bike where short trips are more common. Since we’ve got this big ol’ piece of land and wanna take everything with us when we travel, Honda has been offering the American market the full-touring capable ST1300. However, not everyone can afford the $15-grand or the vacation time these days, thus the NT700V gets dropped on our doorstep for next year as a smaller sibling to the bigger ST. In fact it’s already at your local dealership.

At the core of this middleweight tourer is a 52-degree, 680cc, SOHC, 4-valve-per-cylinder V-twin with the same architecture and spec as the DN-01 (and Transalp in Europe), sans the auto-tranny HFT, of course, in a decidedly more commuter- and touring-oriented package.
For detail www.motorcycle.com

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2010 Honda VT1300 Sabre

Big numbers can seem impressive, especially when tied to something tangible rather than pie-in-the-sky predictions about what “could be,” or “only if.”
As a case in point, during a recent press introduction Honda flashed a big, tangible number across a projection screen: 82,900.

That’s the number of VTX1300 cruisers (models C, R and T) sold in the U.S. from 2003 to 2009. To make that figure a little more monumental, look at it this way: Big Red moved a rough average of 11,843 VTX1300 cruisers per year for seven years running.

Other than releasing the above data, Honda usually guards closely its sales volume figures, so we don’t how VTX sales compare to, say, total CBR sales for that same seven-year period. But during our recent review of Star’s Stratoliner Deluxe we learned that for approximately the same period the VTX sold so well, cruiser sales for the U.S. motorcycle market at large obliterated sales volumes of all other segments.

Probably safe to say nearly 83,000 VTX sales is significant, no matter how you slice it.

With such volume, even a blind squirrel could see how important this platform was for Honda. So for 2010 Big Red has updated its mid-weight cruiser line.

Known as the VT1300 models, the new bikes are powered by the same 1312cc, liquid-cooled, SOHC, 3-valve-per-cylinder, single-pin crank, 52-degree V-Twin the VTX models employed. But instead of inhaling air-fuel mix through CV-style carbs, the VTs benefit from EFI utilizing 38mm throttle bodies.

Power gets to the back wheel via a 5-speed gearbox and shaft final drive, just as it did on the VTX models.More information ...Motorcycle.com

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2010 Honda CBR1000RR C-ABS Review

Whether it’s simply coincidence, a barometer of the still-weak world economy or a sign of changing OEM methodologies, we’re not exactly sure, but that no significant updates made their way into the crop of Japanese literbikes for 2010 is a matter of fact.

The past year saw two all-new models (the R1 and GSX-R1000) continue the typical two-year development cycle from Japan. Prior to 2010, each new model year generally saw at least one model from the Big Four receive heavy revision. This year is something of a dry spell. But, hey, at least there are a couple changes in the liter class. In the 600cc supersport arena there’s nothing even worth mentioning in terms of revisions for 2010!

With Yamaha and Suzuki supplying clean-slate designs of the R1 and Gixxer 1K in 2009, the round robin revision cycle had us anticipating news of big changes from Honda’s and Kawi’s literbikes. Especially since the last overhaul of each came in 2008. Alas, it was not to be, as Big Red and Team Green implemented only mild updates.

Honda’s CBR1000RR didn’t necessarily stagnate this season, but an unspecified increase in flywheel size, a new muffler cover and revised license plate bracket are just about on par with the Zed’s “news.” So we begrudgingly grant the Honda a status update, but clearly things are slowing down in hyperbike land.

While attending the 2009 U.S. round of WSBK at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park a Honda rep told me this reeling in of rapid-fire changes might happen for the whole sportbike class, and indeed it seems it has.
No news is good news

We didn’t expect to be able to discern much about a marginally larger flywheel, but to say that we at least tried we took a quick spin around the track. We have to wonder, though, just how much increase was made to the flywheel, as claimed curb weights for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 models are identical at 439 pounds.

We were right. Not much in it to say, “Hey, I’m a new 2010! Not like that stinky ol’ 2009 model! Puh!”

However, a day of beating up on the mostly unchanged 2010 CBR1K only reminded us of all the things we liked so much about last year’s bike.

As we noted in our 2009 Literbike Shootout, the CBR doesn’t post the biggest horsepower numbers, but its wide powerband made it the best street engine of the group. And much of what’s adorable about the Honda’s engine during street rides is also enjoyable and advantageous on the racetrack. A super-stout midrange offers the strongest pull earlier in the rev range than any other literbike. Its torque peak of 76.6 ft-lbs is not only the highest of the 2009 inline-Fours, it also boasts a twisting force advantage over a 5000-rpm range.
Last year I had the grand opportunity to sample Honda’s new Combined-ABS for sportbikes when I test rode the 2009 CBR600RR C-ABS at Honda’s private testing facility. I couldn’t say enough good things about the new system, as you can read here in our 2009 CBR600RR C-ABS Review. However, we forsook using the CBR1000RR with C-ABS in last year’s liter battle. That meant I was the only rider here to have had the pleasure or riding the computer-controlled ABS for Honda supersports.

This year we seized the opportunity to ride the C-ABS-equipped thousand, giving Kevin Duke his first taste of the system.

“The Combined part of the C-ABS works really well on the track,” remarked KD on his first experience with the linked anti-locks.

“Hard-braking situations that would have other bikes wagging their back ends during corner entry were utterly composed with the CBR’s system. The way the addition of a slight amount of rear brake settles the chassis when braking provides a feeling of security, regardless of the safety aspects of the ABS part of the system. If I were in the market for a CBR1000RR, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the C-ABS version.”

Ultimately there’s not a lot to parade about as big changes for the CBR, unless you want to talk dollars.

The Honda’s MSRP has bumped up to $13,399 for 2010, a $400 increase from 2009. But the 2010 bike’s tag reflects a full $1800 over the 2008 model. That’s a sizable leap for what is essentially the same bike as two years ago. Eesh! Seems Japan is still having a tough go of it.

Regardless of a dearth of impressive updates, the CBR1000RR is still an excellent bike. And with the same condition across the class this year we’ve no reason to expect the Honda wouldn’t come out the overall winner in 2010 against Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, just like it did in last year’s shootout.

However, there’s a new inline-Four kid in town. And by judging recent feedback about the performance of BMW’s S1000RR, we expect the Big Four are all back at the drawing board feverishly penning new literbikes.

Stay tuned to find out how the uber-powerful new Beemer stacks up against its rivals!

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