New 2010 Honda Fury

[Ryethil]

I apologize if I seemed reactionary. I just get the feeling that you believe the Big Four can't make anything with a v-twin correctly, just because they're not cheating off Milwaulkee's paper. Anyway, I'm not trying to create any animosity or anything, I'm just a brand mean for Honda (motorcycles or otherwise, have you seen their private jet?) and maybe I put them on a pedestal too much. Apologies.

I dumped on you for things that others have done. Please don't let my indiscretion color your impression of TMW. I'm not really that house trained and I've been fighting others who seem to try and take advantage of me. I will do better in the future.

[HYPERR]

Right now that is best personified by the Honda Fury. It's a poser that is also a cr*ppy motorcycle. I just hope that it doesn't cause other companies to not attempt similar projects.

Why is this bike a poser? Is Big Dog a poser too? What about a six figure OCC chopper? What technically isn't a poser when it comes to choppers? A home built Shovel or Pan? A chopped home made Limey?

Why is this bike cr@ppy? You continue to bash certain bikes with almost a religious fervor yet never explain why you feel the bike is cr@p.

[Ryethil]

Alright, then. Now we can all be one big happy family again and talk bikes.

[Ryethil]

Right now that is best personified by the Honda Fury. It's a poser that is also a cr*ppy motorcycle. I just hope that it doesn't cause other companies to not attempt similar projects.

Why is this bike a poser? Is Big Dog a poser too? What about a six figure OCC chopper? What technically isn't a poser when it comes to choppers? A home built Shovel or Pan? A chopped home made Limey?

Why is this bike cr@ppy? You continue to bash certain bikes with almost a religious fervor yet never explain why you feel the bike is cr@p.

You sure you want to ask this question? You might set me off too!!!

Let's start off that I didn't live through the time of people creating personal statements of their own ideas of what constitutes the perfect motorcycle. However, it has created in me a wonderment that isn't replicated by today"s motorcycles. I find that maybe this is for the best for a lot of those customs were nearly impossible to ride. But there was a freedom there that wasn't the output of corperate policies.

HD is an American Company whose bikes are built by Americans for Americans. But I don't agree with a lot of their bikes and a lot of their company policies. Nevertheless, most of their bikes have a viseral conection with their riders that speaks volumes. I can't help it if a large part of the Harley faithful are *ssh*les. The motorcycles have different things, possibly warts and blemishes, that appeal to different people.

But there is more to the motorcycle world than Harleys and I've seen a great part of it and actually embrace much of it. I won't own one but I love the responsiveness of the liter bikes esp. the CBR1000R and of course the ST1300A (a bit of a plug there).

The problem as I see it is when companies (not just motorcycle companies) take things that are special to a group of people and take the specialness out of them and then try to sell it the largest of number of people who can't understand why they were so special in the first place.

Honda is my ecstacy and my agony here. The 600cc sportbikes are a good example. I raced in the class and actually owned a couple of factory bikes that I raced. They were AWESOME. Their powerbands were peaky but when you kept it on the pipe you were capable of light speeds. Handling was never a question and stoppies were a no brainer. There were so many adustments that you nearly had to be an engineer to sort them all out.

All of this is okay by me. But when these bikes were translated for public consumption, all this changed. All the 600 bikes were gelded to a certain extent but Honda did the most to commercialize them.

First of all, I have to say that some comercialness is an evil necessity. Normal people can't aford $20k+ for a hobby or daily commuter nor would they want to put up with the problems that make a race bike so special. So everything becomes a compromise. However, Honda took all the adjustability out of their 600 class motorcycle and made it bland enough to be acceptable to the largest group of buyers. But it was priced so that the working stiff could afford it. However, to me it has all the personality of a appliance. This leads me to ask is this the best compromise they could do? I keep thinking it isn't.

This is where I get into trouble for while I'm not saying anybody's bike is cr*p, everbody seems to think so.

An awful lot of Japanese or rice cruisers seem to be created to fulfill corperate policies than actually giving that special ride and looking that bad*ss way to fill their function as cruisers. However, there are several that seem to got that one step further. I really like the VTX1300 and the new Yamaha VStar950 and possibly VStar1300 motorcycles. I've ridden the VTX1300 quite a bit and road the VStar950 a little and I think they're great. Especially for the cost in volved.

Now comes the caveat. For me everyone has their own idea of what makes a great bike and they get what they do for what ever reason they do it. It's called "freedom." However, freedom is to be defended. So I have my opinions and feel free to voice them. That's also freedom. If you feel differently, say so but don't just say I'm a bad person for saying what I said. This isn't freedom but tyranny. And I have trouble with a lot of Harley diehards because of this. But I don't blame Harley Davidson for this but blame the individual people. And I'm considered "stone cold".

So now the Fury. Would you accept love rejected? I first saw the art work on the prototypes for the Fury, I fell in love with it. It was so on the mark. An engine that I loved mated with a style that was so rogue. I wanted one. So I kept my interest in it and the company flack made me want it more. Then it came out. It just wasn't. It was so wrong. The first thing that I noticed about it wasn't it's style but the cr*ppy welds and fittings of parts. They changed the profile of possibly one of the best cruiser engines in existance and ruined it. Performance of the Fury is bland, not grunt like low end and smooth middle and top end. The handleing has all the problems of a long turning radius and being able to absorb irregularites in the road surface without the personality of riding a stretched bike on the road. It's brakes were fair as was it's ride. Nothing that showed any personality. Which is why I called it an appliance because that's what it is, bland. I guess it would get by on its looks alone but for the horrible way it is put together. So I feel angry for it could have been so much more and whoever at Honda queered the whole concept. Except that more than one person has found himself trashed because people thought that their riders were bikers. What a laugh.

But this is my opinion.That is freedom. However, if someone thinks that the Fury twists their crank then let them buy one. That's freedom. And no one should be able to stop them just because they don't feel it's good enough. That's freedom. And if the Fury does what it is supposed to the peson who is riding it, then what I say shouldn't matter anyway. And this doesn't matter if it's a Honda, a Harley or Cushman.

As for the other Custom Bike Builders that have branched out into the mass market. All of them risk the same thing. How do you mass produce something that will be the optimum bike for everyone. It can't be done for there are compromises to be made. And if you say accept this bike or you're uncool then that isn't freedom, that is socialism. And we get back to some of Harley riders that are *ssh*les. But Harley shouldn't be blamed and called POSs for the rants of a few Harley riders.

I probably p*ssed everyone of with this rant but that's their right to be p*ssed off. But blame me for what I said not what you inferred.

[Amdonim]

I understand your issue with homogenization of the motorcycle world, but it does have its benefits. For me, that benefit is a lot of R&D, into things like comfort and reliability. Sure working on bikes is fun, especially one you may have constructed yourself. But for me, that would be unrealistic. I go to college and my only ride is my bike. I need to know that it will run everytime I get on it, without a lot of wrench time or money thrown at it (that's why I ride a Honda of course). Sure the Sabre may not be the fastest or coolest cruiser out there. But hey, it's got 40k miles and I have yet to have to do more than replace rubber and oil. Plus it's not too uncomfortable for all day riding.

[Ryethil]

I understand your issue with homogenization of the motorcycle world, but it does have its benefits. For me, that benefit is a lot of R&D, into things like comfort and reliability. Sure working on bikes is fun, especially one you may have constructed yourself. But for me, that would be unrealistic. I go to college and my only ride is my bike. I need to know that it will run everytime I get on it, without a lot of wrench time or money thrown at it (that's why I ride a Honda of course). Sure the Sabre may not be the fastest or coolest cruiser out there. But hey, it's got 40k miles and I have yet to have to do more than replace rubber and oil. Plus it's not too uncomfortable for all day riding.

The Sabre is a perfect motorcycle to explain what I'm talking about. The V45 was a good engine except for early camshaft wear (They fixed this later). The bike was comfortable and relatively quick for it's time. Unlike the Magna, it was never advertised as anything other than transportation. It did exactly that, it transported people. To people like me it's an appliance but to those who bought it for cheap, reliable transportation with a bit of comfort thrown in, there was few things better. I worked on enough of them and they showed a great resilience to most everyday upsets. For what you say you need, it's pretty darn well perfect. You're not looking for an experience. If anything, you want as little experience as possible as in the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

So my rant doesn't apply ot you. For you are getting exactly what you want. That goes for anyone who "knows" their own mind.

Now the Sabre shared the V45 motor with the Interceptor and the Magna. Now we come into what I'm ranting about. The V65 engine in the Interceptor 1100 made it into one of the fastest production bikes in the world. Honda played this up for all they could. But calling a fast motorcycle a Hyper-sportbike doesn't make it one. It was awkward and there was nothing that could be done to change this. So how many people were disappointed by the lack of a chassis to equal the motor.

My ST isn't a sport bike though it will go insanely fast. It's a very good sport-tourer but The CBR1000RR is a sportbike and there is no way to make the ST into a CBR1000RR. So I'll aknowledge that my ST is a bit of an appliance but it does what I want it to do. It eats up miles while still giving me the sensations of a motorcycle traveling across the country side. I had a 1000RR for a while and enjoyed it. But I love my ST for what it can do for me now.

However, let me say this about the CBR1000RR, it's lack of adjustments kept me from enjoying it to its fullest. Yamaha and Suzuki both had adjustable chassis and you could tailor them to however you want ride them. Why did Honda choose an unsporting way to create a copy of their factory racing bike and sell it as a direct copy. That is what makes me angry and I call such bikes appliances.

Which gets me back to Honda and its false claims. The V45 Magna was trumpeted to the world that it was a cruiser without equal. The problem is that this is cr*p and a lot of people got the wrong impression of what a cruiser was about because they were told basically a lie. Compared to the Sabre it was uncomfortable and lacked the low end grunt that makes crusing type motorcycles so enjoyable. And Honda wasn't the only one to do this.

Now it has built the Fury and there is a massive war going on other forums. The Fury is in many ways like the V-Max. Both of them were very good at doing certain things. I remember still the first time I rode a V_Max and pulled the trigger. It was an adrenaline rush like few otherways that are legal. It's problem its that it didn't do very well at anything but going in a straight line at light speed.

Now Honda has built the Fury and a lot of people will buy it because it looks cool. However, will they get the "chopper" experience? I don't think so. It has so many faults and I've named them before that it's not even a good motorcycle. But people will equate choppers and cruisers with the experience that they will get by riding the Fury. So will people condemn Choppers and Cruisers for the lack of experience the Fury gave them? I suspect that Honda will make a mint off of the Fury and other companies will follow Honda's lead but the real choppers and cruiser type of motorcycles will suffer because people will have the wrong impression of the freedom and sensations riding such a motorcycle should give them.

The first motorcycle I bought for myself was a used Nighthawk 750 that was little different than the original one Honda imported in the first place. It had one endering quality, it had few vices that kept me from learning the basics of motorcycling. But if I had only the experiences of the CB750 to determine what I could expect from motorcycling, I'd be just another cage driver with a cell phone stuck to my ear.

[Amdonim]

You know it seemed like we were talking about two different things, and we were! I should have specified, I was talking about a VT1100C Shadow Sabre (pictured below), not a VF750 Sabre. My bad.

As far as Magna's go, I'll contend that they are uncomfortable as sin. I rode one only once, and my elbows were even with my ribs. But I don't so much mind the engine aspect. For me a cruiser is less about having a v-twin, as it is a riding position. For example, one of my favorite bikes of all time is the Valkyrie Interstate. Comfortable and incredibly fun to ride, even though it's not a v-twin. But I can still understand that for some people it IS about having a v-twin.

[HYPERR]

Now the Sabre shared the V45 motor with the Interceptor and the Magna. Now we come into what I'm ranting about. The V65 engine in the Interceptor 1100 made it into one of the fastest production bikes in the world. Honda played this up for all they could. But calling a fast motorcycle a Hyper-sportbike doesn't make it one. It was awkward and there was nothing that could be done to change this. So how many people were disappointed by the lack of a chassis to equal the motor.

Honda never made an Interceptor 1100. Back then(in the 1980s), it came in 500, 750, and 1000 versions. It later came in a Harley Tarrif beater 700 as well. The bikes were never awkward and was absolutely state of the art at the time. Absolutely nothing back then performed like the Interceptors. This was before the Ninjas, Hurricanes, and the GSXRs. They were Freddy Spencer's favorite bikes and he flat out back then said that the 500 Interceptor is the best handling street bike sold on the planet. I cannot recall any roadtests or anyone saying they were disappointed with these bikes at the time.
Also Honda never called the Interceptors Hyper Sportbikes. That phrase was "invented" by Suzuki for their stunning 1985 GSXRs.

Honda's "The Fastest Production Bike Boast" you are talking about was for the 1982 V65 Magna, not the Interceptor. And under no stretch of the imagination did "Honda play this up for all they could". The only time they mentioned it was during that one awesome commercial with Jay Gleason doing burnouts and running the quarter mile. This was helluva gutsy move by Honda to have a TV commercial like that during prime time TV. the commercial was short lived and it was soon pulled off the air. Imagine a bike commercial like that in the US today!

However, let me say this about the CBR1000RR, it's lack of adjustments kept me from enjoying it to its fullest. Yamaha and Suzuki both had adjustable chassis and you could tailor them to however you want ride them. Why did Honda choose an unsporting way to create a copy of their factory racing bike and sell it as a direct copy. That is what makes me angry and I call such bikes appliances.

What exactly was it that was missing on the CBR1000RR that was on the R1 & the GSXR1000 that is so detrimental??

Which gets me back to Honda and its false claims. The V45 Magna was trumpeted to the world that it was a cruiser without equal. The problem is that this is cr*p and a lot of people got the wrong impression of what a cruiser was about because they were told basically a lie. Compared to the Sabre it was uncomfortable and lacked the low end grunt that makes crusing type motorcycles so enjoyable. And Honda wasn't the only one to do this.

I recall no such claims from Honda. I would highly doubt Honda would make such a claim when the V65 Magna would be much more fitting of that title I don't even recall Honda calling them cruisers. I am not even sure if Honda themselves called them Power Cruisers at the time. If my memory is correct, it was the media that coined the phrase and named Honda as the "inventor" of this new class of bikes.

I remember still the first time I rode a V_Max and pulled the trigger. It was an adrenaline rush like few otherways that are legal. It's problem its that it didn't do very well at anything but going in a straight line at light speed.

The last sentence there is quite ironic coming from someone that is a fan of cruisers. Cruisers(Power Cruisers included)'s forte are not actually the twisties.

I have never heard anyone that is familiar with the VMax summarize it in a one liner like you managed. Anyone that is familiar with the bike will tell you it is a total blast to ride and one of the "funnest" bikes you will ever ride.

Now Honda has built the Fury and a lot of people will buy it because it looks cool. However, will they get the "chopper" experience?

What exactly is a chopper experience? And what makes your definition the only correct one?

[Ryethil]

You know it seemed like we were talking about two different things, and we were! I should have specified, I was talking about a VT1100C Shadow Sabre (pictured below), not a VF750 Sabre. My bad.

As far as Magna's go, I'll contend that they are uncomfortable as sin. I rode one only once, and my elbows were even with my ribs. But I don't so much mind the engine aspect. For me a cruiser is less about having a v-twin, as it is a riding position. For example, one of my favorite bikes of all time is the Valkyrie Interstate. Comfortable and incredibly fun to ride, even though it's not a v-twin. But I can still understand that for some people it IS about having a v-twin.

No problem, I should have looked at the picture better. Actually I should have looked at the picture without assuming it was a V45. I should known better.

The Interstate is an interesting and fun bike but I feel like I'm cocooned so to me it's something like riding in a car. I know it's sad but it just affects me that way. Also, I think the ST I've got has a lot of plastic around it. The Honda touring bike is somewhat beyond my comprehension.

[Amdonim]

I guess the only thing I really have left to say is that I DO enjoy my bike for the experience. I crossed Texas in a day last year just to do it (prolly won't try it again anytime soon). I make up errands I don't need to do to justify going out for no reason. I do enjoy my bike for more than just getting groceries. But at the same time, when I gotta get to work or class, my bikes just gotta run. I guess that's how it is for me. It needs to be fun, but it also needs to be bulletproof, because if it breaks, I'm walking.