Talkback: Honda Crosstourer - 2k miles in 7 days...

honda crossdresser?

in the 1980's i passed my bike test, way back then all it involved was riding round the block twice in different directions and not running the examiner over when he jumped out from behind a hedge for an emergency stop. At the end of my test he asked Highway Code questions and told me i had passed.

one question he asked was "which way round does the pillion passenger sit?" i said facing forwards but to this day I have never found the answer in the highway code book, i read that the law says that the pillion has to reach the foot pegs whist sat on the pillion seat but nothing about the direction face. The pictures in this story about the Honda crossdresser reminded me of the dilemma, any one know if there is a law for facing forwards and its highway code section number, its only been 32 years!!!

No Barnsley, there's no law out there that relates to the direction a pillion should sit. I know because I've been trying to get my bike license all month but keep failing that rip off hazard perception test which has nothing to do with hazards or safety but a lot to do with making money for our cash staved government.

The direction a pillion faces is just an advisory in the highway code but footrests must be provided and used.

so then, i have had my leg pulled 32 years ago! bu99er !

a chum of mine keeps trying to pass his test but every time he passes something i congratulate him, buy him a pint and then he tells me there is another stage before he can graduate from his 125 to his incredably scary big bike....wait for it,.....wait for it, a C reg honda 400. i think the next part of his test is jumping through hoops and then after that they set the hoops on fire and he has to jump through them too.

any way good luck with the test, i hope you pass before you run out of cash!

My Vstrom 1000 had that same big jump from first gear to second. Drove me nuts, I fixed it by going to a 43 tooth sprocket from the stock 21. shaft drive is nice but sprockets give you options.

I agree if its chain driven. Second gear too tall? Go down a tooth on the front cog. I've needed to do it on my tuono and speed triple. Not the bandit though, that fucker can pull away in top. Which is actually 5th so maybe the gears are better spaced in the old skool boxes...

... nope can't bring myself to discuss the honda crossstitch or whatever. Its even more boring than gear ratios. No offence MF.

Thirty quid on a petrol pitstop every 150 miles probably isn't going to worry people who can afford one of these, but would put me right off.

I quite like the look of it, though I own a V-strom so my standards are pretty low in the looks department. Looks like it has decent legroom to unlike the crossrunner,

Mark,, Just check-out the instruction booklet for the gear box ratio's and you will see that on the DCT verssion that the 1st / 2nd gear gap does not exist ... There must be some Honda Reason ,but certainly this diffreance ,as you noted, adds to the magic of DCT ownership....

Glad I'm not the only person who likes linked brakes.. I have linked on my Blackbird, and I have found that for 95% of my riding it is a better and easier experience than independant brakes.

I guess it is the same reason that the NC700 was designed in the way it was, which is that if something is used in a certain way for the majority of it's life, sacrificing something else to make it do that thing better is a generally safe bet.

The only time linked brakes are a pain is if you're in a corner which you haven't read properly and you want to drop the bike in harder mid corner by applying the rear. With linked brakes it scrubs the speed off, but you don't tighten the turn as the front gets applied too.. If you know that it behaves like that it's not a surprise, but I guess I should have read the road better. Still better than when I first panic broke mid corner and stood the bike up on the front brake.. That very nearly ended badly!