You might already have spotted our 'Test Ride a Varadero for the Weekend offer'. We invited good friend and secretary of the Blue Knights England V chapter, Harry Shaw to put the first miles on our demo XLV1000. These are his impressions ...
I’m lucky sometimes. There’s no doubt about that. I love bikes, and for the last couple of years I’ve had two. In fact, I’ve usually had two, greedy boy that I am!
Currently, one is the king of motorcycles, the FJR 1300 (Can we use the word Yamaha here?). It’s a body-building brute with fine muscle definition all over its shiny skin, the ultimate motorcycling six pack bike. There are few better ways of crushing the continent. Not as big as the Pan European it will still carry its rider over hundreds of miles a day in comfort.
The other is a Honda, of course, A 650 Transalp, known affectionately in the family as my Pizza delivery bike, because it has a huge top box and luggage set. Brilliant in traffic or touring A and B roads, it’s competent on motorways. Hour after hour though, when you can use an FJR? Hummm…..
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The Transalp is brilliant riding the national park roads and crowded inner cities, so what more do I need? Will it be possible for me to survive with just one bike? What if the Transalp had just a little more grunt, maybe a bigger engine, to crush those long continental roads? I knew I shouldn’t have gone to Hunts…
A twin, that has that trail and road look, sits all shiny in the middle of the showroom, the 1000cc Varadero. A BIG bike! Walk around it and its all there, a stonking V twin lump in a high and handsome frame. It has great luggage capacity with the optional extra luggage set, despite the sexy under-seat exhausts, and this is a dealer who understands that I, for one, won’t spend thousands on a bike without a proper test ride. “Take it for the weekend” I was told, so I did.
The seat is high, hard and wide, but I’m tall enough and I can get my feet down. I understand there is a seat-lowering kit for the shorter rider. Wide bars make in town handling easy, maybe because the tyres show no sign of knobbles, and that high seating position means negotiating the gaps is a doddle. I begin to like this bike a lot as I work through Manchester, to find somewhere interesting. Then we get out of town along the M60. A crucial test this, because you can’t crush the continent without spending many hours on motorways and their mainland equivalents. Without a larger screen it’s not as comfortable as the big tourer, yet the bike has two enormous advantages over its lesser sibling. Despite being a twin between 75 and 90 the motor is as smooth as silk. This is where tourers live in the real world, much faster and your licence disappears as quickly as the bike is travelling.
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The second advantage comes from 1000ccs. Grunt comes with cubes. You may have to use the gearbox more than a Pan or FJR because you’re riding a twin, but there is loads of drive to be found in the midrange, which makes opening the throttle a joy. Don’t yank it, open it steadily and feel the bike hurtle forwards on a surge of torque, at your command. Oh joy!
Riding this bike was rewarding, and there were more surprises to come. Despite the ‘spindly’ trailie legs there doesn’t seem to be the usual ‘throw you over the forks’ dive when you haul the twin disks on. The front end set-up isn’t a sports bike, but it’s no soggy mess either, bringing your speed down without trauma. I felt very happy in the lashing rain which just had to appear because I was enjoying myself, leaving me ploughing through standing water on this bike. That made me more relaxed, and I rode better as a result. This is a truly confidence inspiring bike.
Throw the bike into a corner and once again it becomes apparent that it’s not an off road bike, despite its leggy looks. After the first few bends I was flicking her from side to side with abandon. She felt safe and secure, and the lack of dive compared with many of these trail style bikes tempts you to try for more.
Colour schemes are a subjective thing, and I, personally, think it looks better in a sophisticated single colour but there is no doubt that the tri colour scheme is reminiscent of one of Honda’s cult bikes, the Africa Twin, and that’s not a bad thing at all. She’s tall and shapely in my view, with foxy eyes.
So, we love riding ‘Vera’, enjoying the thumping feel of the engine and the confidence she builds, but my hip joints are old and the seat is hard. It may be that, like a BMW or Mercedes, the hardness actually makes the seat more comfortable for most people over long distances, but it needs to be considered if you are thinking of long journeys. I don’t think you’ll be over concerned, because it’s wide and fairly flat, but ride the bike to make sure it suits you. Remember though, you might be travelling faster than you think on that wonderful big twin. When I tested it I was, but that’s another story.
Harry Shaw
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Want to ride our Varadero?
To find out more about loaning our Varadero XL1000V for the weekend, please click here... |
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