Honda Varadero 1000?

[Jantar]

There's also a good report on the Chatto creek 1000 miler showing a couple of VStroms in the same issue.

[Edbear]

What a bunch of maroons...

Hmmm! Not really sure what colour they are, really... (p/t)

[Oscar]

Hmmm! Not really sure what colour they are, really... (p/t)

You're right, I shouldn't make fun of their tinge.
They obviously know phucke all about Adventure Bikes, though...

[oldrider]

You're right, I shouldn't make fun of their tinge.
They obviously know phucke all about Adventure Bikes, though...

My point exactly, it's like testing a wood-choppers' axe on kindling and then proclaiming it is an axe worthy or unworthy of competition axemanship!

They just don't get it do they!

MacKay rubbishes the TransAlp at every opportunity but he didn't really take it anywhere and it has never ever been marketed as a bloody "sports bike"!

In my experience and as an "owner", the TransAlp is a very good venture bike, fit for purpose and a bike you grow to respect more, each time you ride it.

One day we will be able to buy a bike magazine with a realistic review that actually covers what the bike was meant to do.

The Varadero is being promoted as a "venture" bike, he says it is no BMW or KTM off the road, how the hell does he know that if he didn't even take it there???

He may well be right but to me he just comes across as biased without actually testing them on equal terms!

That's what I think is wrong with bike mag reviews these days, they lack objectivity and possibly, even integrity!

There is some good information available from the members of the various forums on the Internet.

I got some informative replies from some of the actual owners of both Varadero and TransAlp bikes, including those that have changed from one to the other.

One thing that does come across consistently, including in MacKay's comments, that the varadero is one big mother of a bike to handle when out of the saddle!

Mrs O/R is more than a little apprehensive about that, it may be more than we are capable of picking up again, should we do the unthinkable, and......................... No just can't bring myself to say it!!!....What you think about usually happens

Another consistent comment is, just how good they are to ride once you are in the saddle and under way, very comfortable over a long distance and very capable in the gravel etc but a bit of a handfull in mud!

It appears that they are a competent venture bike but compared to what, I have not been able to ascertain, I guess if I want to know that, I will have to buy one and find out for myself!

That, it appears, is the only way to find out anything about any bike really, bike mag reviews are just there to sell the mags and are only accurate when they say "nice" things about "your" bike! And "that" works for me too! Perhaps they have got the formula right afterall! Cheers John.

[Ruralman]

Only one thing for it OR - you'll have to book a test drive and include some gravel roads and write a test up on here for us to read.
I would be really interested in a part by part analysis to see where the weight difference compared to the V Strom comes from.
realistically, unless fitted with decent knobblies on the front in particular, the Transalp is really not at home in the mud @ 196kg, but is great on gravel and dry surfaces (incidentally I went through the Millenium track between Beaumont and Millers Flat the other day - it took 12 minutes longer than my riding companion going round the main road including a few minutes reading the inscription on the lonely graves signs - highly recommend this diversion with some stunning river views). At 235kg the Varadero has no place on mud and I would imagine a similar shod V Strom would be the same.
If you are a rider wanting to do more extreme adventure rides than just gravel roads and dry tracks the probably the big KTM is the way to go.
The Varadero reads well and looks pretty good to me and if you were doing a lot of 2 up riding it would be worth a look over the Transalp. Just remember John though - those demerit points could start to rise rapidly now that your cop predictor mechanism has started to falter!!!
Is it fuel injected? - be interesting to compare fuel useage against the T/A as well.

[oldrider]

There's also a good report on the Chatto creek 1000 miler showing a couple of VStroms in the same issue.

Have bought the mag and read the (very good btw) report Malcolm, hey did you notice the author has got a bike and name just like yours!
Funny old world isn't it.
I must write to that mysterious author and ask him what sort of mileage he got out of his V-Strom on that ride, wonder where he lives?
Another question I would like to ask him is, have the big VStroms' got a six speed box? Cheers John.

[pritch]

I share his concern about the linked braking, especially off the tarmac and the ABS should be able to be turned off or on too.

So have you actually tried the Honda linked braking? I've used it on a Blackbird and now the VFR, I like it.

For the benefit of those who don't know it goes something like this: (the manual lacks specificity ) When you apply the front brake two of the three calipers on each front brake work as does one on the back.

If you apply the back brake two of the three calipers on the back brake work along with one on each of the front.

If you apply both brakes all nine calipers work.

The brakes are excellent and there is only barely perceptible front end dive.

I think most of the negative perceptions regarding linked braking may come from early versions which were not as slick as what's on offer now?

[Ixion]

Yes, that is fine on seal. But the concern was how it would be on gravel, which is a whole different story. I certainly would not want to ride on gravel or dirt without an independant back brake. And ABS ditto (I have experience of it). It is wonderful on seal, on gravel, you CAN lock up the rear but it is much too unpredictable.

[Jantar]

Have bought the mag and read the (very good btw) report Malcolm, hey did you notice the author has got a bike and name just like yours!
Funny old world isn't it.
I must write to that mysterious author and ask him what sort of mileage he got out of his V-Strom on that ride, wonder where he lives?
Another question I would like to ask him is, have the big VStroms' got a six speed box? Cheers John.

Yeah, I did notice the similarity. I'm sure that if you asked him he'd tell you that he got just over 15 km/l and that the VStrom does have 6 gears.

As for where he lives? Well that could be a bit of a mystery as the editor has bet that the pic of Mt Cook was taken on the way home from the event, so it must be somewhere up north.

[oldrider]

So have you actually tried the Honda linked braking? I've used it on a Blackbird and now the VFR, I like it.

No pritch008, I do not think I have but may have without actually knowing it, in which case it will have worked OK.

I have ridden Blackbirds and really enjoyed them!! (sealed roads only)

Yes, that is fine on seal. But the concern was how it would be on gravel, which is a whole different story. I certainly would not want to ride on gravel or dirt without an independent back brake. And ABS ditto (I have experience of it). It is wonderful on seal, on gravel, you CAN lock up the rear but it is much too unpredictable.

Yes Ixion, I agree. Once into the gravel I like to have independent control and feel, over everything on my bike.

I do not claim to be a great rider but have managed to keep myself in one piece (apart from lots of skin) for quite a number of km and years without really knowing how or why.

Being on this forum has made me think a lot about how I ride a bike and how would I explain this or that if a young rider asked for my help.

Every time I ride my bike I hear them in my mind , asking their questions, I never realised that I did most of the things I do on my bike, I find it quite revealing.

I think the modern innovations on motorcycles and the quality of the bikes across the board are simply fantastic, it's just hard trying to keep up.

Young riders are lucky to have access to riding schools etc and learn from all the mistakes others have made before them, there is a lot less "ouch" that way.

I really do enjoy riding my little bike, I wish I had enough money to buy one of each! Cheers John.

[Ixion]

..
I do not claim to be a great rider but have managed to keep myself in one piece (apart from lots of skin) for quite a number of km and years without really knowing how or why.

Being on this forum has made me think a lot about how I ride a bike and how would I explain this or that if a young rider asked for my help.

Every time I ride my bike I hear them in my mind , asking their questions, I never realised that I did most of the things I do on my bike, I find it quite revealing.

I think the modern innovations on motorcycles and the quality of the bikes across the board are simply fantastic, it's just hard trying to keep up.

Young riders are lucky to have access to riding schools etc and learn from all the mistakes others have made before them, there is a lot less "ouch" that way.

Yes , it is an odd thing is it not. I find myself nowdays rather in the position of the man who discovered that he knew how to speak in prose.

When I started riding no-one knew any of the theory, and the universal way to learn was to get on the bike : fall off : get on again, rinse lather, repeat until you stopped falling off .

This was best done on a local patch of dirt - the road back then was dangerous indeed. Infested with snakes. One could be buzzing happily along and - woof - out of nowhere the local snake would materialise. Which always meant another roadside lecture. The bastard once sat on his Triumph at the side of the road for half an hour and made me go through the same corner over and over, at least a dozen times until I was doing it to his satisfaction. (I owe that man my life, though like every young idiot I never realised it at the time)

But even he knew nothing of the theory of cornering on a bike. Cars, I knew about them . I knew castor and Ackerman angles and the difference between wishbones and McPherson struts and much else long forgotten.

But bikes, bikes you just rode along. When a corner came up, you thought ," Oh, corner, go round corner". And round you went. Often with much scraping and clattering and showers of sparks; sometimes to the accompniment of a wailing crescendo "Oh SHIT. Oh, holy FUCK" . But as to HOW this cornering was done, neither I nor anyone I knew ever knew or questioned. Or cared. It just happened. The bike knew how to do it.

If you had assembled every biker in Auckland in the early 60s and said "Countersteering" to them, I am sure they would have looked at each other, looked at you, concluded you were a gibbering nutter and stolen your bike.

And so I went on for 40 years. The occasional magazine article was digested with a vague "uh huh - okay, sure ", but as to cornering, the scraping and shrieking diminished, and I managed to avoid ever coming off on the road, but it was still just "something that happened".

Ditto things like braking. In the early days, we didn't have brakes (well you had to have a risible bit of metal in the rear hub for a WoF, but noone actually expected it to DO anything). Later we got wonderful 2LS drums, you just squeezed the lever, and if the cable didn't break, sometimes you slowed down. Slightly. Sometimes not.

Now, in the last few years, I am being brought to ask myself "Well, what AM I doing just now. And why. And is it what I SHOULD be doing". And dredge up the memories of those ancient magazine articles, and realise that I have indeed been countersteering for 40 years. Well, bugger me.

The person starting out on two wheels today has resources we never did. So much the better. And I , too, am learning, learning what I never knew I knew. I think that old snake would be pleased . You're never too old to learn.

[pritch]

When a corner came up, you thought "Oh SHIT. Oh, holy FUCK" .

You mean it's different now? :-)

Have bling for that writeup

[oldrider]

If you are interested, try this link! It seems to be accepted on a Varadero forum as being a fair description of the varadero as a bike.

Not quite what I wanted to read with regards to "off road" but what do they mean by "off road". (gravel, mud, farm trails?)

I would only want it for formed roads, scaled down from tarmac to piss poor gravel (farm) roads, piss poor but still a formed roads!

Example, link roads like, Hakataramea, Dansey, Blackforest passes etc and some farm bulldozed tracks.

We (Mrs O/R and me) used to traverse the above roads on our Honda ST1100's and while they didn't have any trouble doing it, there are more suitable bikes for that sort of riding, the transalp is one, could the varadero be another?

Anything less than that is, (IMO), for trail bikes, not big heavy venture bikes. Well for us anyway. Cheers John.

http://www.usedbikeguide.com/features/211_varadero.htm

[98tls]

Have asked a few questions on an overseas based forum regarding these things and replys were mostly very positive.........usual comparaisions to a v-strom............one comment that kept coming up was on the motor and how reliable they are........for the off road you want to do i am picking it would be just fine........same as a v-strom.............

[scracha]

Anybody on here ridden, owned, know anything, about Honda Varadero'?

Are they suitable for gravel roads etc?
Cheers John.

Comfy road bike. Far too heavy for gravel IMHO but I've not tried one off tarmac. Lots of grunt but thirsty on the gogo juice. DL1000, TDM900 or BMW GS far better alternatives.