Honda VT750C Shadow
Mrs H is currently in the market for a new ride, so when we were in Palmerston North on Saturday getting my replacement screen for the ST1300, we took ANZA's demo Shadow for a burl.
At $11,000 (+ORC, or not, depending on the good nature of your friendly Honda dealer) this bike is outstandingly good value for money.
The finish is tops, as is the attention to detail. Lots of chrome, but good use of plastic in places where plastic is a sensible idea, such as the radiator cover. There is also a plastic tube over the frame cross-member under the engine. Honda has figured out what stones thrown up by the front wheel do! Why can't other metric cruiser builders?
Spoked wheels... Not good on the Mrs H cleaning stakes. Maxxis rubber front and rear.
Probably the lowest seat height for a cruiser in the 650-800cc class, at 660mm.
The speedo is in km, as is the odo. No US export overruns here. The odo is also digital with two trip meters. HISS (Honda's immobiliser system) is standard. A nice pop-off, pop-on fuel cap.
Shaft drive too -- unusual on a bike of this size.
14 litre tank, including reserve. No information on fuel economy but should do 20kml on the open road. Carburettor, electronic ignition.
The ignition switch is under your bum on the lefthand side. ANZA's demo, after nearly 400km, shows clearly what happens to the paint on the side cover if anything is attached to the key. Not clever at all.
The exhausts look like a two-into-one, but closer examination shows that they are siamesed twin pipes, inside a massive single chromed outer tube.
Throw your leg over.
The seat is nice and comfy and all of the controls fall easily to hand. The mirrors are well positioned and give a good view astern.
Fire it up, and there's a nice v-twin burble going on. Not too quiet.
Click it into first, ease out the clutch and the eager v-twin takes up the challenge.
The pulled-back bars take a bit of getting used to. Probably a bit too close for a taller rider and probably a bit too wide for a shorter one.
The gear box is, well, a Honda's. Smooth as silk and beautifully positive. The v-twin has plenty of lowdown grunt but seems to run out of steam after about 110kmh. Maybe this may improve a bit as the engine is run in, but the lack of roll-on in fourth and fifth would be a bit of a worry for highway cruising. Surprisingly Honda hasn't published power and torque information for this model. A cynic may think they have something to hide...
Mind you, it was blowing a gale in the Manawatu on Saturday, and the test bike didn't have a screen which, combined with the bar position, meant that the rider acted like a sail.
Brakes... I hope all of the Shadows aren't as vague as the test bike. I wouldn't liked to have tried to have stopped in in a hurry.
Verdict: A good value-for-money entry level cruiser. Beautifully finished. Possibly lacking the grunt of an 800 (Marauder, Kawasaki VN800). Would benefit from different bars and a screen. Possibly not up to big open-road mileage.
With Mrs H's accessories fitted (screen, heated grips and a Ventura pack rack), ANZA will roll a Shadow out the door for about $1,000 less than the best Marauder deal on offer. This makes it a very tempting proposition.
We would be interested to know whether anybody else has ridden one of these new Shadows, and what they thought of the engine's performance at highway speeds.
"Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]
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Originally Posted by DarkOne
I also felt like a complete pillock on the thing - very self-conscious.
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