 After flying in to
Melbourne at around 1700 and heading out to pick up the VTX 1800 I came to
the realization that I had forgot to bring my gloves. So there I was
in the middle of a Melbourne winter faced with a 200 kilometre ride up to
Shepparton in the dark of night with no gloves to keep my delicate little
digits (sic) warm.
Oh well, such is the life of a forgetful bike journo who actually utilizes bikes for transport needs rather than cars. A fact reinforced when I arrived at Winton the next day and met up with the only other bike journo that attends all the Australian race meets. Now this old duffer turned up in an Ovlov (Volvo) complete with bike on a trailer. Yes I am having a dig at the AMCN girls, sorry I mean guys. Sometimes I just can't help myself but I am sure Ken will take it in the good humour it is intended ;-> Back to the bike.... The VTX 1800 is the most powerful V-Twin cruiser yet seen and has enough stomp to embarrass not just plenty of sportsbikes off the line, but all of them. I reckon this thing would beat any motorcycle over the first 50 yards, no problem. With the right amount of provocation and a fair bit of timing it can even rear up into a reasonably respective little mono! Honda claim over 100 horsepower at 5,000rpm from the fuel injected donk but the really big numbers are in the torque department, try 163Nm or 16.6kg-m on for size, at only 3,000rpm! It is a low revving long stroke design with a large 4-inch bore, but it still revs harder than Yamaha's smaller 1,600cc Cruiser. The acceleration off the line is excellent and the long stroke engine finds traction easily, plenty of throttle from a standing start will provoke some wheelspin but this just adds to the attraction and is really quite addictive.
You can feel the large pistons slide their way up and
down through the long 4.5 inch stroke but this is not vibration, it is
just a fact of large pistons in large bores.
Most of the engine covers are chromed with an attractive silver finish on the crankcases and cylinders, these are finned for that traditional cruiser look. Three valves reside in each cylinder head, two 34mm intake valves and one massive 55mm exhaust valve. Twin spark plugs per cylinder add to the efficiency and make for easy starting. Twin 42mm throttle bodies feed those heads from a 4.5 litre airbox. The standard exhaust system is a large two-into-one chromed unit that is a bit too quiet for my liking. A nice free flowing system would have to be the first thing added to any potential buyers shopping list. The transmission is quite smooth and offers 5 ratios which seem to suit the bike quite well. My only complaint in this department is that I would like the shift to be a little more positive, but that is a sportsbike rider talking, and as far as this style of motorcycle is concerned the VTX is less vague in that regard than most. Drive is transferred to the large 180mm rear tyre via a shaft-drive system. In the stopping department we see another variation of Honda's Combined Braking System (CBS) which finds it's true purpose in life on a bike such as the VTX 1800. It links the front and rear brakes together to ensure an optimal balance of braking performance when only the rear brake pedal is used. The front brake lever operates the two front disc brakes in the conventional manner. Braking performance is excellent and the VTX remains stable under full emergency stop conditions, all the way through to a full stationary stop. Continued overleaf........ |
It
is clear that the 1,795cc liquid-cooled 52° V-Twin sets a new standard in
cruiser powerplants. It is nearly vibration free,
largely thanks to the rubber engine mounts, similar to the way a car engine
is located. 
The heavy 19 kilogram
forged steel crankshaft makes it feel like the bike is not doing much more
than idling when at the national 110 kph speed limit.
