Honda
HONDA
NEW FOR '91
YOU CAN'T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME? HONDA IS TRYING.
OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, Honda’s new-model lineup has resembled a sailboat tacking into the wind. In 1989, in an attempt to attract new riders to the sport, there was the Pacific Coast, but hard-riding enthusiasts were forced to look elsewhere for big sportbikes, as Honda had purged them from the schedule. In 1990, Honda swung back, not only with the CBR1000, but with the RC30 and VFR750, exciting bikes with very strong appeal to the faithful.
Honda still is seeking the right balance between supporting the enthusiasts while expanding the market. So for 1991, it presents a smaller, more selective lineup, with five all-new motorcycles. It’s a smaller line because 10 models have been dropped, or “skipped,” as Honda’s officials prefer to think of it. The Shadow 1 100, the Pacific Coast, the Transalp, the RC30, the CB-1, the GB500, the VTR250, the NX250, the NX 125 and the NS50 have all been passed over for 1991. Honda claims there are adequate supplies of the bikes in the pipeline, company-speak which means that those models didn’t sell > all that well. The bikes may return next year. Or they may simply disappear from the roster forever.
Of the remaining models, four get paint-and-tape updates. The STI 100 now comes in two colors, a brilliant silver in addition to the basic black that was the only choice in 1990. The CBR1000 is red and black, and sells for $6998, the same price as the VFR750, which returns with goldpainted wheels and Dunlop radial tires. The V-Twin Hawk GT is unchanged.
While the $13,998 GL1500 SE Gold Wing returns in basically the same form as last year—with twotone gold paint and commemorative badges celebrating 10 years of Gold Wing production at Honda’s Marysville, Ohio, plant—it has two companion machines for 1991.
First, the Aspencade name makes a return on the otherwise unchanged $ l 1,998 standard version of the Wing. The second stablemate to the top-of-the-line tourer is the Gold Wing Interstate. Priced at $8998, the Interstate is the least expensive Wing in years. To drop the price, Honda clearly had to make more than a few concessions to economy, so while it shares the same basic platform as the other 1500s, the Interstate has fewer bells and whistles. For instance, the bike comes without reverse gear and without an on-board air compressor. There also is no cruise control or quick-release windshield-height adjusters. It also features a less expensive am/fm radio.
Furthermore, the bike has a seat height 1.2 inches lower than that of the other Wings. This lowering was accomplished by reshaping the seat. Overall, the Interstate is a claimed 40 pounds lighter than the other Wings. The lower seat height and the lighter weight should make it easier to push the bike backwards from the rider’s position, a thoughtful touch considering reverse gear is gone.
For riders desiring a simpler kind of motorcycle, Honda has introduced the new 750 Nighthawk (see Roundup. CW. July, 1990). The chain-drive Nighthawk uses an air-cooled, 747cc,
16-valve, inline-Four borrowed from the European CBX750. Suspension components are also borrowed, with the 41 mm fork taken from the CB-1. At a price of $3998, the bike is the latest of the latter-day Standards, and will face the new Kawasaki 750 Zephyr (see this issue’s Roundup) head-on. The Honda combines styling elements from the old Nighthawk 650 and 700S, but in a cleaner, more sanitized package intended to cap-> ture the interest of the rider looking for a less complicated, less intimidating motorcycle.
As a complement to the 750, Honda has also introduced a 250cc version of the Nighthawk based around the Rebel 250 engine and featuring bodywork quite similar to that of the larger machine. Twin shocks, a downtube frame and drum brakes help keep the styling clean and the design simple, as well as the price down. The 250 will sell for $2198.
One other 250 new for ’91 is the XR250L dual-purpose bike. This motorcycle is an answer to Suzuki’s already-popular DRS dual-purpose line, and Honda claims its XRL is little more than a street-legal XR250 (see the accompanying XRL riding impression).
Honda’s big, off-road bruiser, the XR600, enters 1991 with a new rear disc brake, new fork and shock, and a shorter swingarm. In addition, for those interested in racing, Honda has an optional power kit designed to increase the stock XR’s horsepower by 25 percent. The kit will cost under $1000 and will consist of a new bigbore cylinder, piston kit and recommended jetting and exhaust changes.
Two motorcycles have returned to the lineup for the new year. The VLX600 Shadow comes back unchanged after a year’s absence. The other machine, the CT70, returns after nine years. In 1970, the CT70 sold over 70,000 units, a still-standing record for a single model in a single year.
If you have been counting, you will have come up with only four new motorcycles so far, not the aforementioned five. The last is to be announced next month. We know that it is a new CBR600, but Honda would give no details other than to say the bike is new from the ground up. Chances are good that it will borrow engine technology from the domestic-market CBR400RR, a bike we tested and fell in love with two issues ago (see “The Untouchables, CW. September). It probably won’t share the same exotic, aluminum chassis with the 400 because that would raise the price of the bike too much, but some design elements from that chassis may make it to the new 600.
That about wraps up what to expect from Honda in 1991. Machines like the new CBR will keep the sporting enthusiasts happy, and the Nighthawk 750 ought to have traditionialists dancing in the aisles. Perhaps Honda finally has found the balance of models that’s it been looking for.
