alex

133 months ago

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Honda F6B - Should Harley be worried?

Wanna Honda Bagger?

I'm an Englishman and the term bagger isn't a common one on that side of the pond. It's also to my detriment that I don't have many cruiser riding friends, and so it's taken me a long time to figure out what it actually means.

As far as I can tell, you start with a big touring bike - typically a v-twin Harley - and strip off as much as you can. You then add side bags, which is where it gets it's name from. It's kind of like a Naked sports bike is to a sports bike - you keep the same performance, but you enhance the everyday ride-ability by reducing weight. Looking at my local newstand and Googling tells me this is a popular thing.

Honda do currently have a full range of cruisers, starting with the 250cc Rebel through the Shadow, 1300, and Fury line. Beyond that, the have probably the grandest of grand tourers: While they sell pretty well they've never truly captured the imagination the way that a certain company from Milwaukee has. They keep trying though - remember they Rune?

Honda firmly believe this is a market they can grow in. From what they tell me, North Americans like their cruisers, but they also want something well built, reasonably priced and reliable. Milwaukee, take heed. Honda will keep working this market and one day, they will get it right. The F6B is the latest Red machine to give it a go. Rather than a completely new machine, I should tell you it's really called the Gold Wing F6B - The F6B stands for Flat Six Bagger, and that should tell you a great deal about what you need to know.

Big. Black. Powerful. It's the F6B

Big. Black. Powerful. It's the F6B

Take the current Gold Wing with it's massive 1832cc engine and strip it of it's mass. Gone is the center stand, voluminous top box with armchair style pillion seat and some of the electronic toys. Even the electric reverse gear is gone. That's 100lbs down on the fully tricked out Gold Wing and over 60lbs less than the base model. It also starts at CDN$22,999 - about $4k less than the donor machine. You're garage floor isn't the only thing that will appreciate the cutbacks.

Like most kids, the F6B is "cooler" than it's parent. The exposed steel frame on the Wing becomes a mass of solid black on the F6B. Chrome is relegated to the exhaust and engine lowers and despite it's size, it manages to look somewhat "stealth", at least in the black option. If the Dark Knight didn't already have the Batpod, I could almost seeing him riding this.

Equipment

Like most tourers, it's pretty well specified in terms of toys. There are switches everywhere for example. There's a little compartment up front with space for your iPod, which you can control from the handlebar mounted controls. There are even speakers mounted in the fairing. Personally, I don't think anyone should be subjected to my taste in music so I didn't try them but other riders in my group did and they sounded pretty decent. It's not audiophile quality, but then what waterproof speaker is at 120km/h?

Aside from the bars, the other main bank of buttons is by your left knee. I only had time for the most cursory of glances, and while I've no idea what half of them do, it looks impressive and I'm sure everything is there somewhere. In all, it looks more like a cockpit of a jet than the kind of motorcycle I'm used to. How you're supposed to remember what all of them are and do, especially whilst keeping your eyes on the road, I've no idea.

And we can't talk about a bagger without mentionding the bags: They look pretty much the same as those on the Gold Wing and claim to hold about 50 liters or 20kg. While I didn't actively try, I'm sure you could fit a full face helmet in them. The keyhole is recessed discretely into the tail section but it's the only way to open them. That's a pain if you want to get something quickly, but it does have the added confidence that the bags are always locked.

All in, it's not a huge amount of luggage, but if you need to take more than this, I'd say you're doing your motorcycle trip wrong.

How does it ride?

Earlier I said the F6B was more than 60lbs less than a stock Gold Wing. What if I told you it was still 842lbs? To put that in perspective, it's almost double the weight of the CB500F. To be fair it carries it low down, and while it's no fun to push, once you turn the engine on and start the bike moving it mostly disappears. Walking speed 180 turns are where I'd feel the weight normally but I managed to do more than a few of them with my feet up and stay in the roadway. It's heavy, but retains a solid balance and even grace. It's kind of reminiscent of the Hippos dancing Ballet in Fantasia.

The Honda F6B can move when it needs to

The Honda F6B can move when it needs to

As you'd expect the open road is where this bike excels. The big flat six engine pulls pretty hard anywhere in the revs. Just open the throttle and it goes, no matter what gear it's in. On the highway, you could ride it all day, but with so much torque, the temptation is to stick the bike in fourth and treat the engine as an automatic. It's safe to say, you'll never find yourself pulling out to pass a truck and wishing you'd changed down a gear first.

The F6B has so much torque, it could probably tow that boat if the truck got tired

The F6B has so much torque, it could probably tow that boat if the truck got tired

While it's good in a straight line, it's also no hater of the curves. Granted, I wasn't testing this on a racetrack or switchback littered highways - I do live in Southern Ontario and we're not blessed with roads of this nature much to my dismay. But what few curves there were it handled competently and with no complaints.

F6B - Good for curves, too

F6B - Good for curves, too

Take it somewhere a little twistier however, let's say the tail of the dragon, and I do think that mass will start to count against you. Try too hard and it's going to tire you out pretty quickly as you throw that bulk from one side to the other. But that's not what this is made for. Back off a little on the corner entry speed and use the torque to drive it out. You're not going to get there quite as quickly, but you'll see more along the way.

Criticisms

For a long distance bike, you sure feel the breeze. The big fairing and low windshield do little to deflect the windblast. I'd go as far as saying they actively make it worse. Sure, they keep the wind of your knees, but I felt more wind-pressure and noise on the stretch of highway than I did on the naked CB500F. I wasn't expecting to be fully cocooned but it certainly was a stiff breeze. For a mile-munching highway bike, it's not what I expected. There is a tall windshiled option but I dislike going to the aftermarket to correct something so fundamental. I guess it's designed for form over function.

The ride position also didn't suit me. I'm not a cruiser guy and tend to gravitate towards sports or adventure bikes. Within five minutes of riding the F6B, I had a minor backache in my lower back. In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a chronic issue with my back however.

I can only attribute this to the bars being very close and pegs slightly forward. All the weight is going through my spine and I'm not using my core to support myself. This all might have been simple adjustment (i'd spent most of the morning on the CBR500R for example) and I'd not given myself time to get used to it. Because I want to be sure, I'll be doing a big trip on the F6B later in the year.

Accessories

As you'd probably expect, Honda do offer a full range of goodies you can bolt on. Intercom, heated grips, power outlet and a rear luggage rack all might prove useful. Others, such as a center stand and the aforementioned screen promise to turn it back into a full Wing.

Summary

This is not the bike for me. At least it wasn't in the hour or so I got to spend with it. The engine is great and pulls well, but it comes at the expense of manoueverability.

I've no doubt that could I get past the back issues, I could easily ride this all day and still be relaxed and composed when I got where I was going. I seriously doubt I'd use half the electronics on it though, and at just shy of CDN$23k, it's more expensive than I'd typically go and I'd welcome an ever cheaper option at the expense of some of those switches.

I'm also not a huge fan of the way it looks. A friend of mine described it as fugly. While I wouldn't totally agree with him, it's not the best looking bike in the world. But again, remember I am not a cruiser guy.

The F6B - Not quite a masterpiece

The F6B - Not quite a masterpiece

I do feel that if you are a cruiser guy, this will all be normal for you. The seat itself is actually pretty comfortable, backache aside, and while there's no real backrest you can get one as an option.

I also felt somewhat disengaged from the F6B. The huge amount of lazy power on tap let my mind wander and I found myself day-dreaming rather than planning ahead. Maybe, that's what what Honda are going for. You have to be able to relax on a distance bike. No-one's going to brag about a fastest lap on this. Instead, it's a bike for sitting back and watching the world go by. Unfortunately, that's not me. I like my machines a little more visceral.

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VRSCDX

110 months ago

You hit the nail on the head.... Harley has been worried for quite some time now. But not about a Honda that looks like a giant scooter. Milwaukee is running from itself, or I should say it's market nitche buyer that does not want any discernible visual changes to the outdated technology that is a Harley today. The thing is, they are running into a wall on a dead end street called emissions control (EPA). MoCo is going as far as trying out water cooled heads on the big bikes so they can still hide the radiators in the cowling. Learning from Porsche, MoCo knows you can't go to 4-valve heads on an air-cooled engine. Thing is, not being able to control peak combustion temperatures, or cam timing, or lean mix engine timing with air-cooled cylinders......... yes, this can be done. Just look to the V-Rod engine for the future of HD baggers, or so Milwaukee thought. If the old school buyers stop buying the HD way of life. it ends here.

alex

133 months ago

@teramuto - would love to know what you think. Think it would ever tempt you from your Road King?