Honda XL 1000V Varadero Make Model | Honda XL 1000V Varadero | Year | 2003- | Engine | Liquid cooled, four stroke, 90°V-twin cylinder, DOHC, 4 valve per cylinder. | Capacity | 996 | Bore x Stroke | 98 x 66 mm | Compression Ratio | 9.8:1 | Induction | PGM-FI electronic fuel injection. 42mm Throttle Bore | Ignition / Starting | Digital transistorized / electric | Max Power | 94 hp 69 kW @ 8000 rpm | Max Torque | 99 Nm @ 6000 rpm | Transmission / Drive | 6 Speed / chain | Gear Ratio | 1; 2.571 (14/36), 2; 1.684 (19/32), 3; 1.292 (24/31), 4; 1.100 (30/33), 5; 0.969 (32/31), 6; 0.853 (34/29) | Frame | Diamond; steel tube | Front Suspension | 43mm telescopic fork, 155mm wheel travel | Rear Suspension | Pro-Link with spring preload damper, rebound damping adjustable, 145mm wheel travel | Front Brakes | 2x 296mm discs 3 piston calipers | Rear Brakes | Single 256mm disc 3 piston caliper | Front Tyre | 110/80 R19 | Rear Tyre | 150/70 R17 | Dry Weight | 225 Kg | Fuel Capacity | 25 Litres | Consumption average | 16.4 km/lit | Standing 0 - 1000m | 11.9 sec | Top Speed | 211.8 km/h | Reviews | Motorrad pdf | After 4000km, you know biking's the only way to go
A group of friends and I came up with the hare-brained idea of visiting the four corners of South Africa by motorcycle. We started a couple of weeks ago with a ride to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of the continent.
Because it requires no imagination to be uncomfortable, my wife and I rode Honda's new XL1000V Varadero for the 3700km, five-day round trip.
The recently upgraded Varadero is a big, comfortable, handsomely-styled fast tourer with the versatility to take on gravel roads. At R97 800, it's competitively priced against its nearest rival, BMW's R1200GS, that sells for R114 950 There are times to sightsee and times to shoot for distance - and that was our mission heading out of Johannesburg at sunrise for the first and longest leg, an 1100km slog to Port Elizabeth.
It's not without trepidation that you tackle such a long haul, even on a comfort-orientated tourer, but we needn't have worried. The bike proved so comfy that when we reached Port Elizabeth we both felt fresh enough to have ridden straight back to Jo'burg.
The seating position is upright and relaxed, the pew nice and wide - Honda seems to have learned its lesson from the narrow, designed-for-teenage-ballerinas, saddle on the smaller Africa Twin. At 830mm the seat's not suited to the vertically challenged but it was fine for my 1.82m.
The high screen is manually adjustable to any of three positions and is very effective – to the extent that I had to ride with my visor slightly open to prevent it from fogging up We arrived at our overnight stop in Port Elizabeth at 6pm, parked the bikes and went for a well-earned rest. Inexplicably, a grumpy granny in an adjoining room complained to the manager that we had "revved our motorcycles all afternoon." Not everyone's a bike fan...
After first day's long ride the 600km day trips along the eastern Cape coast seemed almost child's play; the Varadero really is one of the best long-distance bikes out there. Cruising power
Its 996cc, fuel-injected, V-twin motor thumps out 69kW at 8000rpm, with 98Nm of torque at 6 000rpm. If you're used to a superbike, you'll know that's not kick-ass power but there's lots of strong, smooth and linear cruising strength that takes you to 210km/h at a push and cruise at 180km/h two-up with the luggage cases full.
Ah yes, the storage. The 35-litre panniers and 45-litre locking top box (a R12 000 option) easily swallowed five days' worth of (economically packed) luggage for two, although the panniers' latching system was a bit fiddly.
The weather gods were mostly kind as we rode the picture-postcard Garden Route over the next three days but the Varadero's tall screen and hand guards came in handy and helped keep the occasional chilly spell at bay.
The eastern Cape's notoriously strong winds caused some problems; a couple of times side gusts hit us so hard we were blown into the next lane but a nice thing about riding in winter is the absence of bugs plastered across your visor and the bike.
Long ranger
The 25-litre fuel tank is another feather in the Varadero's touring cap; fuel consumption on the six-speed Honda varied, depending on pace and the wind strength. The best we got was 5.6 liters/100km and the worst 10.2, with an average of 7.9 liters/100km.
That worked out to a generous tank range of 316km – there were some bikes in our group that could barely manage 190km.
Handling is about what you'd expect of a tourer; there's no knee-scraping on the menu but the big Honda turned in quite crisply for a bike weighed down by two people and their luggage. With both crew seated well forward to compensate for the inevitable tail-heaviness, I could get it leaned well over in the mountain passes.
The brakes - big dual discs up front and a third at the rear - are well up to the task, with a progressive, not over-sharp, feel. Honda's linked braking system automatically feeds a percentage of braking power to the rear wheel when you snatch the front brake, or vice versa. Not everyone likes the system – experienced riders prefer to have total brake control - but in normal road riding it wasn't obtrusive.
The instrument panel is large and easy to read with two trip meters and a fuel consumption computer. The indicators perform double duty as flashing hazard lights, which came in handy to say "thank you" to cars that moved over to let us pass.
Courteous drivers
Out on the open road we were taken aback by how courteous motorists were. Closer to the cities it was a different story altogether, where the more stressed drivers got into lane blocking (the "Irish Chicane", where a car in the fast lane stays close alongside a car in the slow lane to prevent anyone overtaking even on a double carriageway – it's illegal on a racetrack but on the public roads it's just very bad manners) - and the whole road rage deal.
Perhaps there's a thesis in this.
The Varadero's high, wide handlebars, generous ground clearance and semi-knobbly tyres made it suitable for gentle off-road work. Our route took us through a 30km dirt section where the bike felt quite stable but with M'lady on the pillion it wasn't the place to try anything fancy like hard braking or sideways slides...
We reached Cape Agulhas safely, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans shake hands, and with photos snapped to prove it we headed back via George, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Port Elizabeth.
Some rear tyre wear was the only evidence of our nearly 4 000km marathon – plus my jacket needed a good wash after being used as target practice by a Plettenberg Bay seagull.
So why such an odyssey on a bike?
Because there's a charm and magic about doing it on two wheels instead of cocooned in a tin box. Because the wind blows harder, the sheep look fluffier and the yellow fields of rape on the Swellendam-Cape Agulhas road look more vivid.
And when you stop in small towns people shake their heads and ask: "You rode the bikes from WHERE?"
Plus that seagull had a good laugh at my expense. - Star Motoring Source Motoring.co.za |