A week or so ago, we published our drivelings on three great bikes that were for sale at less than 100K. We promised a more in depth feature on each machine – and this week Don shares his thoughts on the Honda VT1300 CX from Bikeshop Boksburg.
Honda VT1300 CX
Year: 2010
Price: R89,900
The Honda VT1300 motorcycle stems from 2010, when the Teutuls and Orange County Choppers graced our TV screens, and custom choppers were all the rage. Honda elected to dig into this market by building its own “custom” chopper, and so the VT1300 CX became a thing.
The Honda Fury was Honda’s first production chopper, similar to the custom-made choppers manufactured by Paul Teutul and Arlen Ness. The bike was sold internationally as the Fury, but it was sold as the VT1300CX in other countries.
It certainly has the chopper look – it’s longer than your grandfather’s walk to school barefoot in the snow, it has a teardrop tank, a large ornate front wheel, lengthy forks and enough chrome to cause blindness on a sunny day.
Custom choppers are normally pretty to look at but dreadful to ride; however, this is Honda, and Honda doesn’t do dreadful.
The seat is surprisingly soft, the ergonomic triangle does not attempt to cripple you, and it even has something akin to suspension, everything your average custom chopper does not have.
The motor is a 1300cc air-cooled V-twin, and it isn’t fast. It produces 74hp and 123Nm of torque to drag its 300kg body forward, but none of that matters because it feels right. It feels like a chopper motor – it growls and gargles and splutters and pops. It isn’t fast, but you don’t care because you feel like the king of the choppers.
So far so good, but nothing is ever perfect. While it certainly has pulled off the custom look, it would be in the owner’s best interests to keep admirers looking from afar, because much of that ornate chromework around the motor is actually made of plastic. The only way to tell, though, is to tap it and find out for yourself. Otherwise, no one would be the wiser.
Also, the ground clearance is nearly non-existent – this is a low-slung cruiser that looks cool, and that has its pitfalls, for example, at midvaal we discovered that it scrapes the pipes extremely easily – so that tells you that it should not go near a race track other than to simply look cool and spectate.
Also, sitting below the sump is the oil filter. One wrong bump and the Honda will spill its guts. Watch out for those higher speed bumps out there.
Apart from those little foibles, it’s a brilliant motorcycle.
Something interesting: 15 years after the bikes original release, it is still available brand new and virtually unchanged as the Honda Fury in the USA.
This one is in perfect condition at Bikeshop Boksburg. And it costs a whole lot less than we thought it should…
