1999 Honda CB1300 review
January 17th 2008 08:27
Now that I have sold my 500cc bike, its all go trying to find the next one to replace it. The XJR 1300 that I really liked, sold the same day that I tried it, so when this came up, I thought lets compare the two and see if this might be the one?
This example was a 1999 model with 22000kms on the clock, it had a four into one pipe and been tricked around a little. The colour was a stunning blue and I hadn't seen one of these before in that colour, with most of them being the Honda white and red. So first impressions with the colour and pipe were good and with a riding position was similar to the XJR, it was looking promising.
This is a big bike at 238kg but as with the XJR, it is easily moved around and stable and I didn't find it too much trouble at slow turning speeds. I did notice that from 1st, to 2nd gear, it gave quite a loud clunk but grew quieter as you reached the higher gears. Not having ridden another one of these, I'm unsure if its this particular bike or the model? (feel free to leave a comment if you can provide the answer?)
The engine gave plenty of torque as you would expect from bike this size although it didn't give me that ''flipping ekk' feeling and grin factor that Yamaha gave me. The ride wasn't as tight as the Yam either although to be fair, this bike had done 14000 kms more, but then sometimes the power delivery just felt snatchy and not as smooth as I'd expected either.
The engine is water cooled compared to the air cooled Yam and it seemed to be a bigger in size and appearance to the XJR and there was very little vibration through to the bars. I didn't push it too much due to the brand new rear tyre but I could see car drivers giving it some admiring glances as I past them by. Again it was a windy day which made cruising at 100 kmish on the motorway hardwork due to the windblast but a small fairing would solve this.
Very similar styling to the Yam but I would say the seat wasn't as comfortable though.
'Nice rear'
Standard retro bike layout for the clocks etc but it was nice to see a clock although this was at the expense of a tiny fuel gauge and no temp gauge unlike the ZRX1200. The idiot lights were bright though and showed up well, as with the XJR, it was hard to see if I was in neutral or not.
Brakes were good although on something this size, you would be asking just one or two questions if they weren't and there was none of that rapid dive like from the ZRX 1200.
Overall not a bad bike but at $9400 for a 22000km 99 model, it just didn't cut the mustard with me and to be honest, not a patch on the XJR that had less miles on board and cost only $800 less, so on with the search.
kiwiauthor rating (this model tried) 6/10
grin factor 6/10
words and photography Heath Ling
website www.heathling.co.nz
This example was a 1999 model with 22000kms on the clock, it had a four into one pipe and been tricked around a little. The colour was a stunning blue and I hadn't seen one of these before in that colour, with most of them being the Honda white and red. So first impressions with the colour and pipe were good and with a riding position was similar to the XJR, it was looking promising.
This is a big bike at 238kg but as with the XJR, it is easily moved around and stable and I didn't find it too much trouble at slow turning speeds. I did notice that from 1st, to 2nd gear, it gave quite a loud clunk but grew quieter as you reached the higher gears. Not having ridden another one of these, I'm unsure if its this particular bike or the model? (feel free to leave a comment if you can provide the answer?)
The engine gave plenty of torque as you would expect from bike this size although it didn't give me that ''flipping ekk' feeling and grin factor that Yamaha gave me. The ride wasn't as tight as the Yam either although to be fair, this bike had done 14000 kms more, but then sometimes the power delivery just felt snatchy and not as smooth as I'd expected either.
The engine is water cooled compared to the air cooled Yam and it seemed to be a bigger in size and appearance to the XJR and there was very little vibration through to the bars. I didn't push it too much due to the brand new rear tyre but I could see car drivers giving it some admiring glances as I past them by. Again it was a windy day which made cruising at 100 kmish on the motorway hardwork due to the windblast but a small fairing would solve this.
Very similar styling to the Yam but I would say the seat wasn't as comfortable though.
'Nice rear'
Standard retro bike layout for the clocks etc but it was nice to see a clock although this was at the expense of a tiny fuel gauge and no temp gauge unlike the ZRX1200. The idiot lights were bright though and showed up well, as with the XJR, it was hard to see if I was in neutral or not.
Brakes were good although on something this size, you would be asking just one or two questions if they weren't and there was none of that rapid dive like from the ZRX 1200.
Overall not a bad bike but at $9400 for a 22000km 99 model, it just didn't cut the mustard with me and to be honest, not a patch on the XJR that had less miles on board and cost only $800 less, so on with the search.
kiwiauthor rating (this model tried) 6/10
grin factor 6/10
words and photography Heath Ling
website www.heathling.co.nz
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