Motorcycle News - Church of MO: 2010 BMW K1300S Vs Honda VFR1200F Shootout
https://ift.tt/2zBTRWN Whatteth the heck was going on in 2010 anyway? Not much, really, relatively speaking. The World Health Organization was in trouble for overestimating the swine flu pandemic, the Deepwater Horizon had a small leak in the Gulf of Mexico, and the US was busy finishing up Operation Iraqi Freedom. Small things. Of much greater import, Honda launched its first big VFR. It really wasn’t what anybody was expecting, but you don’t go riding the motorcycle you want, you go riding on the motorcycle you have. Let that be a lesson, and always strive to know the unknowns as well as the known. Amen. Over and out. Good luck. —————————————————————————————————————– 2010 BMW K1300S Vs Honda VFR1200F ShootoutThe sportbikes of sport-tourers!
By Kevin Duke Apr. 09, 2010
Photography by Alfonse Palaima Video by Fonzie
Marketing mavens created the word “tweens” when they realized kids aged 9 to 13 were spending more than $1 billion a year on stuff and needed to describe the demographic.And these two bikes – Honda’s new VFR1200F and BMW’s new-for-’09 K1300S – occupy a similar in-between niche. On one end are liter-sized sportbikes bred on the racetrack, like those in our recent 2010 Literbike Shootout. While the other end is occupied by big sport-tourers like the BMW K1300GT, Honda ST1300, Kawasaki Concours 14 and Yamaha FJR1300 we compared last summer.
When the VFR1200F was introduced to us last fall in Japan, Honda engineers described a hypothetical middle-aged rider who wanted a sportbike to ride on twisty roads but who has to travel 75 to 100 miles to get to them. Full-on 1000cc sportbikes are too uncompromised for long-distance trips, becoming uncomfortable for aging wrists, and have maintenance-heavy chain drives. But the 1300cc class of sport-tourers scale in at or above a porky 650 lbs, compromising their agility in sport-riding situations.
Kawasaki and Yamaha have described their S-Ts as “supersport tourers.” If that’s the case, then the VFR and K1300S are super-duper supersport tourers! The Perfect Match The K13 and VFR stand apart in their tween-ness. Both boast four-cylinder motors with similar displacements – there is a discrepancy of only 56cc between the 1237cc Honda and 1293cc Beemer, with both posting nearly identical peak power numbers. Single-sided swingarms with shaft drive makes the pair distinct from the chain-drive Kawi ZX-14 and Suzuki Hayabusa, as does their ability to mount accessory saddlebags. Base prices are just $449 apart. Honda’s dual-clutch version of the VFR has yet to become available.
The VFR’s $15,999 MSRP is, somewhat surprisingly, above the K13’s. But judged by finish detail and build quality, the Honda clearly looks more expensive. Honda has a new paint process in which the parts are gently agitated to yield a glass-smooth surface, and the VFR is one of the first bikes to receive this high-end treatment.
Motorcycles via Motorcycle.com https://ift.tt/2Std7JO May 31, 2020 at 10:50AM Leave a Reply. |
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