2011 Victory Motorcycles Lineup

The Freedom 100 engine is being discontinued to be replaced by the Freedom 106 which will be available in two versions.

Victory’s 2011 cruisers will be powered by the Stage 2 version with a special cam package claiming 97hp and 113 ft-lb. That includes the Vegas Jackpot, Hammer, Hammer S, Vegas, Kingpin, Hammer 8-Ball, Kingpin 8-Ball, Vegas 8-Ball, and the Zach Ness Signature Series Vegas 8-Ball.

The 2011 Victory tourer lineup, featuring the Cross Country, Cross Roads, Victory Vision Tour, Vision 8-Ball, Cory Ness Signature Cross Country and Arlen Ness Signature Vision will be equipped by the Stage 1 engine. According to Victory, the Stage 1 version produces 92hp and 109 ft-lb.

All 2011 models will be equipped with an updated six-speed transmission. According to Victory, all-new helical-cut gears reduce gear whine while an updated mainshaft design reduces driveline lash by 66%. The new transmission also comes with “Neutral Assist” which makes it easier for riders to hit neutral when coming to a stop.

The transmission will be covered by a new 100,000 mile warranty. Oil change intervals have also increased to 5,000 miles.


The 2011 cruiser models get an updated instrument panel like the one first introduced in the Victory Cross Roads. The new instrument cluster includes analog speedometer, blue back lighting and LCD displaying time, gear position, tachometer and diagnostic readouts.

Victory is also offering a new optional trunk for the Cross Country and Cross Roads. The Lock & Ride trunk can be installed without tools and incorporates a passenger backrest and dual audio speakers. A power cord connects the trunk to the bike’s electrical system to power the lid’s tail light as well as an electrical outlet for accessories.

The base Victory Vision and the Arlen Ness Signature Series version will now come standard with ABS brakes.

By Motorcycle.Com

2010 Honda Fury

You’re looking at the 2010 Honda Fury, an inspired design built around a familiar motor. Featuring chopper styling cues such as the high headpipe and the largely exposed backbone frame tube, the Fury is Honda’s attempt at creating a mass-produced “custom” chopper.

First seen in public today at the IMS show in New York, journalists got a sneak peek last month in American Honda’s high-security R&D center in Torrance, CA. Company reps say customers want a “radical” looking chopper with Honda durability, quality, reliability and affordability.




“To say that we got jazzed was an understatement,” said media-relations good-guy Jon Seidel about when he saw the Fury in person for the first time. Reaction from Honda dealers was reportedly “over the moon.”

The most expensive component of any motorcycle is its engine, so Honda was fiscally responsible and fitted a modified version of the 1312cc V-Twin seen in the VTX1300 variants. It retains the 52-degree Vee angle and single-pin crankshaft, but it differs in its cylinder heads, cams, port shapes and exhaust system. Most important is the addition of fuel-injection to the VTX’s carbureted mill. We expect slight increases from the VTX’s rear-wheel numbers of 59 hp and 71 ft-lbs of torque.



“It does have a different feel, character and sound,” said Steve Paulos, a senior test engineer at Honda. Single-overhead-cam cylinder heads retain the three-valve, dual-plug design, while a stacked and blended shotgun exhaust appears appropriately butch. Chromed engine covers add bling to the air/liquid-cooled powerplant, but their plastic construction loses a bit of authenticity points.

Paulos said the bike’s biggest engineering challenge was integrating an unobtrusive yet effective radiator (set neatly inside the frame’s dual downtubes) that met Honda’s tough standards.

Like the VTX, the Fury has a five-speed transmission and utilizes a shaft-drive system. A color-matched aluminum swingarm with revised styling spices up the back end. Honda gave some consideration to using a belt-drive arrangement on the Fury, but it was cheaper to stick with what was already developed. There isn’t one belt-driven bike in Honda’s catalog.

But the mechanical bits play second or third fiddle to the outlandish (for Honda) styling of the Fury. Company reps emphasized that cruisers appeal to a rider’s emotions, so Honda stepped a bit outside its typically wide comfort zone to create a bike that initially appears could’ve been built in a small fabrication shop. “Welcome to the wild side – of Honda,” reads the PR materials.

Its body-colored frame tubes look elegant, given extra spotlight by an artful fuel tank that exposes the triangulated headstock and horizontal backbone frame tube. The mid-tank crease that arches downward to the seat is another styling success. Fashion has its price, and here that cost comes in the tank’s modest 3.4-gallon capacity. You’ll note the lack of Honda badges on the bike’s flanks; the bike’s origins will remain a mystery to the general public.

A lovely front fender wraps neatly around the skinny 90/90 front tire, highlighted by a handsome 21-inch front wheel. A 200/50-18 rear tire resides under a traditionally shaped rear fender with a tidy brake light slid under its tail. Blame pesky federal regs for the large turnsignal lamps that look bulky alongside the bike’s lean design. More appealing is the shape of the chrome headlight arching forward from between the 45mm fork tubes.

As for how the Fury will ride, Honda reps assure us the bike isn’t at all awkward to handle. A 38.0-degree rake angle is quite chopperish, but it’s balanced by a modest 3.5 inches of trail. At 71.2 inches, the Fury’s wheelbase is the longest of any production Honda.


The view from the cockpit is clean. Throttle cables and brake lines are exposed, but every other wire is hidden inside the bars. A scooped saddle placed 26.7 inches from the ground blends nicely into the tapered gas tank. At a listed curb weight of 663 lbs (full of fuel), the Fury is about 6 lbs lighter than the $9,899 VTX1300C.

We’ll know more about how the Fury performs after we ride it in the latter part of February. The Fury will be one of the first USA-bound bikes to be produced in Honda’s extensive new factory in Kumamoto, Japan. It is scheduled to hit American dealers around the latter part of March and will eventually be sold in Europe
By Kevin Duke, Jan. 16, 2009, Photography by Alfonse Palaima and Honda

2010 Honda CBR1000RR C-ABS Review

The past year saw two all-new models (the R1 and GSX-R1000) continue the typical two-year development cycle from Japan. Prior to 2010, each new model year generally saw at least one model from the Big Four receive heavy revision. This year is something of a dry spell. But, hey, at least there are a couple changes in the liter class. In the 600cc supersport arena there’s nothing even worth mentioning in terms of revisions for 2010!

With Yamaha and Suzuki supplying clean-slate designs of the R1 and Gixxer 1K in 2009, the round robin revision cycle had us anticipating news of big changes from Honda’s and Kawi’s literbikes. Especially since the last overhaul of each came in 2008. Alas, it was not to be, as Big Red and Team Green implemented only mild updates.


Kawasaki’s ZX-10R received the widest array (and by wide we mean more than two things!) of tweaks and minor but practical refinements. Most notable are improvements to shifting mechanisms, slightly longer throttle cables for improved throttle action and a new Öhlins steering damper. Cosmetic touch ups here and there round out the tart up.



Honda’s CBR1000RR didn’t necessarily stagnate this season, but an unspecified increase in flywheel size, a new muffler cover and revised license plate bracket are just about on par with the Zed’s “news.” So we begrudgingly grant the Honda a status update, but clearly things are slowing down in hyperbike land.

While attending the 2009 U.S. round of WSBK at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park a Honda rep told me this reeling in of rapid-fire changes might happen for the whole sportbike class, and indeed it seems it has.



We didn’t expect to be able to discern much about a marginally larger flywheel, but to say that we at least tried we took a quick spin around the track. We have to wonder, though, just how much increase was made to the flywheel, as claimed curb weights for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 models are identical at 439 pounds.

We were right. Not much in it to say, “Hey, I’m a new 2010! Not like that stinky ol’ 2009 model! Puh!”

However, a day of beating up on the mostly unchanged 2010 CBR1K only reminded us of all the things we liked so much about last year’s bike.

As we noted in our 2009 Literbike Shootout, the CBR doesn’t post the biggest horsepower numbers, but its wide powerband made it the best street engine of the group. And much of what’s adorable about the Honda’s engine during street rides is also enjoyable and advantageous on the racetrack. A super-stout midrange offers the strongest pull earlier in the rev range than any other literbike. Its torque peak of 76.6 ft-lbs is not only the highest of the 2009 inline-Fours, it also boasts a twisting force advantage over a 5000-rpm range.

Despite grunty power in its midrange, the double-R’s leisurely response at low revs was one of the few things that kept the Honda’s mill from scoring top honors in the Engine category in our annual shootout last year. Seems nothing’s really different in that respect for ’10.

If the flywheel changes for this year were meant to smooth out power delivery, we’d question why, as the Honda had a fairly linear feel to begin with. But a larger flywheel might also have inadvertently served to further soften rev response below, roughly, 6000 rpm. Hard to say since we didn’t have an ’09 to compare to, but nothing about this year’s engine screams big changes for the better. We’re awaiting responses from Honda for details on the flywheel…

One attribute about the CBR that testers lauded last year was its stable, obedient chassis. We can look not so fondly back to Mark Gardiner’s mishap as a strange testament, almost a backhanded compliment if you will, to the Honda’s handling.

“It [Honda] felt so planted and confidence-inspiring that I crashed it,” said a red-faced Gardiner. “That’s a compliment to the brilliant handling; lesser bikes send you a warning as you reach the limits of the tire’s adhesion, but the CBR1000RR was completely composed, ready to do much more on demand.”

Nothing has changed about the 1000’s frame, steering geometry, etcetera, so it remains a well-handling sportbike. We won’t, however, be crashing another one this year as an exercise to celebrate the Honda’s chassis…

Last year I had the grand opportunity to sample Honda’s new Combined-ABS for sportbikes when I test rode the 2009 CBR600RR C-ABS at Honda’s private testing facility. I couldn’t say enough good things about the new system, as you can read here in our 2009 CBR600RR C-ABS Review. However, we forsook using the CBR1000RR with C-ABS in last year’s liter battle. That meant I was the only rider here to have had the pleasure or riding the computer-controlled ABS for Honda supersports.

This year we seized the opportunity to ride the C-ABS-equipped thousand, giving Kevin Duke his first taste of the system.

“The Combined part of the C-ABS works really well on the track,” remarked KD on his first experience with the linked anti-locks.



 “Hard-braking situations that would have other bikes wagging their back ends during corner entry were utterly composed with the CBR’s system. The way the addition of a slight amount of rear brake settles the chassis when braking provides a feeling of security, regardless of the safety aspects of the ABS part of the system. If I were in the market for a CBR1000RR, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the C-ABS version.”

Ultimately there’s not a lot to parade about as big changes for the CBR, unless you want to talk dollars.

The Honda’s MSRP has bumped up to $13,399 for 2010, a $400 increase from 2009. But the 2010 bike’s tag reflects a full $1800 over the 2008 model. That’s a sizable leap for what is essentially the same bike as two years ago. Eesh! Seems Japan is still having a tough go of it.

Regardless of a dearth of impressive updates, the CBR1000RR is still an excellent bike. And with the same condition across the class this year we’ve no reason to expect the Honda wouldn’t come out the overall winner in 2010 against Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, just like it did in last year’s shootout.


However, there’s a new inline-Four kid in town. And by judging recent feedback about the performance of BMW’s S1000RR, we expect the Big Four are all back at the drawing board feverishly penning new

2011 Honda CBR250R Tech Review

When in August we wrote about “the [previously] only Japanese-American 250cc sportbike” – Kawasaki’s Ninja 250R – we did our best to taunt and cajole the remaining three members of Japan, Inc. to bring more 250cc sportbikes to the U.S.

Funny how things worked out. It was as if Big Red – which last year lost sales ground to Team Green – decided to throw together its own quarter-liter recipe, if not in response to us, at least to the mighty little Ninja which has enjoyed an exclusive 22-plus-year run as a top seller.

Honda never mentioned the Ninja by name at the recent CBR250R tech briefing, but it is certain that the still proud company has the smallest Ninja in its crosshairs. Honda says it has long wanted to build a 250-class sportbike, but it had to wait until a confluence of events made it feasible.

Specifically, even as U.S. and European demand continue – but with massive economic question marks hovering over their collective heads – other emerging markets now represent enough buying power for Honda to justify an all-new motorcycle.

According to American Honda’s Senior Product Planning Specialist Tony De Franze, the CBR250R will be seen as an especially cool ride in the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, as well as Japan, Europe, North America and Australia.

Its manufacture in Thailand will be close to its growing eastern markets, and that’s probably good for westerners too. In an era when new Hondas like the VFR1200F are busting the limit of expensiveness, the CBR250R was positioned equal to the bargain-priced Ninja 250R, due in part, De Franze says, to the favorable exchange rate from Thailand.

 Honda has factories in 20 countries, and the Thai plant has been in operation since 1967. The 5400-employee facility also makes the PCX 125cc scooter, can manufacture 1.5 million motorcycles and scooters annually, and since opening has produced 18 million units. The CBR250R should therefore be as well made as anything with the – love it or hate it – mighty Honda name stamped on it.

Ducati Multistrada vs Honda VFR1200F vs Kawasaki Z1000

Your riding buddies say they can tour on any bike. You say most touring-oriented bikes have a sporty side and therefore make the best sport-tourer.

Oops! Did we just allude to one of the more controversial, even incendiary, topics in modern motorcycling?

Today, when someone utters the word sportbike, the likely response is a GSX-R, an R6, a Honda CBR, or some such thing. But ask a rider to describe his or her ideal of a sport-touring machine, and the answers are wide ranging.

Sure, lots of folks would naturally point to the likes of Honda’s venerable ST1300, Yamaha’s FJR1300 or BMW’s K1200GT or R1200RT, as prime examples of sport-tourers. Each bike offers good to great wind protection, hard saddlebags as standard, robust engines and some darn good handling qualities.




Yet for every rider that sees those sleds as icons of S-T, many other enthusiasts would scoff at the idea of most of them handily slicing up canyon roads.

To these folks, practically all that’s required is a tank bag, a set of soft saddlebags lashed to the tail section of their R1, and maybe a GPS or other accessories as-needed. Voila! Instant sport-touring motorbike! “After all,” they say, “Sport touring is about sport capability while traveling, and my bike equipped the way I want it is lighter, handles better, and costs less than a turnkey ST.”

Pursuing the unknowable

We like banging our heads against the wall ‘round here every now and then. So what better way to keep the tradition than to see if we can answer the question: What is a sport-touring motorcycle?

Three of the most interesting and inspired motorcycles to be released in 2010 are assembled here, and they made for a decent representation of the kinds of machines that could be considered as possible sport-touring steeds.



Although we didn’t enlist a purely sporting sportbike, we made due with the next best thing: a 2010 Kawasaki Z1000.

The nearly naked standard/streetfighter-inspired Z, bedecked with nothing more than a flyscreen, possesses the same minimalist spirit, if not more so, as a race-repli sportbike. Yet the Z still offers some comfort in the form of its upright-ish riding position that’s far less committed than the race-ready tuck many sportbikes demand.

Also, the Zed’s inline-Four is revvy and closest experientially to a sportbike engine when compared to its fellow competitors in this three-bike experiment.


The next mule subjected to the question that might not have an answer is the sultry, technology-laden, and rather pricey, Ducati Multistrada S Sport with accessory saddlebags and low seat.

The Multi offers the most upright riding position in this small collection of bikes; a manually adjustable windscreen and minimal bodywork provide decent wind protection.

As an S model our Multi comes with electronically adjusted Ohlins suspension and ABS Brembo binders; various carbon-fiber treats add to the MTS’s upscale character. Standard on all Multistradas are four rider-selectable engine maps, as well as DTC (Ducati Traction Control) that provides eight levels of TC – also rider-selectable.

The Multi is by far the most loaded boat in the bunch, at least in terms of gadgets.

Finally, we come to the motorcycle many enthusiasts might argue as the closest definition of a sport-tourer of the three machines gathered: the VFR1200F.

Wholly revised from previous iterations, Honda’s VFR is nothing like the Viffer you knew years ago. A big leap in displacement took the venerable VFR’s V4 engine from 782cc to 1237cc; everything else about the Viffer12 is a departure from the VFR800 Interceptor, including the new VFR’s optional Dual-Clutch Automatic Transmission.


Unfortunately, circumstances didn’t allow us the use of the new auto-trans Honda, but Honda’s CBS (Combined Brake System) with ABS is standard fare on all the VFR1200 models.

To make the VFR as touring-oriented as possible, our test unit was outfitted with accessory saddlebags, topbox, heated grips, centerstand and low/narrow seat, along with a few other lil’ odds ‘n’ ends. A wind-cheating add-on for the windscreen deflector and a wind deflector set for the outer portion of the upper cowl ¬were also included.

We’ve reviewed the dickens out of each bike (or so it feels) in previous evaluations, so simply refer to the single-bike reviews of the VFR1200F, Multistrada 1200 and Z1000 for more comprehensive insight to each bike. Additionally, the Multi has gone head-to-head with BMW’s GS, the VFR with the K1300S and the Z1000 tangled with Triumph’s Speed Triple.