NEW Honda XL750 Transalp LAUNCHED

[johnnyboxer]

Main rival is Tenere 700, I guess and the Transalp has 20 more horse power

Johnny B - I hear what your saying , and if I wanted an off road bike I'd have bought the Tenere , but I wanted a touring bike I could manage weight wise......Hello Transalp !

Good point & I agree
Going to test ride one for sure
I ride my Tenere 700 mainly on the road too

[johnnyboxer]

Well, today I actually got to oggle and fondle a new 750 Alp at Ecosse in Aberdeen. It was still in the process of being built up, but they'd wheeled it out of the work shop so they could actually do some work 0n customers machines.

1st impression - looks to me like its been built to a price. The paint finish wasn't that great and the panels felt flimsy. It's a matt grey paint finish on their demo bike - maybe the gloss white paint scheme will show off the bike better . . . but the panels will still be flimsy!

The rear shock has to have pre-load adjusted by your faithful "C" spanner (hopefully supplied with the bike in a tool kit). How much would a remote pre-load knob have cost in money terms and weight penalty - not much would be my guess.

All the identifying decals are just stickers on top of the paint, no laquer in site, so easy to pick off. Even my 2020 CB500x had laquered over decals on the tank!

The rear brake reservoir is under the rear wheel arch (behind a crud/splash guard admitedly) - what a right pain thats going to be when fluid change time comes around! I couldn't even see the mounting bolt that holds it in place.

The sump has a huge carbuncle of a protrudence on its bottom, with a large flat face facing forward . . . and the bike doesn't come with a sump guard of any sort as standard, but £400 will get you a Honda one.

It's tall, like F800GS tall - I was on tip toes, just like I am on my F8GS. Only a problem for normal sized folk - you leggy feckers would be bovvered by it

Ecosse reckon on it being available to test ride in about 10 days - didn't ask what the delay would be, cos I'm honestly not that interested in trying it out.

Note to anyone thinking of getting one - check the chain tension. The chain on this one was near bow string tight 8| . The label containg the chain tension info said between 50 + 55mm on what looked like the top chain run. Obviously the tech at Honda thought they knew better!

Roll on a real person doing a test ride report on one - maybe it rides OK.

Steve T

Not a good first impression

[minkyhead]

managed to get a go on the new hornet it was a lad i knows bike and still running in .so i didnt take the piss ...very nice srong motor in it made a decent sound too ..privatly i wasnt really in live with the fit and fiinish of the bike ..but at 7 grand its hard to knock
i guess ill get around to trying one sooner or later ..jurys out a bit on the looks tbo but its not my first priority ..seems to get pretty good reviews overall
i went on the website and by the time you have finshed with the configerator thingy the base went from 9.5 to south of 11 grand with luggage solutions
id say at that kind of money a road biased buyer which would be me would need to have a pretty good look around as its getting pretty close to some pretty formidable touring bikes with a much higher spec

open mind see how it rides innit

[johnnyboxer]

[catcitrus]

EXACTLY---recently got rid of a nice one to try a big scoot--and have some regrets--maybe I need a bigger scoot than a 400! interestingly the 600s continue to go up in price--the market knows!!!

[soho]

The original Tranny, one of the greatest bikes ever in my mind and hugely overlooked right up til a little while ago.
But 30 odd years ago I went the way of the XRV Africa twins and stayed with them right up to now. I see the new Tranny as the bike that should have been the new AT in 2016 rather than the CRF1000. I've shown my faith by pre ordering one, and I'm hoping I'm happy with it. In the mean time I've just bought back my 701 from the guy I sold it to. So I'm at least covered for a while
(as the Dragster is a bit of a Prima Donna in shit weather, which as we all know is also called 'UK summer'
The CRF is also fantastic bike I know, but I my mind was not a replacement for the AT. I'm hoping this new 750 is ???

[mark vb]

I've shown my faith by pre ordering one,
The CRF is also fantastic bike I know, but I my mind was not a replacement for the AT. I'm hoping this new 750 is ???

I'll be much interested to hear what you think of it after you've ridden it a bit.... especially as a comparison with the XRV.

[soho]

Hi Mark, are you maybe thinking the same as me ?
Not immediately, but somewhere down the line. When I'm too old to even pick up my 701

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[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Dick Whistles on YouTube has done a funny walk around...pointing out the 'sacrificial sump ' that protects the catalytic convertor!

The paper spec is good...not so sure about the execution.

[mark vb]

Hi Mark, are you maybe thinking the same as me ?
Not immediately, but somewhere down the line. When I'm too old to even pick up my 701
DSC_0047.JPG

Yep, it's a definite possibility and I'll be interested to hear more about it. Guess I should take a test ride Looks to be my sort of bike!
More immediately, I trailered my Ural chair to Watsonian a couple of weeks ago and rode the CRF there yesterday. All I have to do now is wait....