Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

A cross-continent look at Honda's VT11aaC Shadow: Shadow across America,part, By Jim Wol c ott Honda's new 1100 Shadow is designed to be a low-maintenance cruiser, a motorcycle with low-rider styling, teamed with convenience features such as shaft-drive and self adj ustin g va lves. . ' It 's aimed at th e heartland o f th e Am erican market, a place known for it s fondness of big. 12 bra wn y V-tw ins . m ot orcycles w ith a rumbl in g , a m bling exha ust bea t a nd a look dominat ed by a ma ssive pair o f cylinders . T he new Shadow is a n evo lu tiona ry step; designed in reacti on to th e sa les success o f th e 700 an d 750cc Sha do ws (Honda 's best-sell in g street bik es) as well as to provide co m pe tition for Yamaha 's 1000cc version o f th e Virago. H onda introduced th e 1100 Shadow to th e press in Atlanta , Geo rgi a , an d co nd uc ted a n intro ducto ry ride to Daytona Bea ch , Flor ida , in ti me for Cycle Week . Foll ow ing th is ride, the fleet o f test bikes was turned o ver to th e moto rcycle press for eva lua tio n. A few davs la ter those eas tern states were beh ind me; th e Sha do w's odo meter ro lled o ver th e 2000-mi le ma rk wh ile the fro n t whee l was poi nted west o n Interstat e 10. T he gas ga uge was pegged o n em p ty whe n a filling statio n appeared on th e hori zon . T he to wn was Fla to n ia . Texas - nearl y the geogra p h ic cen ter of the Lo ne Star sta te. A wo ma n emerged fro m the fill ing sta tio n, wringing h er hands o n a shop rag as a scree n door banged sh u t behind her. "Tha t's o ne o f th em new H ahleys, ai n' t it?" H er voice trailed o ff as she sq ui nted to see th e gas ta nk in th e m orning su n ligh t. " No , I guess that's a H onda - o n so me of 'em it's hard to tell. My boy just bought a HahleyDavisson, you kn ow." ' H e r co m me nts re fl ect ed h o w stro ngly th e cru iser sty le ha s burned itself on th e Ame rica n mind - proper cru isers are big V-tw in s, th e Sha dow is definitely a big V-twin . a nd th is very nar ro w seg me nt of th e mo torcycle ma rket ha s long been domin ated by H a rl ey-D a vid son . T he Shadow's engi ne la yout a nd styli ng del iberat el y add ress this interest in ' big V-twi ns a nd th e fam ily rese m blance is any th ing but acci de nta l. In th e m id -1970 s it was hard to overlook th e grow ing cus to m-c ru iser market; bo th Kawasak i and Yamaha posted chart-bus ti ng sell-outs of th eir LTD a nd Special mod els. Co mpara ti vel y speaking, H onda was slow 10 enter th e fray; introducin g the ir first p ro du cti on -l in e " C u s to m , " t he CM I85T Twinstar, in August 1977. This 185cc tiddl er was designed to appea l to th e first -tim e rider who was attracted to semi-chopper styli ng: And H onda so ld bu n ch es o f th em . Based on th e popu lari ty o f th e Twi n sta r, a C us tom vers io n of the popu lar CX500 V-twin was added to H onda 's 1979 lin eup. In 1980, Honda expa nded th eir Cus tom offerings , with C-models of the 900, 750, a nd 650cc in line fo u rs, as well as th e C X500 a nd C M20 0T (a n en la rg ed CM 185T ) Tw ins tar. In 1982 H ond a laun ch ed the chro me-flashed Nigh tha wk ser ies, as well as th e Magna: a cus tom-ded icate d incarnati on of their new V-Iou r Sabre. For th e 1983 a nd 1984 mod el years , th ese C us to m models acco u n ted for one -th ird o f H onda' s stree t mo torcycle sales. H onda viewe d th e st reet mo tor cycle market as hav in g three division s: touring, sport a nd cus to m. In a n effo rt to broaden the cus to m market, H onda has sp lit this d ivision into tw o segme n ts: th e p erforman ce cus to m m od els, a n d the p rofiler cus to m m odels . Th e perfo rmance segme n t wo uld ap pea l to rid ers in search of sea ri ng quarter-mile times, an d would be handled by Honda' s hi gh- out pu t V-four a n d i n l i ne en gi nes. But th e profiler market is for riders in search of a n im age - an image th at h in ges o n a big-in ch V-twi n engine. Performance a nd handling go ou t the window in this ca tegory. Im age. Mai n stree t o n Saturda y night. T he co rner cafe in Srna lltown, USA. Da y rides on n arrow co u ntry roads . Morn . Apple p ie. H arley-Davidson. H onda Sha dow . The Shado w wa s introd uced in its 750c( in carnat ion as a 1983 mod el , a nd in sp ite of una ni mous ly bad reviews by th e mo to rcycle p ress , went on to become H onda 's best-sell in g stree t motorcycle. How cou ld the mot e -ma gs bl ast a model that so ld in suc h grea t num bers? Simple: th ey were measu rin g Honda 's ina ugu ra l profi ler-bike by the o ld pe rfor ma nce- bike sta ndards . To understand the Sha do w it m ust be considered in co ntext. For examp le, Har ley-Davidson mo torcycles ha ve ge nera lly been exc used from per for man ce cr iteria; quarter-mile times a p pea r in magazine tests, but H arleys a re usu all y judged more o n visua l a nd aes the tic grounds. Perhaps th e Sha do w shou ld have received th e sa me trea tm ent - but it did n ot. A new perfo rma nce criteria is eme rging for prof'iler-custo m mot or cycles: performan ce, as measured in th e mi rror, or maybe a t th e showroo m [l oor. T he II OOcc Shadow is a n up-scal ed vers io n of Honda 's o rig ina l profilercustom bik e, a n d it s engine is derived from th e sma ller 750cc model; both em p loy ing H onda 's unique o ffsetp in cran ksha ft. Cylinder spacin g is set a t a cos me tica lly-correct 45°angle, but th e cra n kshaft's rod journals are sp layed 90· a part . The co m bi n a tio n of th e cylinde r a ng le a nd th e rod journal o ffset mak es th e en gine run as if th e cylinde rs a re set a t a 90· a ng le ; the en g ine run s wi th th e smooth , perfe ct primary ba lance that . goes with th at design . Th is offset-crankpin helps make .the big V-twin smooth, but some vibration remain s. Un like a Harley en gine, where th e two co n necting rods share the sa me rod journal, th e Sh adow 's rod journal s are sepa ra ted by a flywh eel locat ed in the center of th e forged steel crankshaft . As a result, the rod centers are spaced a bo u t an in ch a pa rt . With th e torque and throb of a big -in ch V-tw in, the rockingcouple ca used by the power pulses occ u ring a n in ch apart st irs up a fair a mo u nt o f vibrati on. Bore a n d stro ke is 87.5 x 91.4mm. Wh ere the smalle r Sh adow is sli ghtly o versqua re, th e llOOcc Sh ad ow is an undersquar e stro ker. Pistons a re flattopped , an d em p loy two co m pressio n rings a nd a th ree-piece oil co ntrol ring . O il jets are d irected a t th e un der sides o f th e piston crowns to aid coo ling. T he flat-topped pi ston s team with H on d a 's so p his tica ted three-valve cy li nde r h ead to form a h em ispherica l co mbustio n cha m ber. Two 32m m val ves ha ndle th e inta ke m ixture, an d

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