Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

A cross-continent look at Honda's VT11DDC Shadow: ...... ..... l-< 0.. ~ Shadow across America, part2 Packed for t ou ring. the Shadow poses at t he j unct ion of Highway 90 and Interst at e 10 in Van Horn Texas; a fork in the road where rid ing styles and attitudes divide. Th e Shadow is designed for the two-l ane branch of that fork; a world where travel ing happen s at a slow er. more rel axed pace. By J im Wolcott R a in threatened on the horizon , a n d r u sh hour traffic was at a sta n dstill on Interstate 10 n ear San Antonio, Texas . An off-ramp was ahead, and with a quick weave through the sea of stranded ' cars the Shadow and I veered off onto old Highway 90. T he traffic gradua ll y thinned, and in a sh o rt time I wa s riding al one o n a d esert ed tw o-lane h ighway. Highwa y 90 . Less th an 20 yea rs ago, th is ro ad served as the m aj o r ea st-wes t th oroughfare for th e so u thern sta tes - much lik e the fabled Ro u te 66 that linked Chicago wi th Los An gel es. Old 90 str et ched from th e town of Van H orn in west T exas, and m eandered al ong th e Gulf Coa st to terminate a t the Atl antic Ocean near jacksonville, Florida. Travel was differe nt in the heyday of o ld 90; though the road was the most direct route for cross-country travel, it was punctuated by small towns every few mi les. Agricul tural traffic presented slow-moving obstacles, and every town had a lo w speed limi t - if not a genu ine speed trap. P ro gress was slow: serious day-long d ri vin g would seldom net more th a n a few hu ndred miles of travel. In terstate 10 now closely para llels o ld High wa y 90, and this m odern mu lt i-lan e ex p ress way h as changed the n a t u re of tra vel t hro ugh th e so u th er n sta tes. A tri p that was once a week -long ex pe d i tio n is now a twod a y bli tz across sm ooth and fea tureless terrain. The tourist traps, cu r io museum s, bottle houses and m otels th at o nc e dotted old H ighway 90 are 8 ) P1?~e:. tP.jl)l, .cr /1- . !\9~1 Jil tllf-", 1-1 .t."" ,) ......! . ( ~~. ~ -t ) \l !J1.~I\...~g ,J , l i (·...:;... 1........ -: m emori es o f a bygone era. repla ced by th e Inter sta te' s truck sto p s, junkfood vendors and self-serve filling sta tio ns. Of co u rse Highwa y 90 sti ll exis ts, a nd many travel er s enj o y th e relaxed pace it affords. Mom-and-P op ca fes serve meal s with a fri endl y " H i, how y'a l l doin ' today?" , and g r izzled servic e sta tio n veteran s wi ll ki ck yo u r tire a nd tell yo u a bo u t a '47 Harley th ey o nce bought for 30. T h o ugh seldom se para ted by more th an a few miles, H ighwa y 90 a n d Interstate 10 are worlds a part . . The same kinds o f differences exis t in motorcycles. O f their cu sto m- styled bikes, Honda builds th e ho t-blood ed V65 Magna as the shortest di stance between two points, for the performance-oriented rider d edi cated to the fas t lane. O n the other hand is the VT IIOOC Shadow , d esigned for a slower pace, perfect for roads lik e Highway 90. Followi ng the p ress in trod uctio n ri de to Da ytona Beach, Flori da, I rode the test Shadow back to th e Cycle News offices in Lo ng Beach , Californi a . T hanks to d eadl ines, five d a ys wer e allotte d for the r id e - eno ugh time to samp le a bi t of o ld H ig hway 90 , as well as to push th e Shadow th ro ugh some mile-m aking session s aboard Interstate 10. just a few years ago, a coast-tocoast ride o n a j apanese cus to m sty led m otorcycl e wa s noth in g less .tQa Q..'1Il. q~qeaI ;rlJ.~ .p ro b lem , wil,s. . ) I . " ' ~~r " \o J. C .1. ' ,/ , t ' II .C.I. J -J i 1 t. J i l.:" · tha t th e cus to m sty ling was co m pl et ed o n th e dra win g bo ards in j apan ; a very differ ent place from th e wid e-open -spa ces of th e U n ited States. The cus to m seat that looked right o n the stylis t' s dra wing bo ard seldom felt right at th e e nd o f a big-mile day . T h e same was true for th e placeme nt of the foo tpegs, the angle of the ha nd lebar bends, the w idth o f th e g as ta nk , a nd so on. Thi ngs have cha n g ed. In spi te o f its traditi ona l V-twin c usto m styling, th e 1100 Shadow makes a s urp ri sing ly co m fo rt a ble touring mount . T o en ha nce rider co m fo rt , the Shadow sports rubber-m ounted hand lebars a nd hollow rubber footpegs. The en g i ne is so lid ly mounted in th e frame, but H o n da 's u nique offset c ra n k p i n e n g i ne is s u r p r is i ng ly smooth . The sea t has a d eepl y-stepped buck et for the r id er, w i th th e passenge r perched a full two in ch es higher. The sea t is actua lly tw o separate parts, divided for rider and passenger. The idea is that th e weight of the rider won't pull the seat co ve r tight for th e passenger, or vice versa. A passenger backrest is part of the styling package, but is a ng led too far ba ck to contribute to passenger comfort. • • • Runn ing west from Dayto na, th e Shadow co n nected a series of back roads to end u p on Florida 's Highway 98, a long th e Intracoastal Waterwa y of the Gu lf Coast. Message num ber o ne fro m the engine room; th e Shado w isn ' t in a n y hurry to get a n yw here. T hough e no ug h power is on tap for 100 + m p h bl asts. th e Shadow prefer s to make head wa y in a polite a nd relaxed manner. While so m e motorcycles coa x th e rider into m aintaining w ild ly me~ ~ P'j~.s. ! I) Q~ IJa

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