Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127280
BROAD TEST Honda Pacific Coast r Ten thousand miles on apair of pes By Chuck Clayton . Photos by Brian Catterson, Sharon Clayton and Jack Mangus ra ises a nd raises to the designers of the 1990 Honda PeeCeesl If this road test read s more like a va lenti ne, it is because I' have never been more impressed with any two -wh eeler. Even th e horn is accep table. To do it right, we requested two of the candy-app le red and silver bik es th at Honda's marketing wizards ca ll "the Pacific Coast" and that everyone else refers to as " the PC." The plan was to ride to the opening of the AMA P 22 H eri tage Museum in Ohio, solo, like the coup le in the Gerit ol commercia l - a pair of senio r bikers on identical machines. Almost identical; mine has the tall er windshield, ' upper spo iler, and bra. Sh aron 's is th e sta ndard model. Both bik es hav e ba ckrest s. The Honda people kindly installed rad ios to complete o ur entertainment on the road. My wife loves both her co mfo rt and indep enden ce. It takes a bike like the PC to persuade her to tackle a 5000 mil e tour, her first road ride at the controls in what, 20 years? Most impressive is the PC styling. This is the first bike designed wi th a built-in trunk, which made a grea t difference in our trip. Moving in and out of motels every day was a much pleasanter experience without the has sle of saddlebag lids and latches. You just pull the remote latch lever and the whole rear pops o pen like a hippo) mquth, In goes yo ur luggage or your groceri es (u p to 20 pounds on each side) or your helm ets or wh atever. The trunks lat ch securely and wat erproof with a light push and there we are, read y for a month on the road. T he PC styling defin es the decade of the I990s. Sculptured o u t of that ideal o utdo or materi al, plastic, its form announces its fun ction - to ride. Not to fidd le with. I don't have to see the engine and the plumbing to know it's a mo torcycle. In the wh ole trip I never even needed to check the oiI (tho ugh I did o nce, to make sure). If you mu st krio w, the engine IS a liq uid cooled, 800cc V-twi n. You feel its throb a nd he ar it s .so ng with sa tisfaction. T hat's all I need. We barely noti ced the absence of som e ga uges and swit ches of 10 years (blue), oil pressure (red), sides tand extended (yellow) and neu tra l (green). A sma rt circui t shu ts off th e motor if you forg et and puts it in gear with the sidestand down. The hyd raulic clutch never needs adj usting. Dual discs brak e th e front wheel and a simp le drum stop the rear. Tubeless Dunlop tir es resist wear and give great reassurance on a ll kinds o f road surfaces. Our tir es look like th ey cou ld go another 10,000 mil es. hers adj us ted about on e inch closer, whi ch is no t possib le to do without maj or work. Alas, the 1990 PCs are not perfect. I think the y should be lo wered by on e in ch . A PC ha s more road clearance th an it reall y needs, and if it were an in ch clos er to th e ground, sho rter legged riders wo uld love it. Also, though it o nly weighs 600 pounds, it is a two-person job to rais e it back up if yo u ever dr op it. Lowering it on th e suspension o ught to make it easi er to lift back on its wheels. The bars should be adj ustab le aft for peopl e with shorter arms. Out on the road, these q uibb les seem insignificant. T he PC del ivers the smoothest rid e this side of a Rolls. There is zero drive train slack and eno ug h power to wi n a race with a cyclon e. Ther e wer e tim es, harsh weather, fat igue, medical problems, when we would have glad ly aborted this tri p and rented a Ryder van the rest of the way, had it not been for the elegance and competence of these new PCs. We'd have been em barrassed to quit with both bikes so willing and ready to run. Sharon 's wors t nightmare is cross wind. T he sol id-faired PCs are sensitive to side winds. Fifty-mile-an-hour g us ts ac ross the Great Salt Lak e demanded real work to stay in you r lan e. Sp eed i n g 18: wh eel ers co u ld ac tua lly push your PC off line with the pressure of their passing. T here, the rear spo iler and the tall er windshie ld of my PC reall y work ed. T hey pl ant that motorcycle firml y o n the road, while her standa rd PC feels mor e skittish by comparison, though they are th e same bike. I enjoyed the rad io espec ia lly o n the wid e open spaces. Kenwood makes We ca n no t pra is e the P C seat eno ug h. It may not look it, but it is the most comforta ble standa rd seat on a motor cycle. After 5300 miles of stead y riding, I still have po sitions 1 haven 't used. The handlebar setup was perfect for me, but Sharon wou ld hav e liked them, and they pu ll in wea k, distant FM stations that I like: The classical and jazz stations at the low end of th e dial. ' H ere again , controls are basi c; just flick th e switch without looking away from th e road, and the radi o tunes in th e next station.. Wearing an (Above) The 1990 Honda Pacific Coast is known mo stl y for its uniq ue styling. (Ri gh t) We rode the two PCS from California to the opening of the AMA Motorcycle Heritage Museum ' in Ohio. The two bikes were identical except for the lead bike , which featured a taIler windshield, upper spoiler and bra. ago. Gone are the electric meter and light switch. There is no fue l tap to fool with. There are dial ga uges to tell you the coolant tem perature and fue l level, a 130 mph speedom eter and a tach om eter that redl ines at 7500 rpm . Bar s of light indicat e high beams