Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Check out the ultrawide handlebar, not to mention seat and lootpeg s. (Right) The ACE 750 has that "big boy" look. The cylinde r fi ns are purely cosmetic", (Below) Ntmble handling, light weight and a tow seat co m bine t o make t he VT7S0 the ul ti mate around-tow n bike, and it takes o n the open highways well, too. 1998 VT750C2 Specifications Engine type maneuvering through traffic for the first time on the ACE 750 and you' ll probably panic, especially on a ' crowded freeway , thinking that the motor just stalled. Crack the throttle aga in and the motor instantly responds. Whew! We had no complaints with the 750's five-speed, wide- ratio tranny, nor wi th the ca b le-ac tuated , wet cl u tc h. Th e clutch pull is so light on the ACE that you 'll think it's hyd rau lically operated . Swing a leg over the ACE 750 for the first ti me a nd what you 'll probably notice right away is th e ou trageou sly wide handlebar. It's even wider than the handleba r on the ACE Tourer, but is no less co m fo r ta b le . In fa ct, the 750 's ergonomics are outstanding. The bike is, overall, very comfortable: The low-andwid e, ru bber-moun ted handlebars reach out to the rid er; th e footpegs a ren't mounted too far forward; the sea t is low and extremely wide. To top things off, the controls are right where they should be, and the mirrors provid e a n un obscu red vi ew o f th e go ings-on beh ind you . Bo th t he ig n itio n sw itch and th e p ush/pull choke knob are locat ed on the left side of the motorcycle, the choke wedged in between the two cylinders and the ignition sw itch just aft of the rea r cylinder. The same key that starts th e ACE also locks it, via a separate steering-head lock assembly. One w ord best describes the'750's sus pens ion: "hars h:' which actually is abo ut on pa r with most cruiser bikes. This harsh feel!!'g becomes especially evid en t after stepping off the 750 and on to the Shadow To urer, Most of this ha rsh ness can be bla med on the dualshock rea r-suspen sion sys te m, w hich reac ts to every nook an d cranny u nfa. vora bly throug h its 3.5 inches of travel. Your only adjus tmen t possibilit ies are the five positions on the spring-preloa d collars. Luckily, the braced 41mm fork (which looks a lot bigger because of its chromed upper-fork shrouds, to give it that retr o look) takes up some of the sl ack, as the ride is much more plush and tolerable up front. Wheel tra vel is 5.1 inches. Overall stability is definitely one of the 75O's stro ng points. It tracks straight and true, both at high and low speeds, and the steering feels light. too. All this 745cc.liq";d-eool<.d. 52-deg>-ee. V·twin Bare .. stroke Compression ndio V.1ve train Carburetion Ignition Transmission Final d~ Suspension Front Rear 79 x 76mm 9 .0,1 SOHC. 3 valves per cylinder 34mmCV (2) COI w/electromc advance F IVe-speed O-ring. chain .41 mm telescopic fork Dual shock. wI five-way spring preload adj. W....ltrav.1 Front 5.1 In. Rear 3.5 in. B...k•• is especially n ice when sq u ee zin g through slow and hea vy traffic. But the ultra-wide han dlebar can mak e things a little interesting at times, es p ecia lly while lane-splitting in states that allow y ou to do so . You d o ge t used to it, though. A couple of our testers, however, did complain that the wide handlebars mad e them feel like a giant wi nd sail whil e traveling down the highway at s peed, w hich forced them to cla mp down harder on the han dlebar, resulting in tired forearms. As men tioned , it takes little effort to maneuver the 750 at slower speeds; after all, you have plen ty of levera ge on the wide han d leba rs, the seat is only 27.6 inches away from the pavement, and the bike is well-balanced, has a low-center of gravity, and feels very light. There is absolutely no intimidation here . Dragging the so lid-a lu minu m footpegs through the turns is a frequent occurrence on the 750. The footpegs are mounted low on the frame and are .quite wide, and they touch down ab ou t as often as the floorboards do on the king of d rag, the Yamaha Royal Star. Overall corne ring prowess is pretty good on the little ACE, though, as it feels qu ite stable leaned over, and predictability is fur ther in creased tha nks to its chain-driven (ra th er th a n sha ft- d rive n) fina l drive system . Slowing the ACE down requines a little bit of muscle. While the front brake a 2%mm single disc with a twin-piston cali per - alone provides adequate stopping power, the overall feel is spo ngy at best and requires a healthy sq ueeze on th e lever. To give your right forea rm so me relief, you' ll qu ick ly get in the habit of using the rear brake - in th is case a 180mm drum - in unison with the front. This jus t make life easier on the ACE 750. In typical cruiser fashion, there isn't much in the way of instrumentation on the 750: just a single, chro med cylinder perched on top of the upper triple damp that houses the speedometer. The fu el tank h old s 3 .7 gallons, including nearly a gallon of reserve, and that 3.7 gallons goes quite far. At times, w e squeezed 160 miles o u t befo re SWitching to reserve, but this was mos tly light-d uty , hig hway miles, so you can ex p ect th is figure to be sign ifica n tl y lower most of the time. We d idn' t like th e fac t that the gas cap completely d etaches itself from the tank when you go to fill 'er up. You almos t always end up d ropping the cap on the ground or forgetting where you put it. As far as styling is concerned, we feel the ACE 750 is one of the best-looking cruisers on the road . It's not overdo ne with gadgetry , and the bike looks big almos t as big as Kawasaki's Vulcan 1500 - so a lot of p eople will be su rp rise d wh en you tell them that it' s only a 750, especially when you fire it up. We ' re glad that Honda went w ith traditional spoked 17-inch (front) and 15-inch (rear) wheels with wide rims and fa t tires, which combine to he lp give the ACE that ready-for-fightin' look . It also has ju st e n ou g h chrome to sa ti sfy that important element of cruising , and the paint scheme and colors Honda chose for the 750 are right on the money, especia lly the black / copper versio n. Other co lo r co m bos in clu de pearl dark r ed with pearl ivory, and solid black. H ond a offe rs tw o ve rsio ns of the Sh ado w ACE 750: the s ta nd a rd ACE a n d th e Deluxe model, like th e o ne show n o n these pages. The sta nd a rd Front . . . .. ..••....Singledisc. twin·piston caliper. 296mm Rear Single drum. 180mm Tires Front 120/90-17 Rea• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170/80-15 WheelUM _ 63.7 in. Seat he 27.6 In. Dry weight lcIaimecll 507.1 lbs. Fuel capac:ity 3.7 gal. Cincl. O.9-gal. reserve) Colon S ta" 'rcI Deluxe BIack Black. black/copper. red/peart white MSRP Stand..... . Deluxe $6299 $6599. $6799 com es in just black and lacks so me of the chrome the two-tone-colored Deluxe models exhibit. And the price ? The Shadow ACE 750 has to be one of the best buys ou t there when it com es to cru isers. At just $6599 for the all-black Delu xe and $6799 for the two-tone Deluxe models, and $6299 for the standard ACE, anyone of these versions is tru ly an outstanding va lue, especially when you consider what they have to offer: that full-on classic ret ro look, without some of the negatives of the heavy-hitters; like weight, price and , in so me cases, a va ilabil ity . The only thing the ACE 750 mig ht be giving away to the big boys is a little bit of torque and overall power, b u t, as w e sa id before , not that much. O ka y , so H ond a might not have giv en the ACE 750 a grand coming-out party for its first year in production as they did the all-new Magna, ACE 1100, Valk yrie or th e AC E Tourer, but it d oesn't really matter. We're just glad it's here. 0; 37

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