Test
2000 Honda X11
By Alan Cathcart
Photos by Ph il Masters
(Above) Open
'er up and
you 'll
di scover 140
" horses" (at
9000 rpm )
inside t he
X11's in-li ne
four mo tor,
chomping at
t he bit to ruin
your new
back tire.
(Left ) The
huge pl astic
shroud for
the tw in oil
and wate r
rad iators
dominates
the X11's
looks from
most ang les.
6
he fir st of th e fi ve ne w 2000
mod el s fro m Ho nd a to en te r
prod u c tion is th e XII - a
Europe-onl y (at least to beg in
wi th ) mod el now in dealer sho wroo ms.
It's a new kind of addition to the nakedbike mark et that's in every way a nextMillenium motor cycle. For in concocting
a Spo rt Nudi e that se lf-co nscio us lv
a tte m p ts to rewri te the how -to design
m an u a l for b ig -b ore mu scl eb ik e s,
Hond a h as cre a ted a Su per Blackbird
s~i n -o ff th a.t marries space-age styling
wi th spo rtbike perform ance. A Firebird
XI I , anvone?
This' is no re tro-s tyl ed tw in -sh ock
roa ds ter lik e the Yam aha XJRI 200 or
Kawasaki ZXR1 100, but Hon da manageme n t' s ne x t-ce n t u rv a n swer to the
longest-lived and alm;,st certainly mostpro fitab le big-b ore mod el its Yama ha
rivals eve r crea ted, the V-Max mu sclerod . The V'M ax mad e its d ebut back in
1984, and still com mands a read y mar ket, as we ll as load s of street cred ibilitv
and lots of respect.
W hy it ' s taken Hond a 15 yea rs to
resp ond to the V-Max's sales figu res is a
bit of a mystery , but they have made a
few attem p ts over the past decade and a
half - without succe ss. Mo dels like the
