62 TALON GUIDE
The Honda Talon 1000X is the mountain master in
Honda's sport SXS lineup. And something we thought
would be perfect for the trails in the hills of the Big Sky
State. It is designed with a footprint to navigate tighter
trails and to be more responsive around obstacles as
it performs more compactly than the Talon 1000R. It's
really just a difference in suspension travel and wheel-
base, but we think the Talon 1000X is the perfect ride
for this terrain.
In Real World Rides tradition, we didn't simply want
to take the new Talon 1000X up to the dirt and test
it ourselves. No, we can do that anytime, anywhere.
More, we wanted other people – real people – to tell
us what they felt when driving the new Honda Talon.
Further still, we wanted to drop the Honda Talon in their
backyard so they can give us (and you) a real-world
perspective of how it works in their life.
The Marks
For our Real World Rides: Montana effort, we found
the perfect family to fill our test-pilot needs. Cody and
Christie Marks live on a 7,000-acre family ranch outside
Clancy, Montana. This kind of off-road access is dreamy
for a test platform. They work cattle, manage timber
operations, and recreate all over their property and just
keeping fences mended is a full-time job. As a couple,
they are motorsports lifers to the core, both compete
in serious off-road motorcycle competitions all over
the west. And their two children are quickly following
in their shoes. How much do they love off-road com-
petition? Well, they held a hare scramble race on their
property for a number of years featuring over 20 miles
of hand-build singletrack. So, yeah, I think they're the
right people for the job here.
