Cycle News

A cross-continent look at Honda's VT11aaC Shadow: By Jim Wolcott Honda's new 1100 Shadow is designed to be a low-maintenance cruiser, a motorcycle with low-rider styling, teamed with conven- ience features such as shaft-drive and self adjusting valves. . ' It 's aimed at the heartland of th e American market, a place known for it s fondness of big. brawny V-twins . motorcycles with a rumbling, ambling exha ust beat and a look dominated by a massive pair of cylinders . T he new Shadow is an evo lu tion- ary step; designed in reaction to th e sa les success of th e 700 and 750cc Sha do ws (Honda 's best-sell in g street bikes) as well as to provide competi- tion for Yamaha 's 1000cc version of th e Virago. Honda introduced the 1100Shadow 12 to th e press in Atlanta , Georgi a, and conducted an introductory ride to Daytona Beach , Flor ida , in time for Cycle Week. Following th is ride, the fleet of test bikes was turned over to th e motorcycle press for evalua tio n. A few davs later those eas tern states were beh ind me; the Sha do w's odo- meter ro lled over the 2000-mile mark wh ile the fro nt whee l was pointed west on Interstat e 10. T he gas ga uge was pegged on empty when a filling station appeared on th e horizon.T he town was Fla tonia . Texas - nearl y the geographic center of the Lone Star sta te. Awoman emerged from the fill ing sta tio n, wringing her hands on a shop rag as a screen door banged shut behind her. "That's one of them new Hahleys, ai n't it?" Her voice trailed off as she sq ui nted to see th e gas tank in th e morning sunlight. "No, I guess that's a Honda - on some of 'em it's hard to tell. My boy just bought a Hahley- Davisson, you kn ow." 'Her comments refl ect ed h ow stro ngly th e cru iser sty le has burned itself on theAmerican mind - proper cru isers are big V-twin s, th e Shadow is definitely a big V-twin. and th is very nar row segment of th e motor- cycle market has long been domi- nated by Harl ey-David son. T he Shadow's engine layout and styling del iberately address this interest in ' big V-twins and th e family resemb- lance is anything but acci dental. In th e mid -1970s it was hard to overlook the growing custom-cru iser market; both Kawasak i and Yamaha posted chart-busting sell-outs of th eir LTD and Special models. Compara- tively speaking, Honda was slow 10 enter th e fray; introducing their first p roduction-l ine " Custom," the CMI85T Twinstar, in August 1977. This 185cc tiddler was designed to appea l to th e first -time rider who was attracted to semi-chopper styling: And Honda sold bu nches of them. Shadow across America,part, Based on th e populari ty of th eTwin- sta r, a Custom version of the popular CX500 V-twin was added to Honda 's 1979 lineup. In 1980, Honda expa nded their Cus tomofferings, with C-models of the 900, 750, and 650cc in line fours, as well as th e CX500 and CM200T (a n en la rged CM 185T ) Twinstar. In 1982 Honda launched the chrome-flashed Nighthawk series, as well as theMagna: a cus tom-dedicated incarnati on of their new V-Iour Sabre. For th e 1983 and 1984 model years , th ese Custom models acco unted for one-third of Honda' s stree t motorcy- cle sales. Honda viewed th e st reet motorcy- cle market as having three division s: touring, sport and cus tom. In an effort to broaden the custom market, Honda has spl it this division into two segmen ts: th e performance- cus tom mod els, and the profi ler - cus tom models . The performance segment wo uld appeal to riders in search of searing quarter-mile times, and would be handled by Honda' s high-output V-four a nd i n l ine engi nes. But th e profiler market is for riders in search of an image - an image th at hin ges on a big-in ch V-twin engine. Performance and handling go out the window in this ca tegory. Im age. Mai n stree t on Saturday night. T he corner cafe in Srna lltown, USA. Day rides on narrow country roads . Morn . Apple pie. Harley-Davidson. Honda Shadow. The Shadow was introd uced in its 750c( incarnat ion as a 1983 model, and in spite of un- animously bad reviews by th e motor- cycle press , went on to become Hon- da 's best-sell ing street motorcycle. How could the mote-mags blast a model that sold in such grea t num- bers? Simple: th ey were measuring Honda's inaugural profiler-bike by the old pe rforma nce- bike standards . To understand the Sha dow it must be considered in context. For examp le, Harley-Davidson motorcycles have genera lly been excused from perfor- man ce criteria; quarter-mile times appea r in magazine tests, but Harleys are usuall y judged more on visua l and aesthetic grounds. Perhaps the Shadow should have received th e same treatment - but i t did not. A new perfo rmance criteria is emerging for prof' iler-custom mot orcycles: per- forman ce, as measured in th e mi rror, or maybe at th e showroom [loor. T he II OOccShadow is an up-scaled vers ion of Honda's orig ina l profiler- custom bike, and its engine is derived from th e smaller 750cc model; both employing Honda's unique offset- pin cranksha ft. Cylinder spacing is set at a cosmetica lly-correct 45°angle, but th e cra nkshaft's rod journals are sp layed 90· a part . The combination of th e cylinder angle and th e rod journal offset makes th e engine run as if th e cylinders are set at a 90· angle ; the engine runs wi th th e smooth, perfect primary ba lance that . goes with that design. This offset-crankpin helps make .the big V-twin smooth, but some vibration remain s. Unlike a Harley engine, where th e two connecting rods share the same rod journal, th e Shadow's rod journal s are separa ted by a flywheel located in the center of the forged steel crankshaft .As a result, the rod centers are spaced about an in ch apa rt . With the torque and throb of a big-in ch V-tw in, the rocking- couple ca used by the power pulses occuring an in ch apart st irs up a fair amount of vibration. Bore and stro ke is 87.5 x 91.4mm. Where the smalle r Shadow is slightly oversquare, th e llOOcc Shadow is an undersquare stro ker. Pistons are flat- topped, and employ two compres- sio n rings and a th ree-piece oil con- trol ring. Oil jets are directed at th e un dersides of th e piston crowns to aid cooling. T he flat-topped pi stons team with Honda 's sophistica ted three-valve cylinder head to form a hemispheri- cal combustion chamber. Two 32mm valves handle th e intakemixture, and

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