En-gin power

Gin and Arnhem are in the CB1300’S sights for its first big trip…

GHENT IN BELGIUM delights and the Netherlands is the birthplace of gin. And both are near. My, new to me, big and simple Honda CB1300 is prepped at short notice for its bigger, simpler rider. A solo visit to the Arnhem battlefields and three bottles of Bobbies and Loopuyt gins are the targets of our first big trip out. A road I ride as an aperitif for my European trips is another low country – the naughty and oh-so-tricky A259/A2070 marsh road from Rye toward the ferries at Dover. It’s a workout for cornering, brakes and power, officer.

My expectations of the 250kg Honda are modest, yet grab two handfuls of the CB’S throttle and that turbine motor is a sublime frictionless and endless propellant. The basic Showa suspension – compression adjusters are for weaklings – also delivers once stiffened up. The fat-piped traditional frame is simply great at keeping the flying tank in check.

However, I didn’t expect this juggernaut to change my riding style. The muscular engine braking spurs me to enter corners fast and bang the throttle shut to help turn the bike.

I opt to take the coastal route through Zeeland and over the huge engineering marvels of dykes and recovered land, then on to the battlefields around Arnhem. Beautiful and peaceful. Gin secured I head home, but first stop in Werkendam for a factory tour of Dutch suspension maker Hyperpro. Peter van den Bogaard refreshingly won’t pander to my kit bling desires: ‘I could sell you EUR1200 piggyback units but it’s likely that 80% of any problems you have can be fixed with a EUR250 spring kit.’

2004 Honda CB1300 TOP SPEED SO FAR: 140mph NECK CIRCUMFERENCE: +3 inches AVERAGE CONSUMPTION (FUEL, NOT GIN) 43mpg