Honda XADV
How does a serial Harley-davidson botherer fall in love with an adventure scoot? Like this…
RIDICULE, SO SAID Adam Ant, is nothing to be scared of. As a Hardly-ableson rider of some years now, barbs and jibes from the less enlightened among us are meat and drink to me. So, with the Honda X-ADV parked up outside a rural H-D establishment, this time it was the turn of Hog riders to politely inquire: ‘What the f**k is that?’ That, brothers in the wind, is an ‘Adventure’ scooter. The X-ADV scooter is officially an ‘Adventure’ device. It’s listed as a fully paid-up member of Honda’s ‘Adventure Family’. So it must be true. Right? Well, it’s no more an adventure scooter than a Crosstourer from the same ‘Family’ is an ‘Adventure’ bike. Two Vespas competed in and finished the 1980 Paris-dakar rally (when Paris was the get-off point and Dakar the finish). They reached the Senegalese capital slightly after the Thierry Sabine Organisation had packed away the finish line – but they got there. So you could safely ask: ‘Isn’t anything with two wheels capable of adventure?’ Whatever. It’s a scooter on stilts. A jacked-up Integra on suitably dual-purpose rubber – 15-inch at the back, 17 on the front. Call it a trail scooter. I became a chronic, hardcore fan of Honda’s DCT scoots as soon as I rode one. The Integra (on 17s at both ends) is an urban and A-road masterpiece. The discontinued Vultus, on the same running gear but with concept styling that should have stayed a concept, was a little too comic-book saddo, and less good in town, but equally adept on open roads. This X is a back lane rocket. On Bs and cart tracks there’s little to touch it. With big leverage from the wide ’bars (busting handguards, natch), ample field of vision from the elevated perch, and with 153mm fork travel from 41mm upside-downers up front and 150mm from the Prolink rear, the X soaks up all manner of tarmac horror. And allows you to enjoy the full delights of rural Britain. And rural Africa too, should you choose to venture further afield. A KTM 450 Rally has 320mm of ground clearance, the X 162mm. Almost half as much as a pukka Dakar bike, but enough to avoid getting beached on a beach if you decided to take it on your holidays. Your bucket, but perhaps not the spade would fit neatly in the 21-litre under-seat bin, swimmies and towel too. And you could take a friend on the super-plush pillion seat. Or take someone back to the campsite if you were on your Tod and met somebody nice. They’d be impressed. Maybe not if they were in bare feet on the optional serrated pillion ’pegs. But as we experienced scooterists all know, you’d have asked them to wear stout boots (which you could have stowed away in the optional topbox for just such an eventuality). Good quality flip-flops might suffice too. However dynamically capable, or eminently practical any powered two-wheeler might be, it’s forever the engine that makes or breaks the package. The X’s 270-degree-phased 750 parallel twin is a great engine. The same unit employed in the NC750 is a low-revving, undersquare, SOHC effort knocking out 54bhp at 6250rpm and 50 lb.ft at 4750rpm. It feels like a huge elastic band in full auto DCT mode and like six little ones in DIY shift. Full auto is more fun and less effort than titting around with buttons. Why get a dog and bark yourself? And it’s chain drive. None of that hopeless engine/trans/swingarm unitary nonsense. The engine is bolted to a frame, the swingarm gets to swing without taking half the world with it – and we get a scoot that handles like a ‘proper’ bike. Honda (along with Guzzi) tried autos back in the 1970s. They did a 750 four and CB400T (forerunner of the Superdream) and sold about 20 of each. Hondamatics were heavy and slow. The DCT generation also suffers some weight penalty but also provides smooth and enjoyable urge. Things have moved on. Significantly. Most everyone enjoys riding blip-shifter-equipped bikes, quickly getting over the rider-input deskilling complaint and appreciating the swiftness and sureness of electronic assistance. DCT requires a similar leap of faith although the rewards are more subtle. Pin the throttle and the X takes a moment to consider its options before sending you on with a flat moaning sound and decent drive. It slips into each higher ratio without interruption affording you the privilege of marvelling at the sheer wonder of it all. Some bikes are just sheer good fun for no particular reason and the X is one of them. Mark Graham
‘Some bikes are just good fun for no reason and the X is one’