Touring again

[Fas]

Hello all, newbie to this Forum. I'm looking to get back in to biking after 25 yrs, and I love the look of the Honda ST 1300. I want the bike for 2 up touring with my partner. But I'm a bit worried the bike may be too much to handle. I'm also on the shorter side, 5ft 7". Any advice would be appreciated.

[Guest]

Find one to sit on, and test ride if you can once you've passed your test. Also take your pillion and make sure they are comfortable. If they're not you won't be.

[DuRavary]

6 hours ago, Fas said:

Hello all, newbie to this Forum. I'm looking to get back in to biking after 25 yrs, and I love the look of the Honda ST 1300. I want the bike for 2 up touring with my partner. But I'm a bit worried the bike may be too much to handle. I'm also on the shorter side, 5ft 7". Any advice would be appreciated.

I owned an ST 1300 between buying it new in 2012 and last month. It was a really great bike. I first got it for two up touring and it did that without breaking into a sweat. It was also a lovely bike to ride for enjoyment, although it’s heavy when manoeuvring the weight disappears once the wheels turn. It has a fairly low seat height which can be adjusted. I eventually downsized to take advantage of the backroads and tracks around where I live but for a couple of years I would test ride suitable replacements and feel I’d found the right one but riding the Pan home it’s torque, overall on road ability and the amazing electric screen made me think I was better off keeping it. Go and try one, you won’t know how good they are until you do.

[husoi]

You will be just on the edge of height for the Pan but I've seen shorter guys riding them.

They are excellent bikes and ideal for touring. Although 300kg dry bike could put you off I would try to sit on one before discarding it.

The Pan is easy to handle and won't let you down on any trip. Once you're moving the weight disappears and becomes a great ride.

Also, drivers can't miss something that size.

 

I had a look around to see what alternatives there are for the ST1300 and so far I couldn't find anything that does 250 miles on a tank, is as comfy and with same luggage space. So I'm sticking with mine.  

 

Then you can have something like this 

[Fas]

Thanks for the replies. I went and sat on a Pan 1300 ST, and yes it's a big bike but I really want one. I think it looks great and will be more than suitable for my requirements. You never know, might see you on the road this summer! Ride safe

[Fas]

Friends,

My local bike shop is putting me off to get a Honda Pan 1300ST. They reckon, for a new touring rider, the Honda nt 700v Deuville, would be a better choice. Used prices seem to be around the same. Any further thoughts, or should I stick to my guns?

[oldgrump]

Hi @Fas, The Deauville is a great bike, as is the ST1300, the Deauville being a 700, is slightly lighter than the 1300!! 

 

I would if I was you find a dealer and take both bikes out on a long test ride, most dealers if they are any good, should be able to accommodate at least a couple of hours test ride, take the passenger along with you to make sure they are as comfortable as you are on the bike.

 

It's like a car, you would't buy it without a good road test!! Would you!

 

 

 

 

[keith1200rs]

4 hours ago, oldgrump said:

 

It's like a car, you would't buy it without a good road test!! Would you!

I saw a statistic once that a surprising number of people buy cars without a test drive. 60% I think it was.

[Steve_M]

11 minutes ago, keith1200rs said:

I saw a statistic once that a surprising number of people buy cars without a test drive. 60% I think it was.

We bought our latest car without a road test. It was a like for like replacement buying a car still under warrantee so a test drive wouldn’t have told us anything we didn’t already know. 

[bonio]

I was on the point of trading our car in for a newer one at the garage round the corner from us. I'd driven it, and it was very comfortable. So had the missus. I'd got a quote on pxing our old car, and the amount they wanted to credit me was enormous, so I was all for calling in and signing the papers. Then mrs bonio said we should take it out together, with her as a passenger. Sure enough, within 5 minutes she was feeling travel sick, so I turned round, gave the car back and thanked God for the lucky escape. 

[Shepherd]

18 hours ago, Fas said:

Friends,

My local bike shop is putting me off to get a Honda Pan 1300ST. They reckon, for a new touring rider, the Honda nt 700v Deuville, would be a better choice. Used prices seem to be around the same. Any further thoughts, or should I stick to my guns?

My first 'big bike' was a Deauville, and I loved it!

User friendly,  lots of storage and great owners forum covering every aspect of servicing and repairing it that you could ask for.

A heavy beast though. 

 

Good luck with whatever you decide, 

 

Shep

[DR1]

12 hours ago, keith1200rs said:

I saw a statistic once that a surprising number of people buy cars without a test drive. 60% I think it was.

I’ve got two cars which I bought new. I didn’t test drive either of them. I bought the first in 2004 and the second in 2006. The younger is my everyday transport and the other comes out for special trips. I don’t think that test driving either of them would have made any difference.

[Bender]

Deauville is great at what it does. 

 

As for cars, test drives were just that, does it drive, does it stop, did it explode, 2 out of 3 was usually enough for a sale  

[fullscreenaging]

Once upon a time the Toyota Yaris peaked my interest. I think it was a relatively new model back then. 
Anyway it just so happened that my Step Dad had one on hire and I asked him if I could take it out for a test drive. 
I managed two corners before I knew it wasn’t the car for me. In fact it was bloody awful to drive. 
 

I always test any vehicle before I buy. 

[keith1200rs]

I had a Yaris hybrid for hire on holiday. It was not good- really struggled up the motorway hills in southern Spain.

[Steve_M]

2 hours ago, fullscreenaging said:

Once upon a time the Toyota Yaris peaked my interest. I think it was a relatively new model back then. 
Anyway it just so happened that my Step Dad had one on hire and I asked him if I could take it out for a test drive. 
I managed two corners before I knew it wasn’t the car for me. In fact it was bloody awful to drive. 
 

I always test any vehicle before I buy. 

We hired a Ford Focus for a weekend trip away before settling on buying our first. Following which we did take a couple out to test from a dealer to decide which engine option to go for (the 1.0 125PS three cylinder jobby ‘cos the 105PS engine was utterly gutless).

[Stu]

I don't think talking about test driving cars is helping the OP

 

[bonio]

Helping the OP?

Since when was that a thing?

[onesea]

My suggestion is look beyond the 2 bikes.

If your planning to be with pillion get her to sit in then as well.

Don't overlook the adventure cross bikes TDM, mt tracers, Tiger etc etc

[Bender]

14 hours ago, Stu said:

I don't think talking about test driving cars is helping the OP

 

You need to have a biscuit  

 

@Fas what's the budget? 

Any particular things that are a must have, there are a fair few touring bikes. 

 

[MikeHorton]

4 hours ago, onesea said:

My suggestion is look beyond the 2 bikes.

If your planning to be with pillion get her to sit in then as well.

Don't overlook the adventure cross bikes TDM, mt tracers, Tiger etc etc

Exactly what the wide and I did and didn't rush test rode as many as we could before taking the plunge 

[Steve398]

I had a ST1300 Pan for 11 yrs from new, until Dec last year when I part ex’d it for a BMW 1200RT, and toured extensively on the ST with my wife each year until COVID screwed things  for everyone. A superb bike, completely reliable, comfortable for both rider and pillion (once you get better seats) and easy to ride… but damn heavy, and in many ways outdated.
Produced in 2002 with minor mods in 2004 it has no cruise control, self cancelling indicators, TPMS, or provision for satnav - you may feel you don’t need or want these but they can be very useful, and talking of useful Honda do build in their own crash bar (and it works!) but ask yourself why, then consider it’s actually 328kgs and they almost take it as a given it’s gonna get dropped.

Don’t get me wrong both my wife and I loved the Pan, but for us it had just reached its sell-by-date and the RT suited our needs better. 
There are lots of decent bikes out there suitable for touring such as the Suzuki 1250 Bandit, Yamaha FJR, Kawasaki Versys, Honda NC750 - the last two are cross tourers but will do the job admirably. Try lots of bikes… as a mate of mine said “So many bikes, so little time!”

[billy sugger]

That does look a nice bike. Anything bigger than a 750 would be way too heavy for me to move around. I have really poor core strength, weakened after bowel surgery, and pushing the 600 around is hard work as it is so anything bigger is out of the question 

[Steve398]

2 hours ago, billy sugger said:

That does look a nice bike. Anything bigger than a 750 would be way too heavy for me to move around. I have really poor core strength, weakened after bowel surgery, and pushing the 600 around is hard work as it is so anything bigger is out of the question 

It was a nice bike but about 54kgs heavier than my RT, and this makes SO much difference when moving the bike around. 

[husoi]

Does the RT get 250 miles on a tank?