All Tests – Honda SW-T600 ABS Test: the Silverwing is dead, long live the SW-T! – Let’s make a clean sweep of the past

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Honda SW-T600 ABS test: the Silverwing is dead, long live the SW-T !

All Tests - Honda SW-T600 ABS Test: the Silverwing is dead, long live the SW-T! - Let's make a clean sweep of the past

Honda took two years to develop its SW-T400 in 600 cc and it was about time, because the competition was impossible to meet for the Silverwing in the segment of large scooters. Honda SW-T600 ABS scooter first test… wet and windy !

Let’s make a clean sweep of the past

Less sporty than the famous Yamaha 500 Tmax and less statutory than the Suzuki Burgman 650, the Honda 600 Silverwing had been content for almost ten years to witness from afar the duel between these two big names in the maxiscooters category (read our and our).

This is due to a look that is a little too angular and old-fashioned, but also and above all to a frankly average handling. But let’s do a clean sweep of the past and give this new SW-T every chance, mix – perfect? – SW-T400 and Silverwing 600.

Peaceful, Honda France told Site that the sales targets for the SW-T600 on our territory were around 800 units for 2011. A figure which may seem enormous if we compare it to the 34 Silverwing 600 registered per year. last, but which ultimately turns out to be perfectly measured: hadn’t its little brother 400 cc exceeded 1,500 units the year it was released (then 900 last year) ?

Charmer

The lines cut with the billhook disappear to give way to a more fashionable look. The priority of the Honda SW-T600 is still comfort and protection, but its more fluid lines are particularly pleasant: the 600 takes exactly the design of the 400 unveiled two years ago (read our).

We therefore find the rather elegant double optic, the plush double-stage saddle and a more refined rear shell. The new colors could not be more sober since we have the choice between metal gray, black and titanium.

And in dynamics ?

If we had nothing to reproach the brilliant twin-cylinder of the Silverwing 600, nor its ABS / CBS braking (now standard), its handling on the other hand left something to be desired … especially compared to that of the competition !

Certainly, under normal use, the scooter remained more or less serene. But on bad road surface or as soon as the pace was increased a little, the cycle part became blurry, giving its driver the unpleasant impression of being seated between two wheels which lived their lives each on their own … Modeled on that SW-T 400, does the central beam frame – steel – of the new SW-T600 correct this defect ?

After doing a few short turns on its handlebars in Rome (on the occasion of the dynamic presentation of the new Hornet 600, read our), Site, back in Paris, was able to test this new Honda maxiscooter for a longer period. The weather in the French capital was certainly less pleasant than its Italian counterpart … but no less instructive! Test.

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