All Duels – Honda VFR 1200 DCT Vs BMW K1300S: supremacy challenged … – Iron glove against velvet paw …

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Honda VFR 1200 DCT Vs BMW K1300S: supremacy challenged…

All Duels - Honda VFR 1200 DCT Vs BMW K1300S: supremacy challenged ... - Iron glove against velvet paw ...

Considered as the benchmark for Sport-GTs, the Honda VFR is adorned with a new 1237 cc V4 and above all a double-clutch transmission (DCT) to keep its crown. Will this innovation suffice against a fully mature BMW K1300S? ? Duel.

Iron glove against velvet paw…

And there, change of scenery: if the K1300S has so far suffered a bit from its positioning more "Sport" than "GT", the situation is reversed when it succumbs to the sirens of the arson! In the first place, there is this engine: powerful and wickedly torquey from the bottom of the tachometer up to 8,500 rpm, the 4-legged Behème sticks a real punishment to its Japanese counterpart during the recovery tests. !

At idle, the Behème growls without restraint – well helped by the Akrapovic silencer at 1200 euros of our test model! – and the slightest micro-rotation of the handle propels everything with an astonishing conviction given the proportions of the beast! Not only has BMW succeeded in the feat of designing a powerful and lively four-cylinder (even in the "horse-less" version), but the German engineers have also managed to create a jubilant sensory environment around the Teutonic block. Yes, you read that correctly: the K1300S poses as one of the few German characters packed with character !

Humiliated by the incredible health and reach of its rival (on intermediate gears, the K1300S gives the impression of being seated on a ball pushed by a giant index finger!), The VFR 1200 DCT tries to keep up with this damaging rhythm to the driving license while waiting for better days: in France, the Honda suffers from a castrating restraint which removes all enthusiasm from 6500 rpm…

Effective from 4000 rpm only, the acceleration of the Japanese then gradually expands before being stopped sharply by the Franco (n) -French clamping: a pity, since it is precisely in the second part of the account – turns that the V4 at 76 ° reveals a completely different physiognomy, much more muscular and voluntary…

Ready to do anything to rebuild itself (24 years of reputation without a hitch to honor, all the same!), The VFR 1200 DCT benefits from a powerful and dosable braking, equipped as standard with a combined ABS, and a front axle easier to place at the start of a curve. Intoxicated by the "catapult" accelerations of the K1300S, his pilot must keep in mind the weight and proportions of his mount before throwing himself into a curve like a starving man. !

However, once the first virolos approached with this legitimate circumspection – more than with the VFR 1200 whose reactions and behavior are intuitive -, the K1300S flaunts the relevance of the particularities dear to BMW: its transmission by shaft and Paralever cardan shaft. is transparent and its Duolever – which separates the steering and damping functions at the front – allows stubborn cornering while maintaining extremely efficient braking to the rope, almost like riding a Hypersport !

On the one hand, the perimeter frame requires some involvement in the change of angle. But its rigidity and its exceptional rigor enchant: mistreated and pushed to the limits of (dis) reasonable on the road, the BMW does not split up, does not protest and does not expand. She even encourages putting on a layer … even if it means exhausting her pilot: a real authoritarian bitch camouflaged under a BC-BG clothing !

With the Honda, the chorus is not quite the same: if it also allows driving at a very sustained pace, the VFR 1200 favors anticipation and smooth trajectories on a light trickle of gas. Under these conditions, the Honda reveals imperial stability and traction, wonderfully assisted by the DCT device which allows a gear to be set up at the end of the curve with the tip of the index finger: a real extra toy. !

Already reluctant under the action of the brakes in its F version (read), the VFR 1200 DCT must face the same problems with the overweight of 10 kg caused by the implementation of the double clutch box. This phenomenon restricts its sporting pretensions, just like the slight vertical movements, not always well controlled, of its gimbal..

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