All Duels – Hot couture or ready to show off? – Face to face, side by side

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Hot couture or ready to show off ?

All Duels - Hot couture or ready to show off? - Face to face, side by side

Bold and unexpected, the Honda VT1300CX (Fury) could well see its chrome sparkle in a category dominated by US production … To judge its capabilities, we measured it against a rival: the Saxon Firestorm ! Duel.

Face to face, side by side

Presented to American bikers exactly one year ago, the Fury did not take long to land on the Old Continent: well aware that this type of motorcycle interested more and more bikers – especially in France, country of " without horses "and repression at all costs – Honda has decided to include its model in its 2010 European catalog (read and)…

To cross the Atlantic, the new Japanese custom unfortunately had to change its name: the name "Fury", sulphurous at will, being already deposited on our side of the ocean, Honda decided to rename its motorcycle "VT1300CX". Too bad, for once the Japanese were playing it "bad boys" !

In comparison, the name of the Saxon is much more igniting and for good reason: the American is called "Firestorm", or nothing less than a firestorm … This "Pro-street" chopper – and therefore "elongated and low rise", describes the manufacturer himself – certainly does not take half measures !

In addition to these very different denominations, we see by crutching the motorcycles face to face that our duel of the day will quickly turn into a duo, as the machines differ … Of course, they are both customs and for the untrained eye of passers-by , these two motorcycles belong to the same category.

But a savvy biker – the real one, the one with the tattoos and the leather vest! – will not fail to note the inequality of the fight, as the American is more akin to careful preparation down to the smallest chrome than to a "big" series motorcycle, like the Honda: normal after all, with close 15,000 euros difference !

Placed on their side crutch, the two frames attract a lot of attention. Under the shy sun of this frosty February, the chrome sparkles and captivates tourists and other onlookers. Few of them notice that the Honda uses plastic a little too much: headlight cowling, indicator covers, cylinder head covers and transmission cover in particular, while the Saxon devotes an endless cult to good old metal.

Apart from this important detail – chrome being to custom what broken promises are to politicians: essential! -, the Saxon is also better looked after than the Honda. In terms of the indicators for example, those of the Firestorm are tiny and perfectly integrated. At the rear, they are identical to the brake lights, while those of the VT1300CX break the harmony of its line, which however superbly completed the aesthetic diode light..

Still at the rear, the presence of an off-center plate – and duly approved, the importer assures us – on the American makes it possible to completely clear the view of its 260 mm wide tire. Next to it, that of the Japanese which measures "only" 200 mm does not benefit from the same enhancement and seems almost thin…

Beyond these basely material considerations, neophytes invariably turn to the Saxon anyway. And the reason is simple: in the face of the white colourway and tribal tattoos of the Firestorm that Absolut Cycles kindly gave us, the black outfit of the Fury VT1300CX seems too strict. In its other electric blue dress, the Honda would undoubtedly have defended itself better…

The results of the Site survey carried out during this test – with an ultra-representative sample of Japanese tourists, Parisian onlookers and several groups of Djeunz! – are formal: the Saxon is much more impressive and attractive than the Honda !

Likewise, the chrome of the fork – disproportionately looooong! -, rims – incredibly thin – and brakes – Brembo, please – of the Saxon make pass for dull the one that adorns the elements of the Honda … Handles, footrests, rear brake master cylinder, hoses and even horn are so many details that one feels meticulously studied by the Yankees but more quickly approached by the Samurai.

The more informed bikers will note all the same some faults of taste on the American one: one notes mainly a counter – digital?! – much less polished than that – analog – of the Japanese and an electrical terminal which hangs casually between the two cylinders, and whose black clamps break the purity of the white color of the frame…

Peccadilloes for some, but given the "all-in-the-breeze" philosophy of the machine and its price, the aesthetic margin of error is extremely low … And now, in the saddle !

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