Honda Transalp?

[Old_Rider_54]

I see Transalps all over Europe, but have never seen one in the States.   Looks like an all-purpose kind of bike - anyone ridden one?

[noahnsteph]

Never even heard of it. Do you have any pics? I thought you were talking about some new tranny problem.

[OhCrap]

Yeah, a buddy of mine had one years ago as his second bike, they were quite popular back in the day.

His looked exactly like this one without the aftermarket stuff:





It was pretty nice to drive and very easy to handle, but a little high for my short legs. It had no problems keeping up with my V45 Magna.

..and that is pretty much all I remember about it, lol

[OhCrap]

Just noticed that a user on here called don43 has one btw, perhaps you should have a word with him.

[noahnsteph]

Oh, that thing looks fun as hell! A buddy of mine keeps talking about getting a street legal dirt bike basically along that line.

[m98]

The Transalp was only imported a couple of years around 1989-1990ish. This is
according to some of the owners who have them for sale over at ADVrider.
Great bike, hugely popular in Europe. Again, as has been discussed here before
a lot of bikes are just not popular here in the States compared to Europa.
Although, BMW and Suzuki have done very well with their GS and V-Stroms
here. The Canucks does have the big Honda Varadero.

[noahnsteph]

I had a chance to check out the Ducati Motard last weekend. The dealer had a demo day with free bbq and drinks so I couldn't resist going to check them out.  The Motard seems right along this line of discussion though I do wish they'd change the name.

http://www.ducati.com/bikes/hypermotard/1100__evo__sp/index.do

[OhCrap]

The Motard is a completely different animal to be honest. It's much more powerful than a Transalp, and the small front wheel makes it a lot more agile. It's a pure street machine, while the huge front wheel in the Transalp gives you better traction in the dirt which makes it more of an allroader.

[don43]

Transalp imported 1989 and 1990. Did not sell well so off they went.  We in the Northeast have a Transalp rally yearly except the number of TA's attending is decreasing year over year.  Lots of letters to Honda over the years but they are unresponsive.  Seems with the new interest in Adventure riding they would be good to go in the US.  I'll post pictures of the one in my garage shortly.

[bajakirch]

Ever since I saw the photo of the Transalp in the Argentina topic, I've been intrigued by this bike. My first desire was for a dual-sport, but research led me to the much more practical NH as a first bike.

But a man can dream, and I do really like the looks of that Transalp. Unfortunately, the limited availability in the US probably rules it out for me. But has Honda had any success with similar models state-side?

[OhCrap]

Did you guys get the African Twin perhaps?

It's a bigger 750cc brother of the Transalp. I think the first ones came out in the early '90's. Earlier this year there was some chatter about a new 1200cc African Twin coming out, but I can't find any confirmation this will actually happen.

[m98]

OhCrap, the AT is not available in the US, wish it was! You can find a used one once
in a while brought in by individual owners, it is also called the "grey" market.

[ExTex]

I saw one on EBay a week or so ago.

Here are some on CraigsList
http://www.craiglook.com/motorcycles.html?q=transalp

Ride safely,
 

[OhCrap]

We call it the gray market over here as well m98, that's how my 700 came here  

I didn't know they still made 'm, but I sat on a new 700cc Transalp this week! It looked exactly like this one:



It has 60hp and 60Nm's of torque. Here's a little more info:

http://motoring-news.com/honda/2010-honda-transalp-xl700v-c-abs/

It is rather pricey though, we can have one for almost 11.000 euro's over here, that's almost 14.000 US dollars!

I think I'd rather have a 650GS for 2.000 euro's less, even though the Honda looks a lot better to me.

[fishball]

Yamaha will be releasing the Super Tenere for 2012 but I believe you can buy it next year.  It competes with Transalp in other markets.

[ak85lp]

Honda makes a larger version of something very similar now in the Varadero. It's a 1000 cc model and can be found here in Canada at least. I have seen it in silver as well and not this awful yellow.

http://honda.ca/MCPE/Motorcycle/Models/ModelOverview?Type=Adventure&Year=2009&Model=XL1000VA9&L=E

[fishball]

I like that awful yellow!

[SirSeanSean]

V-Strom 1000

[bajakirch]

V-Strom 1000

You know, ever since I first learned of that bike, I thought people were misspelling (or at least mistyping) the name. I just noticed on the photo you posted that it actually IS the V-Strom, not the V-Storm.
 

[SirSeanSean]

V-Strom 1000

You know, ever since I first learned of that bike, I thought people were misspelling (or at least mistyping) the name. I just noticed on the photo you posted that it actually IS the V-Strom, not the V-Storm.
 

I thought the same thing.

[CraigF]

That Super Tenere looks great.  I also love the V-Strom...for those who thought it was the V-Storm you may get a kick out of the popular forum name for those bikes--http://www.stromtrooper.com.   :)