I had two experiences on the Honda ST1100 that have stayed in my mind. The first was in the depths of winter, one of those wicked days with a furious down-pour and black sky. Riding the ST into this I was amazed by the bike. It felt firmly planted on the road. Tucked behind the fairing, crouched down slightly, I felt the rain thrown around my body, leaving me in a haven of dry space. The screen was just below eye level, the rain streaming over the top of my helmet, the visor remaining free of water.
I was three hours from home even with the speedo stuck between 80 and 90mph. The slight engine whine reassuring, the watercooled vee-four purring away happily. Rather than feeling like a drowned rat, which I most surely would have on almost any other bike, as the lightning racked through the sky, I felt a feeling of liberation and oneness. A blast of well-being that gave out enough heat to keep me warm and happy for the whole length of the journey.
Three months later, I was screaming abuse and insults at the bike. After thirty minutes I was completely knackered and wondering just why I was wasting my time with stupid motorcycles when I could be safely cocooned in a nice little car. What had caused this fall from grace? Bloody great side-winds that caught the vast expanse of fibreglass, shook the bike like a cat with a dying rat in its mouth.
Obstructions along the side of the road and the varying force of the side-winds meant that as soon as I found the correct angle to lean the ST, the wind would either increase or disappear altogether. Forward motion degenerated into a series of frightening lurches. I started cursing the mass of 600lbs (270kg) and the amount of muscle needed to keep the ST from falling over or running off the road. The only good thing I can think to say about this trait is that the car drivers were so frightened by my antics that they gave me a wide berth.
This horror only occurred a couple of time and needed fairly fierce side-winds to cause a problem. Overall, the excellent weather protection outweighs the occasional muscle wrenching session. Despite being so heavy, the ST is generally easy to ride.
There are two reasons for this. The lowly tuned, 100hp engine has a tremendous amount of torque. It can be run down to almost tickover in top gear and rolled on all the way up to 120mph without the slightest hesitation. Any speed in between can be chosen as a cruising speed without having to worry about vibes - the vee four motor has perfect primary and secondary balance.
The other reason for the easy going nature is that most of the mass is placed relatively low down, so overall feel is of a bike some 100lbs (45kg) lighter. It won't flick through bends like a race replica but steering is basically neutral despite a shaft drive and front forks that are slightly too softly sprung.
The ride quality is good, the suspension able to cope with large craters and small ripples in the road. A few times, accelerating hard out of bends and hitting a bump, the bars twitched in my hands. But, the oscillation died down quickly, the sheer bulk of the bike forcing the ST around the bend on the desired line. I felt happier on the ST than an old 750 Kawa four I used to own, which may not be much of a compliment but goes some way to showing how handling has advanced in the past half decade.
I've also ridden (but not owned) an RS BMW K100, which had a slightly better ride but was ruined by insidious vibes, shaft drive ruminations and less torque than on the ST. The Honda looked just as well finished; indeed, the plastic could be cleaned up in ten minutes rather than the hours needed on an unfaired bike.
Because the vee-four isn't so wide as a straight four, quite adequate filtering is possible in traffic despite the fairing. Because the plastic has built in bump-pads, it was quite reassuring to know that a minor tumble would not damage the fairing. Second or third gear could be locked into, the throttle used to roll on and off speed, allowing me to concentrate on the mad antics of the cars.
The ST looks like it should cost more than most small cars, which it does when new, and garners more respect from car drivers than most motorcycles. I've only had two occasions when cars have tried to ignore my existence - they soon found out their mistake when I gave them a blast on the horn.
A bike this big needs good brakes - the ST has triple discs, with an anti-lock braking system as an option (which mine doesn't have). Despite the ravages of wet weather, the calipers gave no sign of distress and the braking was sufficiently sensitive to pull up safely on damp roads. High speed braking needed the use of the back disc as well as the front to keep the bike stable, but there was no lack of power.
When I checked the front pads recently there was still plenty of meat left. This with just under 11000 miles on the clock - I bought the bike with 2200 miles done for substantially less than the new price. The rear tyre is about half a millimetre off being completely worn out. Although still stable, the bike twitches slightly over road markings and the like.
It's interesting to observe how a new bike wears over the first 10,000 miles. Some machines degenerate quickly, their suspension becomes sloppy and as the tyres wear out they become quite vicious when ridden hard. The Honda doesn't seem to have gone off at all, despite only having one perfunctory service at 5000 miles. The engine pulls as well as ever and the chassis copes with everything that is thrown at it. This build quality bodes well for longevity.
Because of its excellent comfort it's the kind of bike that encourages you to load up the camping gear and head off into the far distance. Backed up by surprisingly good fuel economy - I manage around 50mpg while on the open road with speeds of up to 90mph. It goes down a bit in town and if you do more than 100mph, but most touring is done on the open road. The six gallon fuel tank is reassuring on the more remote roads.
Which reminds me of the time I decided that taking the ST along a very minor road which was a useful short cut. What I hadn't realised was that the road surface was going to degenerate into gravel with the odd large hole. The ST could often float over holes but needed more speed than the gravel would safely allow - I didn't feel happy doing more than 15mph.
At times the back wheel felt like it was going to swing right around past the front, whilst the front threatened to slip away. Several times I had my feet down to stop a catastrophe, fighting the mass which had once again reasserted itself. The short cut took about two hours, twice as long as the main route! I learnt my lesson after that little effort.
Another off-road excursion involved following a small track down to a cliff. The only problem with this was that there was no room to turn the ST around. Pushing the hulk 300 metres up a slight incline had me cursing the Honda's design and wondering if I should buy a Honda GL1500, which is even heavier but has a reverse gear. On second thoughts, no thanks, the GL doesn't have the same functionality as a high speed tourer that the ST possesses.
The ST isn't a very popular motorcycle amongst the mass of bikers and has none of the image of BMWs, but on the road it seems to me to be a very well thought out Grand Tourer with only a few minor drawbacks that the overall experience more than overwhelms. New, they are too expensive but a one or two year old with low miles is a good buy.
Graham Trench