CTX 1300 Forum banner

Hello from Jax, FL

1677 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  sleepngbear
Picked up my Blue CTX Deluxe on Thursday. Checked it out while it was being uncrated and put together and bought it before it was finished. Have about 250 miles on it now and can say that it is the sweetest ride since my 79 CBX. Had a bunch in between, the last one being a VTX1300C that was set up very nicely.

Glad to see this forum start up. I was a member of the VTXCafe and the VTXOA (not so much) and found it invaluable for trading ideas and learning stuff. I am sure this will evolve into a similar forum because this bike is awesome.

Working from an iPad and don't have access to a lot of files I need to set up my avatar and such, but that will come soon. Just wanted to join and get started.

Kookopelli
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
Congrats on the new pickup, Kookopelli, and welcome to the forums!

These bikes are finally starting to get in the hands of riders ... business here will be picking up soon. ;)
Congratulations on the new bike!

Let us know all about it. Most of us on this forum have yet to get our bikes. Most of us have never even laid eyes on a real CTX1300. We just babble on about various speculations. When someone does get hands on experience, we get a bit excited.

I'll be heading down to Nashville on Monday to pick mine up. 42 hours to go...
Welcome to the board. I am a member of the VTXOA under a different handle (BlueFalcon). Been a member there for about 11 years. My VTX1800 most likely will be replaced with a new CTX1300 before this year is over. It's getting time to move on to something new.

Post some pics of your bike sometime. Love to see it!

Brian
Welcome to the board!
+1 that about babbling and speculations here. Well, for some of us who haven't picked up ours yet :)
I'm also looking for this board to become as useful as others I've been on. Was in the GWRRA and currently on ST-Owners.com forum and both have been invaluable for information on their respective bikes and even other models/makes.
Impressions after 350 miles

Well, I have around 350 miles on it now. put about 150 on it today in back roads in rural Georgia. The ride is very nice and it handles great. I pushed it real hard thru a bunch of sweeping curves today and it seems to handle everything great. I am riding with a friend who rides a ST1300 and mine seemed to pull him when we opened it up. I had it up around 110 in 4th gear at one point and it was right at 7000 rpm or there abouts. in 5th, 3500 rpm is about 63 mph, so theoretically at 7000 in 5th it should be running 126.

There is a rev limiter set at 7500 rpm, so 130 or a little more should be obtainable. Be interesting to see what it really will do.

I love the bike, but have a few negatives that I think take away from the overall package. The bags are crap. Hopefully someone will offer up some nice bags for this bike. They look great, but are super flimsy and you can't remove them easily like on the ST1300.

The small little storage compartments on the dash are almost useless. I did get my garage door opener in the left side and can get reading glasses and a pen in the right side. Trouble is, there is no place to store an extra set of glasses. I like carrying clear ones for when it gets dark. You could put them in one of the bags, but they need to be inside something else or they will just bounce all around.

Also, the stubby windscreen is pretty useless. While it looks cool, it does nothing to knock the wind down. If you are a wind-in-the-face kind of guy I guess it works, but I don't like wearing a full-face helmet and kept getting smashed in the face with bugs and sandblasted when riding behind others. I NEED a taller windscreen and will be getting one just as soon as one comes out. Seems like Honda would have that option in place before putting the bike out.

The last thing is that the grips are very small in diameter. Some people like that, but I don't. Will be changing them out soon.

On the bright side, there is the lights...they are bright! And the audio system works pretty nicely. Hopefully, with a taller windscreen I will be able to hear it! The dash overall is pretty cool. Easy to figure out the functions of the buttons.

The traction control is going to take some getting used to. At one point today we slowed to 1st gear to go over some RR tracks and I tried to pop a little wheelie off the tracks, but as soon as the rear wheel lost traction, the motor cuts out and sputters until everything settles back down. Can't do burnouts either with it on. It can be turned off, but it is on by default every time the bike is started. If you like to play, you need to remember to turn it off first. Probably shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff anyway...but I do like to ride my bikes.
See less See more
I think I read that the sound system on the CTX only has a 40 watt per speaker output.That's hardly enough to hear while underway on a back road goin slow,let alone at speed.The system I have on my Tbird [aftermarket] has a 200 watt output [100 watts per speaker] and I can hear it pretty dam good at 80-90 mph.And that's without a fairing,just a conventional windscreen.Dave!!!
My two complaints with the CTX700 have been the cheap saddle bag fasteners and the lack of a good windshield. I'm expecting the same issues on the CTX1300. Your review fits my expectations.

The Honda tall screen for the CTX700D was the worst screen I ever used. I've run four different screens on that bike and the only smooth air I got was from the original shorty. I'll run the shorty on the CTX1300 until lots of other folks have tried the various aftermarket screens.

The worst part about running with the short screen is stopping every fifty miles or so to clean the bugs off the shield on my helmet. When I ride the Trophy with its excellent screen, I use an open face helmet and get no bugs in my eyes.

I'll be watching for screens from Cee Bailey, Madstad, maybe a WindBender.

36 hours to go...
My bags on the ST1100 and the bags on the ST1300 are really good bags. But I don't really need them that good. My GW had bags about the same. the trunk I got from Bestem has been derided as extremely sub-par by those who prefer to spend lots of money for a Givi case. But I've been very satisfied with my Bestem. It is a good case in my opinion and if the CTX1300 bags are anything as good as the Bestem I'll be very satisfied. I did put a Givi case on my Burgman and that is a VERY nice case, but I don't need one that good for that much money.
  • Like
Reactions: 1
What some people call flimsy I might call light-duty. I don't plan on doing any serious long-distance touring that requires bags to be stuffed chock-full. As long as they 1, stay attached, 2, stay closed, and 3, carry the few things I keep handy (hat, spare gloves, bungy web, water bottle, tool pouch, spray cleaner and a rag), I'm happy. :)
  • Like
Reactions: 1
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top