[happytrails]

I rode my ST1300 to Rick Case Honda in Davie Fl. yesterday.
Like a (61 yr.old) kid a Christmas, I finally sat on a beautiful, long anticipated CTX 1300. Instantly I noticed I couldn't see the mirrors, blocked by the hydrolic resivours. To the salesman I said, "you must have installed the handlebars incorrectly." He replied, they are installed in the crate by and to Honda specs. Confirmed by the service manager I was shocked and dismayed, as they were. Honda really screwed up unbelievably! Everyone from 5'4"-6'2" could not see the mirrors. Solution, the manager & I removed the plastic caps , removed the handlebar hex bolts on the riser , me holding them to not fall on the tank, bumped off, rotated downward apx. 2 1/2" lower. Creating now 95 percent visibility and a more comfortable position. Problem fixed, with no tension on cables . & storage compartment lids open with minimum clearance. The resivours could also be slightly moved in to gain more mirror. Honda at spec. Is going to have real problems , perhaps liabilities on this one. It is dangerous! And what about modifying them out of "spec"..???
THE RIDE: As expected the lower center of gravity is a dream compared to the ST1300. Parking lot ease of handling etc.
The seat is the .most comfortable stock seat of any Honda to this size bike Of all 9 previous I've owned. My ST and 1100 Shadow Sabre have Corbin duel touring seats. My ST has never been comfortable regardless. THE CTX SEAT IS A KEEPER!!
Like the ST the 1261 V4 is a dream! I believe it is the best engine ever for Honda. Smooth, quite, responsive power. The exhaust has a slightly deeper nice tone. I was surprised, at 55mph. It still ran at 3k rpm. I thought it would be lower.??
WIND PROTECTION: Above 45mph with the stock shorty wind screen, as expected, IT WAS LIKE HAVING NO WINDSHIELD AT ALL! From the neck up with an open face helmet , extreme windage. A tall windshield will be a must for me. & hope enough for my wife on the back. I will miss my power adjustable windshield of the ST.
Riding on only flat Fl. roads couldn't lean much. I sense it will handle fine. A VERY COMFORTABLE RIDING POSITION! Which the ST never had for me. The lower & forward pegs well placed.
The storage compartments are disappointingly small. Note with the handlebars lowered the cables hanging below just clear the compartment lids when the handlebars are turned hard over.
I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE RIDE AND COMFORT!
SADDLEBAGS, Were my most disappointing feature of the bike. Compared to the ST or any quality hard bags, THEY ARE CHEEP, FLIMSY, CHEEZY! The top thin plastic latching flap felt weak like if I (or a crook) gave it a swift tug, you could rip it right off & open. The size is close to the ST. My custom tote bag filled occupied the same space. Open faced helmets fit inside. Closed faced probably not. The left side has a small tool kit, I had to remove to get my helmet to fit inside and close. I expect there will be nice quality aftermarket hard bags. To bad for such an expensive bike. Honda blew it there in my opinion. I will probably live with them, my wife will hate them compared to the Solid quality bags of the ST.
SUMMARY, there are advantages and disadvantages to everything!
Remember, it is about the ride. And where the ride takes us. There is no Perfact machine. It's the journey. For me the advantages of the CTX out weigh the disappointing features. I look forward to the delivery of my Deluxe grey blue on order in NC next month. With a tall windshield, hopefully available then.
My next posting will be about Dealers, pricing, why dealers typically hate forums & where I found a dealer to sell me a deluxe for $15,600 plus tax and $133.00 . Out the door. No other fees. Not the dealer I hoped to buy from originally, as previously posted.
Forgive the spelling & errors, writing on my smart phone,, pain in the ass! So was riding my ST1300 350 miles today. That's why Im buying the CTX 1300. I try to get photos to this post. Happy Trails

 

[csdexter]

Funny thing is, in the Japanese manual, the handlebar is shown in pretty much the same position you had to MOVE it to Either the dealer has no idea what the "factory spec" is, or somebody mounted them at the wrong angle at the factory.

Anyway, I'm glad you found a way around it.

 

[happytrails]

The related photos are in the gallery.. couldn't figure out how to link to post.

 

[happytrails]

Another note, both bikes on showroom floor, handlebars were in same factory position. No mirror visibility. Service manager said he called Honda and they confirmed, set to factory spec. ???? If this is true it's unimaginable!

 

[sleepngbear]

Thanks for the review!

Kinda surprised about the handlebar situation; but it's certainly easy enough to correct. I'll be sure to have my dealer fix that before I take mine out for that test ride.

 

[mitch]

Thank you for the review. I had mine last week and had a 350 miles trip from Isanbul to my home town. I travelled both on the highways and country roads. I can say that it handled great with no problem. I leaned enough to hit the pegs on the road with no problems. I am also looking fwd to have the taller windscreen for more wind protection. I used to ride BMW R 1200 GS ADV for long years and believe me that you can make hard rides on this bike as well.

By the way, thanks for the handle bar recommendation, because it was really big pain for me to keep my back all the way thru.

 

[bob]

Welcome to the board Mitch!

 

[mitch]

Thanx Bob.

 

[Davetac1]

Regarding the mirrors,and even though I haven't physically shaken hands with one of these machines yet,the very first thing I noticed when viewing the pictures of it,was the placement of the mirrors.Due to the low mounted fairing and directionals,Honda's placement of these mirrors is TOO LOW,greatly reducing rear visability,while putting the operator at risk because he or she has to look downward to look behind em,taking their eyes off the road in front of em,especially when in traffic or passing on the highway.And,as someone commented,this poor mirror placement CAN and WILL cause a problem at some point down the road.
But there are always alternatives.In this case,a pair of decent sized,aftermarket handle bar mounted mirrors,WILL allow you to see behind you WITHOUT taking your eyes off the road in front of you,and can be purchased and for relatively short money.And if ya can't find blacked out versions to match the bars,you can always paint em with flat black paint before installing em which I have done in the past on some machines owned by friends,which worked out very nicely.Sound like a good idea??? Dave!!!

 

[bob]

My ST1100 (and also the ST1300) has mirrors located same as the CTX1300... below the handlebars. I look over the bars to see the mirrors and the view I see is below the grips to the back with no obstructions. Well, I do see a very little bit of the clutch or brake levers in the very top edge of the mirrors and my trunk does find a very little bit of real estate on the very inside edge but not enough to be a worry. It's how I have them adjusted to my liking. I've never had a problem with them that way. I can see when something is in my mirrors in my peripheral vision while still looking forward down the road so I know when I need to pay closer attention to what is behind (though I do make a habit of constantly looking at mirrors, gauges, side to side as well as mostly ahead). My GW has fairing mounted mirrors, though they are a bit higher up. My Burgman 650 has fairing mounted mirrors down low also, about the same as the CTX and ST. I have come to really not like mirrors mounted on my handlebars. They tend to be way too close to my eyes even if they are higher up. My vision, or at least my ability to change focus is not as good as it used to be and fairing mounted mirrors are far easier to manage.

Talking about focus... I also like that the dash is reported to be a bit farther away from the rider, making it so I won't have to change focus as much to "see" the gauges. If you look close in some of my gallery photos of my ST you will notice my GPS is mounted on top of the dash as far forward as possible. It is the only item I really need in my line of sight while watching the road ahead. I don't use voice prompts from it since that is too distracting to me.

 

[mhillmango]

I agree with Bob. My ST mirrors give the best rear view of all the machines I have owned. Integration into the fairing gives a really clean look cosmetically. I bet with proper bar adjustment on the CTX they will give a similar rear view.

All the bikes I've had with bar mounted mirrors showed mostly elbow.

 

[cheeken]

thanks for sharing

interesting how you couldnt see the mirrors.. will be interesting to see if this becomes a common problem

 

[sleepngbear]

thanks for sharing

interesting how you couldnt see the mirrors.. will be interesting to see if this becomes a common problem

I think, as has been noted by a few already, that this will depend greatly on the bar position, but also rider height to a lesser degree. At factory spec, it appears that the bars are too high and block the view through the rear-views; but lowering them by a couple of inches opens the view and is also more comfortable to the rider.

 

[RICHB2]

If you folks might have noticed on both handlebar mounted master cylinders are small plugs (black flat head screws) on the out board side of both/either. I Think the CTX 700 mirrors will fit into/thru these holes. I have to locate a dealer who has one out on the floor willing to let me remove one and try it on mine. I'll let you know what I discover. Why I am saying this is one of you folks may see both sitting on the dealer floor and give this a try and then let us know.....?

Rich

 

[bob]

That may or may not work. Will have to defer to someone who has one and has tried. That location you mention is the pivot for the levers. Does the pivot pin only come up part way and the pan head screw on top is just a cover? If so there should be a mirror somewhere that would fit if you really want it. Personally I would prefer to do all I could to adjust the bars down or where ever they need to be to allow me to use the existing mirrors. I think it would spoil the look to add mirrors to the bars. As mentioned, I don't see that there is a problem at all if the bars are adjusted properly. It is apparent that Honda does not set the bars right for riding but maybe only for shipping.

 

[Davetac1]

The ideal spot for mirrors is as close to the ends of the bars as possible [long stems with the mirrors on the ends].Then you can see around your arms and get a pretty good view of what's behind you. Dave!!!

 

[TennesseeSmith]

On my Trophy I have the built-in mirrors and an added set on the handle bars. I'll probably do the same with the CTX1300.

 

[Dennis Addy]

Brilliant I have just had delivery of my CTX 1300? and I think you are right I love the bike but the mirrors are an issue? How far do you lower the handle bars? I asked my dealer to lower mine but not sure if it's going to be an issue?

 

[Dennis Addy]

Honda need to sort it out I'm not happy paying 13500k to buy another set of mirrors!

 

[Miks]

Mirrors, safety, and Honda's!

I have owned an St1300, and 32 other motorcycles and laugh at how a Honda rider approaches these things. Laugh? Yeah, after owning a few Harley's, performance and relevance to safety are a low priority thing. Handling on a Harley? Terrible? Mirrors? My 2012 Street glide had them installed on the bat wing, about the same amount of visibility as I have found on the CTX 1300...and on the Harley forum??? No one cares