Honda's XL600V Transalp.

It seems that most motorcyclists today ride in one of two narrowly focused camps. You have your Harley and Harley wannabe bikes, and then you have your sport bikes. When the streets and highways are littered with both, where do you turn?

In searching for something different, I asked myself "When were you the happiest on a motorcycle?" and the answer was more than a little surprising. The most fun I've ever had on a motorcycle was in high school when I was riding my old Kawasaki F11a 250cc enduro. I've owned lots of other bikes, but the F11 carried me everywhere I wanted to go and did so without a hiccup. It didn't excel at anything in particular, but did a passable job at almost everything I asked of it.

Thinking of that old Kawasaki led me to begin exploring modern dual-sport motorcycles. While there are many out there, most all of them up through 650cc are single-cylinder "thumpers". These engines are incredibly reliable and probably as close to bulletproof as an internal combustion engine can be made, but vibration tends to be an issue. I like to take the occasional highway trip, so the effects of vibration over the course of a 500 mile day was a consideration for me.

Then, there's a gap until you get up to around 950cc. The bikes in this range feature (at least) twin cylinder engines. This segment of the market seems to be mostly dominated by KTM and BMW, and their decidedly plump sticker prices keep many riders chugging merrily along on lesser bikes.

Somewhere in all my research I learned about the 600cc V-twin Honda Transalp, which was sold in the USA for only two years, 1989 and 1990. Honda seemed unsure of how to go about marketing the bike and American riders seemed equally unsure of what to do with it at the time. It was soon pulled from the US market and I've heard that some dealers still had crated Transalps in stock as late as 1994.

Powered by a 600cc water cooled V-twin engine, the bike was meant to be a ride for all conditions. The V-twin design is much smoother than a comparable thumper engine, making the highway miles easier to handle. Weighing in at around 450 pounds, the Transalp can get quite unwieldy when taken off road, but riding one for a season will greatly diminish this issue for most people.

Most owners will tell you the Transalp isn't great in any particular aspect, it just does a good solid job at almost everything, which is exactly what I found myself yearning for.

While the bike never really caught on here, the rest of the world loved them. The current models sell briskly throughout Europe and Asia. Check out the new 2008 Transalp's debut at the Paris Motorcycle Show (in the links section below) and consider (yet again...lol) the possible effects of an organized writing campaign to Honda.

The Transalp's engine is fired by a pair of CDI modules located underneath the seat. With the seat removed you will see a pair of black plastic boxes, each approximately the size of a pack of cigarettes, nestled between the frame rails. If these boxes are fixed in a horizontal position, the issue has already been taken care of and you can go on about your merry business.

If the boxes appear to be standing vertically with the connections on top, you've got some work to do. If left in this position, most all of them will fail due to the connectors resting against the underside of the seat pan. The constant vibration eventually damages them internally and will leave you running on only one cylinder. Replacement CDI modules run about $160 each the last time I checked.

A quick web search or visit to any of the forums listed below will quickly reveal the procedure for altering the orientation of the CDI modules. I've never heard of a field expedient repair for a CDI failure so if you change nothing else on your bike, consider changing this.

I soon grew weary of the dated red, white, and blue paint scheme. I've always liked the paint and graphics on Honda's CBR Repsol race replica bikes, so I decided to try something along those lines.

The bike disassembles quite easily. My only real complaint is the need for a screwdriver or socket to remove the side panels in order to access the battery and air filter. Then again, I've never had a side cover fly off at speed as I have on so many other bikes.

The design of the Transalp's fairings precluded the use of any factory Repsol decals that I could find, thus bringing about the Red Bull graphics. The tiny image (upper right) shows the finished product on one of its first rides after completion. More and better photos can be found at the flikr link below.

While the bike was apart I added a set of Givi crash guards to protect the fairing in case the bike ever went down. Well, it has (once) and the crash bars performed exactly as they were meant to. These guards should probably be one of the first modifications (after the CDI fix!) you do to your TA as replacement plastic is hard to come by and quite expensive when you do find it.

In stock trim, the Transalp is a pleasant, flat-footed bike having good manners and docile handling characteristics. I noticed early on that ground clearance was, shall we say, conservative.

The obvious way around this was to convert the TA's stock XL suspension over to something in the XR vein. This is becoming a fairly common conversion amongst Transalp owners and the procedure is fairly well documented on several sites across the Internet. Check out Jeff's Transalp/Africa Twin conversion at the link below. His bike was one of the earliest conversions I'm aware of.

Long story short, I grafted the front forks from an XR600 onto the bike, along with a shock spacer to lift the rear of the bike a corresponding amount. The conversion process is fairly straightforward, with most of the difficulties I encountered being in the minor detail department.

The difference in handling and appearance can only be described as phenomenal. With appropriate tires, the Transalp is now a go anywhere/do anything bike.

I've added a Touratech GPS mount system for my Garmin Rino 120. GPS is a great thing but I'm usually more involved dealing with things like traffic, trees, ditches, and so forth to be twiddling with a GPS unit. I'll go to the Rino when I'm absolutely as disoriented as can be, hence the lack of upgrading. Touratech stuff is worth whatever they're asking for it. Quality is second to none!

I've considered a dual headlight conversion but have never managed to get around to it.

After modifying and installing a set of Mermite panniers, I'm pretty sure it would've been cheaper to buy a commercial set in spite of the extra cost. If you count your personal labor at anything over ten dollars an hour, think about it.

I would like to install an upgraded stator to run an auxiliary driving light and a heated vest and maybe even that upgraded GPS that's almost maybe sorta looming on the horizon...