The Used Adventure Bike With Honda Reliability And V4 Character
There’s no denying that most big used adventure bikes make you pick a lane. The sensible choices promise years of dependable running around, while the more, let’s say, interesting ones can come with a little extra baggage of their own.
As it turns out, though, Honda once offered another route. This heavyweight had ADV posture and serious road-touring manners, with a V4 that still gives North American riders a reason to hunt beyond the obvious BMW badge.
The BMW GS Made Every Big Adventure Bike Play Its Game
By the time heavyweight adventure motorcycles really caught fire in America, the BMW R 1200 GS had already become the measuring stick. Its balance of touring ability and rough-road credibility helped define what buyers expected from a big ADV, which meant every challenger arrived with an immediate problem. Before anyone asked whether it was good, they asked how closely it could imitate the GS.
You can see how that wasn’t especially helpful for Honda. Its answer leaned harder toward covering huge distances on pavement, then carrying on when the road surface deteriorated. The riding position was upright and the suspension had enough travel for broken roads, but Honda wasn’t trying to disguise a giant dirt bike beneath plastic bodywork. It had built something closer to a sport-tourer for riders who occasionally ignored the pavement.
DOA?
American buyers also had to wait for it. It showed up in Europe for 2012, while unfavorable exchange rates helped keep it away from the USA until the 2016 model year. By then, the adventure-bike market in North America was already packed with recognizable names.
The U.S.-spec motorcycle arrived with a $15,599 starting price, which didn’t exactly make experimentation painless. Honda was asking premium-adventure-bike money for a machine many American riders had barely heard of. That helped bury one of the more interesting Japanese alternatives to the BMW GS before enough people figured out what it actually did best.
Honda Put A VFR Heart Behind A Tall Windshield
The engine was the part that should’ve made this Honda much easier to sell. Rather than follow the familiar big-twin formula, Honda started with the 1,237cc V4 used in its VFR1200F sport-tourer and retuned it for stronger response lower in the rev range. Claimed output stood at 127 horsepower, with 92.9 lb-ft of torque arriving at 6,500 rpm.
Honda specifically strengthened the power delivery between 2,000 and 5,500 rpm, exactly where a heavyweight touring motorcycle spends much of its working life. That gave riders plenty of shove for highway passing or hauling luggage without needing to constantly chase the upper reaches of the tach. It also brought something increasingly rare to the adventure-bike class: an engine layout with its own sound and personality.
Choice Is Yours
The rest of the package followed a similarly road-biased interpretation of the ADV formula. Tubeless spoked wheels measured 19 inches up front and 17 inches at the rear, while U.S.-spec suspension travel was 5.7 inches at both ends. Shaft final drive removed chain adjustment and lubrication from the touring routine, which starts sounding especially appealing somewhere around the third fuel stop of a cross-country ride.
Honda also offered its six-speed dual clutch transmission for an additional $400 when the bike reached America. You could leave the gearbox to handle shifts automatically or take control through the handlebar paddles. A conventional six-speed manual was optional, giving people the choice between traditional involvement and one of Honda’s most distinctive touring technologies.
The Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer Was A Road Bike In Hiking Boots
If you hadn’t pieced it together yet, the bike in question was the Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer, and its identity becomes much clearer once you stop expecting a Japanese version of the BMW R 1200 GS. This was fundamentally a fast, long-distance road motorcycle wearing adventure-bike proportions, with enough rough-road ability to keep gravel from dictating the route home.
One of the aspects that made its road-first mission pretty obvious was its weight. The U.S.-spec manual VFR1200X weighed a claimed 610 pounds ready to ride, while the DCT version came in at 631 pounds. On pavement, that mass contributes to the Honda’s planted feel. On loose terrain, however, gravity suddenly becomes a much more active participant in the conversation.
The aluminum twin-spar chassis and wide handlebar helped make the bike far more manageable once it was moving. The 19-inch front wheel gave the suspension a useful advantage over battered pavement and graded dirt, yet the VFR1200X still had enough cornering clearance to enjoy a twisting road.
That’s the useful distinction for anyone shopping for a used adventure bike today. The VFR1200X Crosstourer can handle gravel roads and easy dirt, but technical trails or deep loose surfaces exposed the weight quickly. Its fuel tank shape could also make standing on the ‘pegs awkward. For North American riders who spend most of their time on interstates, back roads, and the occasional unpaved detour, Honda’s compromise makes far more sense than the spec sheet initially suggests.
That 1,237cc V4 Makes The Weight Worth Carrying
The Honda V4 is what separates the VFR1200X from the endless stream of adventure motorcycles built around twins. Its 76-degree layout uses a phase-shift crankshaft to control primary vibration without a conventional counterbalancer, while Honda positioned the rear cylinders closer together to keep the engine narrow where the rider sits.
There’s another pretty cool engineering detail buried underneath the bodywork. Despite displacing 1,237cc, the engine was more compact and lighter than the smaller VFR800 motor. Honda managed to pack a large V4 into a motorcycle that already had to accommodate substantial fuel capacity and enough room for serious two-up touring.
Hard To Match
The performance suits the job. One U.S. dyno test recorded 108 hp at the rear wheel, while Honda’s crankshaft figure stood at 127 hp. More important than either number is the muscular midrange, which gives the Crosstourer the kind of roll-on performance that matters when you’re overtaking a line of traffic with luggage hanging off the back. The V4 also gives the bike a growl and mechanical character that many more conventional adventure motorcycles struggle to match.
As for the long-distance numbers, they do a good job of reinforcing the touring brief. One test averaged 42.4 mpg from the 5.7-gallon fuel tank and calculated an estimated 242-mile range. The standard seat height is 33.5 inches, although Honda offered a 32.5-inch accessory seat in the USA. Wind protection is strong with the adjustable screen raised, and the passenger accommodations make two-up touring a genuine part of the package rather than an afterthought.
The missing cruise control remains difficult to defend on a motorcycle built to inhale interstate miles, and the suspension is relatively simple compared with the semi-active hardware available on newer premium ADVs. Neither drawback changes what sits at the center of the experience, though. There simply aren’t many used adventure bikes that combine Honda dependability with a big V4 and shaft drive.
The Used Market Finally Put It In Its Sweet Spot
The VFR1200X Crosstourer’s biggest problem when new was the amount of explaining required before its appeal became obvious. The manual version started at $15,599 in the USA, while one DCT test bike fitted with Honda accessories reached $19,429. At those prices, American buyers could reasonably compare every missing feature against established premium adventure motorcycles.
That comparison matters less once depreciation has already done its work. A used VFR1200X still brings the same 1,237cc V4, shaft drive, and road-focused chassis, while Honda specified a 16,000-mile valve-inspection interval. DCT versions add a second oil filter, but its replacement follows the regular oil-service schedule. None of this is glamorous, but low-drama ownership tends to become very attractive when you’re shopping for a motorcycle that may already have thousands of miles behind it.
Age Doing Its Thing
All in, though, it’s hard to miss the appeal of the Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer being such an interesting used adventure bike for North American riders today. There’s the Honda reliability, the shaft drive, and a V4 with far more personality than its conservative badge suggests. The GS undoubtedly won the popularity contest, but this overlooked Honda has aged into a much more interesting proposition.
Sources: Motorcycle Specs, Honda.
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