HONDA'S Varadero is back in Australia to take on the popular ever-growing adventure bike market. With a fuel injected VTR1000 engine, ABS and linked brakes there's no questioning it's abilities on the tar, but it would be a brave adventure rider to contemplate serious off-road work with the revamped Varadero XLV1000.

There is no doubt the Varadero has had great success in the Northern Hemisphere but was a sales flop when first released in Australia in the late ’90s. When it comes down to it the looks probably more than anything else kept away the paying punters. It was a much better bike than sales would have you believe. The looks haven't changed much but the engine has been brought into the modern age with fuel injection and the rider aids will impress many riders

On the stand

With a kerb weight of 268kg, I immediately thought it's going to be heavy when you load up the optional panniers and top box. Further, chain drive without a centre stand would be a little time consuming with a bike this size.
A quick look at the tyre sizes reveal a 19-inch front and 17-inch rear. Hand guards to protect your pinkies from weather. An aluminium bellypan for protection down low. Wide looking off-road handlebars. A twin stainless exhaust system slung up under the seat, which I thought looked pretty tidy. All this suggested to me Honda is saying this big fella could go anywhere including off road. Hmm I thought. Have I got the skill to slide this thing around? Am I stupid enough to try? Where's that can of Harden Up…

The ride

I threw the old leg over and noted the seat was extremely comfy but wide. At 180cm tall and the seat height of 838mm, I was just getting both feet down, which with this size bike kept me honest. I decided to fully wind back the rear pre-load and still found the bike tall from the saddle. There is no rear rebound adjustment unless you choose the ABS model. The front suspension also has no adjustment.

I accelerated away and the motor felt punchy and torquey from the outset. Suddenly (believe it or not) size did not matter. I found a few corners and was quite surprised how easy the Varadero tipped in. In fact the Bridgestone Trailwings – which I have ridden on previously – felt good, despite the size/weight of this bike. Despite the little suspension adjustment, the Varadero felt good over bumpy sealed roads. I will say when I did venture onto some unsealed road, I decided to drop a few pounds out of the tyres. The bike went okay over the loose stuff, but with all that nice half faring, I would have to seriously consider fitting some crash bars. Not to mention the side mounted radiators within the fairing. A simple skid could be costly and to be honest with this sort of weight on gravel, you would want to be fairly competent.

Speaking of the faring it certainly kept the elements off me during highway miles. The screen was okay, having two adjustments but this is done manually with the old screwdriver.
Honda’s Dual Combined Braking System stopped the big fella pretty well. I tested this on the F3 when I gave the Varadero a bit of a squirt only to suddenly be facing a lovely painted SS Commodore with a bloke in blue operating some bodgie device. Yep she pulled up real well on that occasion, which was also appreciated via a flash of his headlights.

Now with plenty of digital info such as litres/100km combined with analogue speedo/tacho, one important thing was missing. No fuel gauge. Even the temperature gauge gets a digital bar. With a 25 litre tank the first thing you know that there is a fuel issue is when a light comes on and tells you there is four litres to go. It then starts a count down of kilometres available. I would rather a fuel gauge. A range of 350-400km was averaged during the test.

The wash up

Look, the Varadero has the build quality of Honda. However the non-ABS model, which has limited suspension adjustment, starts at $17,990 plus ORC. The ABS will cost you an extra $1000. With it’s size/weight I think it is a great touring bike which is still a lot of dollars less than let's say the Honda ST1300. However there are certainly a lot of other bikes available up against the Varadero whose prices are considerably less.
If you want a road bike with some dirt road capabilities the Varadero is a good machine but it can't stack up against the more aggressive adventure tourers when the tar turns to dirt.