One thing that I have done in the past is to really find out who had the grunt power between bikes. Pull up to another in a given gear and just roll them on. One can then clearly see who has what power at what speed/gear. I can not out pull a K1600, but an older (2008-9) BMW1200RT - yes. It would be interesting to find out. Numbers do not show actual results.
I think I mentioned this 30 or 40 pages ago, but when you tune for torque at lower revs, the laws of physics forbid having more horsepower higher up.
Yep, it's not for everybody. There was a day when I wanted astronomical RPM's and used 'em if I had 'em. I'm not going to say I outgrew that, because that would be an insult to anybody who still craves that kind of scream; so I'll just say that I don't ride like that any more. Don't get me wrong, I had no issues at all with the ST's power delivery when I had it (it was the riding position that just didn't agree with me); but the CTX puts more of it exactly where I like it.
Well, at least for some people. HP alone is is usually such a misleading (and sometimes meaningless) metric, yet it's the first one everybody jumps to.
HP usually translates (roughly) to top speed, torque to how fast you get up there. Like so called music power in amplifiers (or peak or instantaneous power) it is more or less irrelevant for most of us. Unless, of course, you are riding your bike at Bonneville trying for an LSR.
The carcass of that horse was decimated several times within those 813 posts.
So what we have here? Is a quick paint job with a very wide brush making a universal statement that isn't really accurate. Whether it's a poster or a motorcycle magazine critic/writer/hack it's neigh impossible to make statements that apply to everybody.
QED
LOL I doubt that was Honda's objective. Their's is to sell bikes. Like the ST. I'd say that market stagnated for Honda and the CTX was an effort to look elsewhere for sales. Maybe it will sell as well as the ST maybe better maybe not.
As far as the Valk (1997-2003) goes it wasn't a strictly sales number decision on ending production. Within Honda, the Goldwing 1500 flat 6 engine was replaced by the 1800 flat fuel injected plant, and Honda already had a new, large displacement cruiser V-twin engine, the VTX 1800(2003-2008) which they were trying to keep alive (it died in 2008). Honda doesn't like competing with itself and it was felt the Valk was taking sales from both the very different GW (touring) and VTX (cruiser) markets.
LOL.. so they came out with a new 1800 Valk to compete with themselves.. lolGuess that riders voted on the ST with their wallets too.
As far as the Valk (1997-2003) goes it wasn't a strictly sales number decision on ending production. Within Honda, the Goldwing 1500 flat 6 engine was replaced by the 1800 flat fuel injected plant, and Honda already had a new, large displacement cruiser V-twin engine, the VTX 1800(2003-2008) which they were trying to keep alive (it died in 2008). Honda doesn't like competing with itself and it was felt the Valk was taking sales from both the very different GW (touring) and VTX (cruiser) markets.
Nope, they just completely blurred the basic types with the same powerplants in different dresses. The 1800 GW is both a Tourer AND a Cruiser as a GW F6B but only a Cruiser as a Valk which they also call a "Goldwing" (they call the GW, F6B and Valk all GOLDWINGS. The V-twin 1312 is also a Tourer and a Cruiser, The 1300 V4 powerplant is strictly a Tourer in either ST or CTX dress.
My post concerning the decision is limited by my memory; we had the Marysville Ohio Production Manager give an impromptu talk concerning the decision to discontinue the Valkyrie before Honda officially announced the decision. Unlike the 1500 Goldwing, all 1500 Valkyries were manufactured in the USA Marysville plant. He was the one who stated Honda made a conscious decision, with the demise of the 1500 engine to not compete with the VTX 1800 V-twin and continue production of the Valkyrie with an 1800 in any other form than the VERY limited production of a VERY custom model (which turned out to be the Valkyrie Rune). The Marysville plant ceased all motorcycle production in 09 moving it to Japan, and switched production to Accords and Acuras.
