Honda ST1300-Pan European Review

Overall Rating

Usual Honda finish and attention to detail, effortless to ride, tank range, all weather protection, comfort, good panniers, nice to own and generally just being up for the job really.

Handling can be a bit excitable. Bit of vibration after a couple of hours at certain revs, common opinion says it could be due to balancer shaft adjustment, not tried it yet.
Forgetting that the engine is as big as a small car and it nearly takes as much juice to fill it! Not really a bad point because you get the range, but long gone are the days of squeezing five or ten quid ' s worth of fuel into a bike.

I really enjoy owning the Honda Pan European but as more than a few owners have found, there are issues with the high speed stability. I've owned the usual ZZR and CBR stuff (rock solid at any speed) and I used to race Moto-X (lots of weaving!) so I'm fairly sure I know when something is "wandering" around like a mini towing a 20ft caravan. Anything on the normal-ish "A "road pace and there isn't a problem, the bike lives within 1/2 mile of the Cat & Fiddle road and it hustles around there fairly well for such a big lump, so it can be very sure footed, different story in a straight line at over 100mph though. Group of us tried it one evening in Holland last year, nearly new tyres (500 mile) on a long stretch, luggage on & off, screen up & down, two & one up, preload on off, didn't make any difference, and still weaved like a pig to the point of having to back off at 135+. Told Honda technical guy at NEC 07, he went berserk in front of four of us, told me it doesn't happen, accused me of being irresponsible to want to do that kind of speed and virtually escorted me off the stand, rude to the point of amusing! I also wrote to MCN asking if they want it for a day, they never responded. So if anyone gets any joy with Honda or finds a cure (fork oil latest rumour) let me know, that aside, its one hell of a bike.

Members' Comments onmarkab's Review

• bassplayer on 16th Sep 2008

  Must have been one of the dud ones then. Had mine pretty fast (GPS recorded) on a motorway in Austria - no traffic, Sunday morning, no wind - and NO weave. However, the bike suffered noticeably from turbulence due to traffic - especially on the dreaded M25. In those conditions, or with a significant wind, I can imagine the buffeting would lead to weave by amplification. On the other hand, the bike is a big tourer - do you really want to tour at 100 mph+........? Just 'cos it will go that fast doesn't mean you've got to - it ain't a sports bike - them's for Sunday afternoon pansies!