Hi all, Ive seen a couple of grey import XLVs for sale here in the UK. I'm seriously thinking about buying one, I was thinking about a Transalp, coz my legs are too short for an Africa Twin!

I know It has hydraulic tappets and shaft drive, both of which I like the sound of, Ive owned a CX500 in the past, so I know that Honda can make a good unobtrusive shaft.
Anyway, has anyone owned one or know of any things that I should look out for on them? They certainly look a bit lower than the AT, and with less bodywork possibly a bit narrower.

Any advice?
Thanks

Pete

Hi Pete,
The XRV is one of those bikes I liked the idea of but never owned. It was reasonably successful in Europe but never officially imported into UK. I did look at buying one a few years back and I am not an expert by any means.
The shaft drive is reliable but the early red colored engines had some shortcomings with bearing failures, cam pitting and sometimes high oil consumption they also had some overheating problems.
The later black engines apparently had these issues sorted.
It is also fairly heavy bike at over 200 kilos, not sure exactly.

I don't know what you have planed for this bike but I think it would make a useful travel bike in the hands of the right owner. It is quite old, but don't let that alone put you of. I think they where made between 1983 and 86. You may find spares difficult to locate.

The Transalp is a useful travel bike, it, been in production for nearly 20 years and spares are plentiful and they are almost trouble free, the very early ones had some high oil consumption problems and the 600 is know to have CDI problems but apart from that they just go on for ever. They might be in the shadow of the Africa Twin but I think it is equal in most departments and better in some, the AT may have more street cred than the TA, but that's worth nothing when you traveling around the world.

Steve

Thanks for that Steve, the one I'm wanting to go for is a late black engine model. Ive ridden both the Transalp and AT and really like them both, but Ive really fancied the XLV for ages. Just out of interest, does anyone know about aftermarket exhausts etc?

Pete

hi, in january of 2008 my and my son we goed from montevideo to machu pichu in our honda xlv 750r the only problem we have during the journey its with the cdi boxes (because we fall in the ice during a snow torment in peru) but the bike generaly works very good its very simple and have double everything.
cheers
kevin