Honda's Fury
A chopper from Honda?



There's a certain irony in the fact that Honda, the motorcycle you meet the “nicest people on”, is now building (what for all practical purposes) is a production chopper, a genre previously associated with ‘tattoos and hard living‘. This is the 2010 Honda Fury, an inspired, radical design built around the company’s motor. Featuring chopper styling cues such as the largely exposed backbone frame tube.

As you know, over the past years, millions of TV viewers have been exposed to the world of custom bike building via shows such as ‘American Chopper’ and ‘Biker Build Off‘ firing the imagination of would be fabricators and enlightening an audience beyond the ‘outlaw biker crowd’ normally associated with ‘so-called choppers‘. The Honda Fury presents a unique opportunity for ‘Joe Six-Pack’ to now enter this genre for under $15K.

The stretched, flowing design of the Honda Fury is an eyeball popper and quite a departure from Honda’s normally conservative mindset. This sleek beauty gives surprised eyes dozens of areas to ogle. First seen in public today at the IMS show in New York, journalists got a sneak peek at American Honda’s high-security R&D center in Torrance, CA. Company reps say customers wanted a “radical” looking chopper with Honda durability, quality, reliability and affordability. The most expensive component of any motorcycle is its engine, so Honda decided to be ‘fiscally responsible’ and fitted a modified version of the 1312cc V-Twin seen in the VTX1300 models. It retains the 52-degree Vee angle and single-pin crankshaft, but it differs in its cylinder heads, cams, port shapes and exhaust system. Most significant is the addition of fuel-injection to the VTX’s carbureted mill. (Expect slight increases from the VTX’s rear-wheel numbers of 59 hp and 71 ft-lbs of torque.)

As for how the Fury will ride, Honda reps assure us the bike isn’t awkward at all to handle. Yes, a 38.0-degree rake angle is quite ‘chopper-ish‘, but it’s balanced by a modest 3.5 inches of trail and at 71.2 inches, the Fury’s wheelbase is the longest of any production Honda in the company’s history. Suspension comes in the form of a 45mm conventional front fork with 4.0 inches of travel, while out back sits a single, adjustable shock with 3.7 inches of travel. The view from the cockpit is clean. Throttle cables and brake lines are exposed, but every other wire is hidden inside the bars. A scooped saddle placed 26.7 inches from the ground blends nicely into the slick tapered gas tank and offers a very spacious riding position. Also featured, is the single-shock rear suspension giving the Fury a “hard tail” look, an extra-wide 200-series rear tire and slim-look 21-inch front tire. Overall it can be said that the new Honda Fury offers clean looks and superior attention to detail. Colors available include Blue, Silver and a Matte Black (they call it Grey), all of which are garnished with ample amounts of chrome throughout.

The questions that comes to mind is how the American-minded / chopper crowd will take to Honda’s radical motorcycle departure and has the Fury arrived to late to the market taking into consideration the economy and the downward slide in the custom chopper industry as of late?  Only time will tell, meantime the 2010 Honda Fury can be had for a proposed MSRP of $13,500.00.