Sat on it the other day. I love the seating position and looks. Anyone with opinions? Right now I am undecided b/w this bike, the ducati 696, and the harley 883 Iron (the blacked out version). Opinions please

 

So... it's between a japanese cruiser (weird), an italian streetfighter, and the smallest slowest bike harley makes, an odd assortment of bikes to choose from!

696, no question. I did ride one, however, (a girl's no less,) and it felt seriously underpowered... and I ride a seriously underpowered buell xb12r!

Just my opinion, but you asked for it.

 

Honda Shadow = weird

 

So far we've had good luck with the Phantom, been selling quite a few of them and no issues so far. The best part about it over the other 750's from Honda aside from the looks standpoint is that its fuel injected, I just wish they'd put together a package like that with a bigger engine (not that i'd ever own a cruiser) but it does look the best out of all the cruisers Honda has to offer right now in my opinion.

Your local dealer trying to get retail ($7,999) out of it or are they willing to work with you on the price any?

Sadly Honda doesnt have any finance promo's on that bike in particular right now like basically every other bike on the floor but the rates still arent bad if you plan on financing through Honda. Sadly some dealers are trying to play some backend games right now, if you've got any questions about anything regarding the Honda just let me know and i'll help ya out.

 

Have you checked out the Honda Fury? If you like that baby Nightster, you're probably into looks, and that Fury has tons of style.

froggie3kb, I assume you work at a Honda dealership, I'm curious, what kind of feedback have you been getting about the Fury?

It looks pretty awesome to me. I just don't like that the tank doesn't look solid. I'd like to get one and murder it out, though. I'd like to see one with black spokes and a fat-ass back tire, and maybe a springer front end.

 

I have the Shadow Phantom... I can't compare it to the other two... but I can say this, if you want a bike that is easy to ride and comfortable, the phantom is a great bike

 

I think it has some good design cues, but I'm not a big fan of the silver forks, and especially the front turn signals and cross brace - it just looks weird.



I like the modern classic look, the spoked rims, and the tail, maybe if you could do something with those front signals. I'd rather have a Japanese cruiser than a Harley though.

 

Some of the metric cruisers, like this one, sure nail the looks. But I'd rather have the slowest HD 883 than a metric copy of an American style.

Cruisers are about image. They're not especially good at anything other than cruising (feet position forward, cornering clearance, small gas tanks, and often radical tire sizes front & rear). I'm talking about compared to other types of bikes, not that there aren't a couple of sporty counter-examples.

The image a metric cruiser says to the world is, "look at me on my copy of the real thing." My 2 cents and I know everyone doesn't agree.

 

My dream bike would be the the HD V-rod. But its way too fast for me. I prefer the styling of the honda over the 883, have u driven one?

 

For me, Japanese cruisers picked up where HDs left off on the evolutionary development. I think they are smoother and more reliable than HDs and they fact that they cost less is a plus - I'm just not a fan of HD engines.