Honda St1300 Pan European

I put 40,000 km on a 2004 ST1300 and it fundamentally changed how I think about touring — this thing devours motorway miles with a composure that borders on eerie, the V4 pulling cleanly from 3,000 rpm all the way to an indicated 220 km/h with zero drama. The fairing protection is genuinely class-leading; I've ridden through Scottish downpours and Alpine crosswinds where I arrived less exhausted than my passenger looked. That said, 296 kg is not a number you ignore — drop it in a car park once and you'll feel it in your back for a week, and low-speed filtering in city traffic is a constant negotiation with mass and heat pouring off that engine onto your inner thighs. The linked ABS brakes are confidence-inspiring on wet tarmac but feel slightly wooden compared to modern systems, and the original hard luggage, while well-integrated, runs out of volume surprisingly fast for serious two-up touring.

After 18 months and roughly 22,000 km on a 2009 ST1300, I can tell you the V4 is genuinely addictive — that smooth, linear surge from 4,000 rpm upward makes motorway overtakes effortless and almost meditative. The revised fuel injection cleaned up the low-speed fuelling noticeably compared to earlier models; gone is that abrupt off-throttle snatch that older Pan European owners complained about at roundabouts. The weight is real and unforgiving in slow car park manoeuvres — 296 kg means a tip-over at walking pace is an expensive, embarrassing exercise — but once rolling above 20 km/h it simply disappears and the bike carves surprisingly well for something this size. What frustrates me after years on newer competition is that Honda felt content to polish rather than genuinely evolve: the centre of gravity sits high, the screen buffets badly for anyone over 180 cm, and the luggage, while practical, looks like it was styled in a hurry.