Prior to its official international unveiling this week at EICMA, American Honda revealed details of the 2014 Honda CTX1300 – its forthcoming muscle tourer that goes on sale in the U.S in March 2014.
RideApart featured exclusive spy shots of this new addition to the Honda line-up two weeks ago, but Honda has now officially confirmed that there will be two versions, Standard and Deluxe, of what it describes as a, “new style bagger” which will carry an entry level price tag of around $17,000.
Both CTX1300 models use the proven, longitudinally mounted, liquid-cooled, 90-degree, V4 engine as used in the current Honda ST1300, but the CTX will have different pistons, gearing and exhaust. There are no official figures for horsepower or torque yet, but we expect the CTX’s 1,261 cc V4 to be on a similar level of performance as the ST1300 it’s pulled from. A Honda representative explained that, while the CTX will make a little less power than the ST, lower gearing should mean it actually accelerates faster. As anticipated though, the CTX will have a five-speed transmission and shaft drive.
Brakes are 310 mm twin discs up front and a single 315 mm rear with cast aluminum wheels – 18-in. front and a 17-in. rear with a wide 200-section tire.
A new double cradle frame has been designed specifically for the new bike and its conventional suspension set-up consists of 45 mm inverted front forks and twin rear shocks with spring preload and an aluminum swingarm. Honda has yet to announce details of how much suspension travel there is.
The Standard CTX will tip the scales at 724.2 lbs curb weight and the Deluxe, because of the extra equipment it carries, comes in at 731.4 lbs. Both will have an accessible seat height of 29.1 in.
For the U.S. market at launch, there will be two versions only – the Standard CTX1300 and the CTX1300 Deluxe and three color options – metallic black, gray-blue metallic and candy red. Both models will feature an under seat 5.1-gallon fuel tank designed to help lower the bike’s center of gravity.
There’s also LED headlights, taillights, turn signals and accent lighting as standard on both bikes. However the Deluxe version gets Honda’s latest ABS system, traction control and self canceling turn signals and is also equipped with an audio package as standard, which includes Bluetooth connectivity — Honda’s first use of the technology.
Definitive pricing and performance figures for Honda’s new CTX1300 will be available once we get to test the bike in early 2014.
Related Links:
The Spy Photos: 2014 Honda CTX1300 Spied Testing
The Little Brother: 2013 Honda CTX700 Review
The Big Brother: 2013 Honda Gold Wing F6B Review