First Ride: 2010 Honda Shadow RS

Honda built its first Shadow in 1983 and has been cranking the things out nonstop ever since: Shadow Spirits, VLXs, Aeros, ACEs in 600, 700, 750 and 1100cc sizes—a virtual carpet bombing of cruisers to cash in on whatever happened to be au courant amongst the feet-forward brigade for the past 27 years. (In fact, the righteous Honda PR Ministry of the day didn't like the press to call them cruisers at all, because of the derogatory association with the Al Pacino film Cruising, released in 1980. These bikes are customs!they told us. Today, they'd probably embrace the Village People wholeheartedly as spokespersons if it would sell motorcycles.)

In any case, whether Shadows were leading fashion or following it, the one that Honda never built was a Sportsterish one, you know, with footpegs not so fashionably forward and with non-chopper steering geometry. Now that Honda's finally gone ahead and built that bike, the question is, why the heck didn't they think of this before? Why didn't we? Finally, this new Shadow RS is a motorcycle you can love without being a cruiser person.

That's right, the rake is 32 degrees instead of the 34 of the other current Shadows, with an inch less trail, and a wheelbase of 61.5 inches makes the RS 3 inches shorter than the other Shadows, as well. Honda says the bike weighs 507 pounds all fueled up, which is 40 pounds or so less than the others. All those things add up to a Shadow that's not just willing to turn but eager to—also to stop and accelerate.

None of those specs make the RS exactly sporty, but what tips the scale in that direction is the simple fact that the footpegs, grips and seat put you in a nice standard, upright seating position that encourages you to ride not cruiserly but sort of aggressively when the mood strikes you. Oh yeah, didn't Honda used to race flat-track? What was that bike? RS750? It's all coming back to us now...truly I can't remember having this much fun on a Shadow before.

The Shadow RS isn't quite as fire-breathing as Bubba Shobert's old 750 flat-tracker, but its 745cc, 52-degree, offset-crankpin, injected V-Twin gets the job done with enough linear, smooth, broadband power to make things interesting—along with a pretty healthy exhaust note and a willing five-speed gearbox. A single 296mm disc up front provides plenty of braking power for street use. Suspension verges on plush, but it seems reasonably well-damped upon first ride and, together with the bike's excellent seat, makes the RS just the sort of platform you can putter around on all day (and/or bomb along on as the situation dictates), with no reason to blame the bike for whatever's ailing your aging body. And you'll need to stop now and then to fill up the 2.8-gallon gas tank anyway.

Yours in Pearl White or Metallic Gray for $7799. Full test to come soon....