The monochromatic scheme of our black Honda Fury project bike simply won't do, Maybe we can make it more attention-getting...
looked to increase its cruiser street cred last year with the release of the
2010 Honda Fury. Though it used the familiar 1312cc liquid-cooled mill developed in the VTX1300, the Fury’s styling was a big contrast to the Japanese manufacturer’s prior offerings. Sporting a radical neck height and a heavy 38-degree rake with a big 21-inch wheel up front, the Fury is long and low, featuring a 71.2-inch wheelbase and a 26.7-inch seat height. It has a beautiful sculpted tank that stretches over the long, arched backbone. Honda went 200mm wide on the rear of the shaft-driven motorcycle to maintain the bike’s front-to-rear balance, and priced it far below any other factory-custom choppers to make it even more marketable.
But after our factory
chopper comparison between the
2010 Honda Fury and the 2009 Big Dog Coyote, the Fury’s shortcomings became apparent. We wanted more power and more growl. The VTX1300 engine, though it will run forever with only a minimal amount of maintenance, was underpowered. This was corroborated by our dyno runs on the stock Fury that produced only 56.23 hp @ 4300 rpm and 71.32 ft-lb of torque at 3100 rpm. It’s got a little launch off the line, but not much, and when it hits around 4800 rpm, it signs off abruptly.
No cruiser project is complete without a nice set of pipes. The Cobra Engineering Speedster Sweep Exhausts will fit nicely on the Fury as we get rid of the plain stock exhaust.
To remedy the problem, the 2010 Honda Fury project bike is headed south for some engine modifications courtesy of our buddy Jim Guiffra of
AFT Customs. Jim specializes in building championship-caliber metric motorcycles and won the prestigious title of Metric World Champion at the 2008 AMD World Championships. We talked to Jim about our project at
Las Vegas BikeFest where he suggested new pistons, cams, and a reworked air intake as a solution to our power problems. We couldn’t believe it when someone with his skills agreed to help us squeeze more power out of the single overhead cam engine. We’ve got our base dyno numbers above to measure the modifications against, in addition to our seat-of-the-pants impressions.
And though exhaust sound is arbitrary, the note coming out of the stock pipes is a bit tame. Sure, the exhausts meet current EPA standards, but a chopper traditionally has a more resounding exhaust note than the stock Fury. So our friend Andre La Plante at Cobra Engineering has sent over a set of its
Speedster Swept Exhausts to remedy the situation. We’ll see if the new setup shaves off any weight or gives us any more power than the stock pipes. You can bet we’ll be doing some before and after sound files, too, to share the new auditory experience.
The Fury's chrome will grow once we add some Kuryakyn case covers.
We also aim to do away with some of the plastic bits and replace them with shiny chrome. Aww, the luster of chrome. Kuryakyn has a set of chrome engine case covers and some stainless steel brake lines that will help the transformation. They also offer a master cylinder cover that we’re checking out.
How about new bars and a new front end? We’ve been talking to CJ Hanlon of
Guilty Customs about retrofitting one of its Guilty Narrow Glide Girders to give the front end a more industrial look. If that doesn’t work, we’ve got a back-up plan, too. Still searching for some short, straight drag bars though. Any suggestions out there?
The transformation of the Fury definitely calls for some fresh paint and graphics. The monochromatic scheme of the black Fury we have is a little anonymous, so we’ll see if we can’t make it more attention-getting. Some new wheels should help too. We’ll start on the engine mods first before we work on grunging up the rest of the Fury.
There's much more to come as this 2010 Honda Fury goes from mild to wild.
Honda also announced this week that it is beefing up its cruiser contingency with the release of its 1300 Custom Line. We reported on the first two models when they debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show, the
VT1300CR and VT1300CS. For marketing here in the US, the cruiser motorcycles have been renamed the 2010 Stateline and 2010 Sabre, with the Stateline sporting large valanced fenders while the Sabre has a sportier Pro Street stance. Honda also announced a touring-ready version in its 1300 Custom Line called the 2010 Interstate. It utilizes the same 52-degree V-Twin engine, but is equipped with hard saddlebags, a windscreen, floorboards, a heel-toe shifter and fork covers.
