Pain aux raisons at a village boulangerie
A day’s ride on Honda’s alternative to the popular adventure style bikes from BMW and KTM. I found the Transalp 750 very rideable even with the high riding position and wide bars. It felt more secure (planted) on the road than did the CRF300 Rally I owned and sold on. The Transalp 750 will take a racing line on a hairpin curve and (as a twin cylinder) there’s not much need to change gear for ordinary road riding. So a miles muncher, easily going faster than I think but then nothing like the fun level as my CBR600RR in the workshop getting new tyres, pads and a service.
The steering on the Transalp 750 is nothing like as precise as my 600RR; I found I needed to turn the bars more than I expected and even then, the trajectory didn’t seem repeatable, making overtakes and corners more scary than expected.
Sport mode opens up the top end of the rev range and firms up the suspension. I tried a short gravel track in Gravel mode. The suspension goes softer and there’s lots more low-end torque but the bike’s quite heavy at the speeds I am comfortable with on gravel so it would have to be a well-graded gravel road for me to find the Transalp 750 as a realistic option for any distance.
The parking turning circle’s good but the bike’s heavy on the bars and difficult to manoeuvre safely. The seat height is on the high side. Plenty of options for baggage - the Transalp 750 is built for touring. Fuel economy was good, handlebar vibration not a problem.
Overall, a mile muncher for trips with occasional bursts of progressive riding. On gravel, it’s heavy. Good enough in commuter traffic.
I was very happy to get back on my CBR600RR ABS (2017) to continue to the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence. The sportsbike riding position is far more compact, with a closer sense of contact with the tarmac.
