Part of the reason I’m in my line of work is so that I can someday justify having a three-bike garage. I mean, if I could ever afford it or ever have a partner who questions my spending—two big “ifs”—at least I could try and argue I need them for my job. Unfortunately, I know most of my brethren don’t have that excuse.
Forget three-bike garages, it’s getting harder and harder to justify a one-bike garage given inflation, recession-wows, and generally financially stressful times. With all this in mind, I can’t believe I let my experience of spending four days on Honda’s XL750 Transalp fly under the radar for so long because it makes such a strong case to be a member of most gearheads’ garages.
Last June, when I needed a bike that could haul a week’s worth of stuff, be easy to manage in a super busy, unfamiliar city, and generally be comfortable on longish freeway stints, the Transalp gave me all that.
And, unexpectedly, so much more.
Awkward Start
My introduction to the Transalp wasn’t smooth. I had to drop the largest suitcase airlines allow, before it became “special luggage”, off at a luggage holding facility. I’m not joking when I say I had to kick this bag into the largest-sized locker to get it to fit. Then, I took an Uber to pick up the Transalp and ride it back and fill it with all my crap.
The Transalp was fully loaded with panniers and a top box, but I couldn’t have been more nervous as I was bringing enough motorcycle gear to fuel a Moto3 team in preparation for my stint at the California Superbike School. And if it didn’t all fit in the in the bike, well, I was screwed.
Yet, I couldn’t believe how much I squeezed into the Transalp’s panniers, and there was very little Tetris involved. If I hadn’t needed all the bulky race gear, I could have easily loaded up for a month-long adventure.
But now I had a new-to-me bike with 40-plus pounds of gear to complete my first-ever trip across Los Angeles. Until now, I’d only heard about how bad traffic in LA was, and I was on a press bike. If I said I wasn’t a tad nervous setting off, I’d be lying.
It Doesn’t Get Easier
I’d hoped the Honda would be friendly enough to get me and my gear around LA and out to Willow Springs Raceway without too much hassle, but I didn’t expect how much more it had to give.
Around the city, this bike was a doddle to ride thanks to its predictable responsiveness, light clutch, and friendly low-speed handling character. At 856mm—33.7 inches—its seat height is a tad tall for those who are vertically challenged, but at six feet, I’m not, and its armchair-like riding position left me feeling commanding yet comfortable whether I was lane splitting through busy traffic or cruising on the freeway—and the latter half of that sentence is the most important.
Riding back from Willow Springs Raceway after spending a day at the California Superbike School had me drained. Mentally and physically, I was exhausted. Each day, I burned around 6,000 calories, according to my Garmin, and needed my hour-and-a-half ride home to be as effortless as possible. The Transalp obliged.
The bike was surprisingly nimble through the city and unsurprisingly stable on the highway, thanks to a combination of well-thought-out engineering decisions. Sitting at highway speeds, the 755cc liquid-cooled 24.5-degree parallel-twin put me into a meditative-like state with its effortless smoothness. And I couldn’t have asked for much more from the non-adjustable windshield at the Transalp’s $9,999 price tag. But what caught me off-guard was the seat.
Initially, it was a tad firmer than I’d expected from an adventure (ADV) bike, but it’s so damn spacious that I found myself moving around in it almost out of instinct and never got a hint of iron butt.
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that a middleweight ADV from Honda has such good around-town manners and is blissful on the highway. But, again, what came as a shock was what happened when I took a spin up Angeles Crest with another moto journalist friend who was aboard a much sportier machine.
Pushing Comfort Zones
I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t want my first time riding such a famous motorcycling road to be on a middleweight ADV.
If there’s one place you can go to push an ADV bike’s comfort zone, it’s a seriously twisty road, and in this sense, there aren’t much better proving grounds than Angeles Crest Highway. Considering its 21-inch front wheel, 18-inch rear, and long-travel suspension you’d think this is where the Transalp would finally be out of its comfort zone, but you’d be wrong.
I ramped things up until the feeling through the non-adjustable 43mm Showa SFF-CA inverted fork became a tad sketchy, before toning my riding back a bit. And the most wonderful thing happened—the thing you always want to happen on a twisty road—I felt like I was pushing the bike and myself to the same tune.
The Showa forks and Pro-Link rear suspension gave me a surprising level of confidence when railing the Transalp around the canyons, and rail it I did. This model has 91 hp and 55 lb-ft of torque on tap, but unlike most ADVs, the Transalp likes to be revved out. You won’t hit its peak torque until 7,750 rpm and it produces peak hp at 9,500 rpm.
It was here, unbeknownst to me, where the Transalp should’ve been out of its comfort zone, that I was quietly falling for it. And it’s taken some reflection and new experiences to realize just what an electronics package is on offer at this price point. There are five riding modes, engine braking can be adjusted on the fly, along with the traction control and ABS. All these modes can be adjusted individually from each other, which is something I longed for on the Triumph Speed Twin RS I tested recently, which also costs around 50% more than the Transalp.
While wringing its neck I began to appreciate the quick-shifter, which is standard on this model. My first upshifts around the city were jerky, but once you get the parallel twin spinning, both upshifts and downshifts are on the money. In fact, downshifts are on point throughout the rev range and make you think twice about how a stock 755cc parallel twin sounds so good.
I think this is a good time to put out a PSA about the Transalp because if you’re not careful, you might start having too much fun on it. The ADV suspension means rolling off before cracking the throttle will result in effortless front-wheel airtime. But the real fun starts if you accidentally turn on the off-road rear ABS while riding on the street. This mode is minimally intrusive and means fools like me can, again accidentally, back it in with no backing-it-in skills required.
But it was a wrong turn that showed me what the XL750 Transalp was made for.
On my way to Streets of Willow Raceway, a wrong turn left me on a dirt road, and I'm using the word “road” lightly. On any other motorcycle, this would’ve been a disaster, especially since my panniers were loaded up with track gear. But on the Transalp, it was a delight. The bike was so much more capable than I was off-road and made me sorry to see asphalt after a few minutes of ripping dirt.
The bike excited, delighted, and gave me the comfort and relaxation I needed when I needed it. In today’s economic climate, this puts the Transalp in the discussion for a place in most motorcyclists’ garages.
Forget Your Car
Motorcycles have always been my main mode of transport, and thank God for that because I don’t even know how I’d afford to buy and maintain four wheels. At $9,999, the XL750 Transalp makes a great choice for those who want to live on two wheels rather than four.
There’s no commute that can trouble it. It’ll wake you up in the morning before work if you choose to ride it with a touch of vigor and unwind you on the way home after a stressful day if you let it. Unlike some motorcycles, which force you to ride their rides, the Transalp lets you decide how you want to tackle your journey and then delivers—that’s just your Monday to Friday commute.
Anyone who’s rocking a motorcycle as their sole mode of transport isn’t just commuting on midweek—they’re getting frisky on the weekends too. As long as your friends aren’t supersport maniacs with death wishes, you can happily hit the canyons and raise your heart rate, or if you want to send it through the roof, go off-roading.
One of my favorite things to do on a motorcycle is get the hell out of Dodge for the weekend, and with the 50-liter top box and combined capacity of 59 liters from the panniers, you could realistically take off for as long as you want. Although all that luggage space will tack on around $1,545 to the MSRP.
Those who know me know I’m all about finding the best one-bike garage, and I know that the answer takes different shapes for different people. I say confidently that the Transalp is one of those shapes and one of the best value propositions in the one-bike garage category.
