First impressions on my new 2015 CR

[mrvelcrofast]

OK, picked up my new 2015 CR work bike on 1st March on a 16 plate here in the UK.

First impressions:
Vast improvement over earlier (2012) model that I'd clocked up 80'000 almost trouble free miles on (had a coil pack and Cam chain tensioners on warranty).

First important thing was to ditch the OE tiny Honda top box. About as much use as a chocolate teapot!
Replaced with a Givi top box ....see post here:
https://www.honda-crossrunner.com/index.php/topic,1260.0.html

Bike doesn't like running the Akraprovic minus baffle. Way too many flat-spots in the fueling. I can imagine it causing damage in the long term! Def needs a PC/re-map!
Shame cause it sounds lovely. Baffle back in till the fueling is sorted.

Honda optional hugger fitted. Looks nice, but not really big enough over the top of the tyre and also would be better if it covered the bottom suspension linkage too.

This bike feels much more stable at slow speed (lower centre of gravity) and the turning circle is much better.

Bike came set-up like a pogo stick, so have wound up the pre-load a fair way on both front and rear and a healthy dollop of rebound damping on the rear shock too.
Daresay I will tweak this a little more as the springs bed in.
Also dropped the front forks through the triple clamps about 20mm as I bike my bike to turn in more quickly.

Puig touring screen fitted. Works really well for me (I'm only a short arse 5'5!!). Much prefer the fairing on this bike.

Seat in lower position .... seems to rubbing away paint on fuel tank. Poor attention to detail Mr Honda!!
Much prefer this seat to the dual seat fitted to the earlier models.

Seems to have lost all the useful bungee locating points that the old model had. Will have to find some add-on luggage hooks!

Love the LED headlights .. great for parting London traffic :)

I use the 'ride it as you intend to use it' during the run-in period. a couple of brief forays into the VTEC rpm areas but no red -lining it. Worked really well on the last bike. Never used oil and good on fuel.

Over all, very impressed so far. I'm hoping the fueling sorts itself out after the first service and the bike is run in. It's a little bit glitchy at the moment.

Cheers for now.
(will post a photo when the bike has been logo'd up).

[v8guy]

Glad you're enjoying it!

Originally Posted by mrvelcrofast

Also dropped the front forks through the triple clamps about 20mm as I bike my bike to turn in more quickly.

I may have to try this as I did the exact same on my TDM and loved the sharper steering.. but for now I'm finding the XR to be sharp enough.

Originally Posted by mrvelcrofast

Seems to have lost all the useful bungee locating points that the old model had.

Yeah, I bungeed something on the back the other day and felt there wasn't all that much to grab on to.. I'm spoiled by the scaffolding of the Givi pannier rails I have on my TDM!

Originally Posted by mrvelcrofast

Love the LED headlights .. great for parting London traffic :)

Absolutely! 

[Carlsv8]

 :030:my thoughts
Dynamically, brilliant apart from the turbulence which is horrendous
Physically, heavy to push around.
Financially, it's expensive to buy.
2&3 are known before you buy the bike but the turbulence is a big problem. Honda need to sort this out.

[Gairo]

I picked mine up last week, first impressions are good, mine came fitted with:

Akrapović exhaust (sounds and looks lovely but the baffle screw is spot welded in )

Centre stand (Very useful as my paddock stand is now useless and I'm not paying nearly £150 for a new one)

Tom Tom sat nav (not a Tom Tom fan so I'll probably change to my Garmin which is far superior)

31L top box (nice addition but would have loved the panniers too)
Honda hugger (I'm glad it's there but it's too short)

SW Motech hand guards (very pleased with these but I feel that the bike should come fitted with hand guards as standard)

Fender extender (pleased it's fitted but annoyed that it's the one with the plastic fixings that leave holes in the mud guard)

Overall I'm very pleased with it, initially I found the riding position a bit weird (seat was set in the low position) as I feel the foot pegs are too high, raising the seat improved that slightly.
Buffeting is a problem on all bikes I tend to find but that could be because I'm 6'2" tall

Mine had only done 370 ish miles from new so I'm sticking at a max of 6k RPM between gear changes until it's run in, appears to be good on fuel for its size but she's a big girl compared to my previous bike which weighed in at 190kgs

Love the LED headlights and dashboard display, thank god they moved away from that awful orange and black colour combo like my last bike dashboard had, this seems to work really well in bright sunshine which is a bonus
Suspension appears to be a bit on the jittery side but I'll set that up to my preference in due course.

I like the split seat although I feel like it rakes you forward slightly and due to the material used on the seat cover, I find it difficult to sit back in my preferred position, up near where the 2 parts of the seat meet each other, I tend to keep sliding forward so I may have to address that with some sort of top cover or even have the whole seat re covered in a less 'shiny' material !

The overall feel of the bike is good, it has a quality feel to it although it feels a bit lumpy at slow speeds, it picks up well, rides nicely and the brakes aren't bad bearing in mind the considerable weight they have to stop ! It doesn't ride like it weighs 242kgs, it actually feels quite nimble once you're moving, it is a handful to manoeuvre where manual handling is concerned but because of my height, I tend to sit on the bike to move it around just so that it can't get away and I end up with an expensive repair bill from dropping it.

Back to the exhaust, why oh why do they have to make it so difficult to remove the baffle, I spent 2.5 hours drilling, filing and chiselling at the screw to get the damn thing out, good lord it sounds well without the baffle though

It's not cheap at over £10 grand (UK) but it's a fabulous looking thing, it's missing maybe a couple of key accessories that would really help attack this corner of the market (in my opinion) and that's cruise control and an adjustable screen.

The negatives (in summary) for me are as follows:

Accessories - panniers, £700 for 2 plastic boxes ??? 12v accessory socket £75 ? Really ? Come on Honda, sort it out guys !
I fitted a waterproof socket from eBay that cost me £4

Weight - she's a big girl at 242kgs, even my best friends BMW S1000XR doesn't weigh that much with all the luggage fitted !

Options - (or partial lack there of as mentioned above) cruise control and adjustable screen for starters.

Those are my initial thoughts and findings, hope they help someone out that may be looking into buying a new bike soon