PC800 Review (link fixed)

[JQL]

One for the ex PC800 owners:

 

[Woodaddict]

link doesn't work............................i had 2 of them

 

[JQL]

Copy and paste...

 

[Phil Tarman]

Worked for me when I clicked on it.

 

[Woodaddict]

LINK WORKS NOW. this same guy did a video comparing various gas stabilizers on spyderlovers.com

 

[ST1100Y]

Well, with the PC800 Honda invented the "big scooter" long before they got fashionable... it was aimed at the modern, urban commuter...

If I'd get one at an affordable range, I'd be all over it refurbing to top notch condition

 

[Michael Ehrhardt]

Had one too. It was a comfortable quiet reliable ride. Why don't all motorcycles have self cancelling turn signals?

 

[ARKNT]

Why don't all motorcycles have self cancelling turn signals?

Good question. They have been around for a lot of years.
Bikers are a different bunch. It would not fly with 4 wheeled vehicles, everyone likes every accessory they can get and manufacturers can sell.
Somehow I feel lawyers and lawsuits must be involved in the self cancel feature on bikes. They cancel using time/distance which is not as close to 100% as a geared steering like a 4 wheeled vehicle uses.
I still think it should be done on bikes.

Brad

 

[DirtFlier]

Self-cancelling turn signals cost money and if they were on a particular model, would it have fantastic sales? I doubt it.

Buyers are more interested in different colors and nicer trim.

 

[coaster]

I had a PC800, one of the best bikes I have ever owned.
If Honda came out with a modernized version, which they won't, I would seriously consider getting one.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Back in "ought-ought," I rode my C-10 Connie from Brian Head, UT, to Mountain Home, AR, with two other Connies and a PC. The woman on the C10 had no trouble staying with us except for one or two times between Hoover Dam and Kingman, AZ, and on old US-66 between Kingman and Seligman, where we could briefly explore very high speeds. We'd get an edge on her above about 90mph. The only other limitation I saw was that 150 miles or so was about her effective range and the 3 Connies were getting 250-260/per tank and once got 275 miles. She had refilled a bit before 140 miles on that leg and was close to being empty again -- all four of us put within 1/2 gallon of capacity in our tanks at Teec Nos Pos.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I had a PC800, one of the best bikes I have ever owned.
If Honda came out with a modernized version, which they won't, I would seriously consider getting one.

Maybe we could talk Acura into making one!

 

[RedLdr1]

Maybe we could talk Acura into making one!

Sure, just remember it will priced like an Acura.

 

[Brillot2000]

Hater from the beginning. Back in 1989, I was 15 years old when this thing was introduced. My two best friends at the time also rode. We were sitting at my friend's dining room table looking over the sales brochure his older brother had brought home. We immediately started bagging on how fugly it was and how the enclosed engine concept would not catch on.

 

[Woodaddict]

the PC and ST were introduced at same time. the PC had ALL engine hidden. the ST and goldwing had partial engine reveal. the biggest question i would get was " IS THAT A SCOOTER?" hahaha not with 800cc engine its NOT

 

[Brillot2000]

One of the professors at the college I attended had one. I was not impressed with it when I got a good look at one up close.

 

[Brillot2000]

DESPERATE to recoup some of the costs.

Honda dropped so many other models faster than a hot potato such as the GB500, NT650 Hawk, and CB1. There could have not been any other reason for keeping a doomed motorcycle around for nearly 10 years.

 

[DirtFlier]

"JustPassinThru..as Honda was no doubt still smarting from its Hondamatic failure...."

Not entirely true because for decades, Honda has used motorcycles to test some of their new ideas before adapting it to their cars.

The Hondamatic was also fitted to Civics in the mid-to-late 70s so I'm sure the motorcycle effort was just a trial. And the Civic and later the Accord with Hondamatic were just as miserable as the CB450A and CB750A! They had the first version of VTEC on a Japanese-market 4-cyl bike in the late-80s before it was ever used in a car or on the VFR750-800 much later. Why they fitted VTEC to the VFR still remains a mystery to me. The fuel injection system on the CX500 Turbo appeared a year or two later on the Accord and at least to me, some of the parts looked identical.

As an aside, I'd venture a guess that the Hondamatic bikes and cars were only offered in the US.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Well, come to think of it, Honda dropped the NT700 after only 3 years of sales in the US, and those were 1 year of 2010s and 2 years of 2011s (some of which were sold as 2013s. A big issue, I think with the NT was that salesmen and dealers didn't really know anything about it. Honda doesn't train their salesmen.

 

[coaster]

Because the PC was not based on anything else. But underneath, was NOTHING identifiable as any other Honda.

The PC800 was based on the Honda Shadow 800cc cruiser motorcycle.

I think the above comments show WHY it failed.

Essentially, it was a motorcycle for those who don't want to see the mechanics of a motorcycle. Basically, as said, a very-big scooter - without the auto transmission, as Honda was no doubt still smarting from its Hondamatic failure.

This was another. Those who buy Acuras, don't lust for motorcycles. And frankly, attractive women and slick videos won't get them on motorcycles. This was a marketing attempt, and brave, and laudatory; and a failure.

Honda's real failure here was, the Plan B. What happens if it DOES fail?

Because the PC was not based on anything else. Back when I had mine, trying to deal with the old, brittle plastic...I considered rat-rodding it. But underneath, was NOTHING identifiable as any other Honda. Nor was it a chassis that could be attractive naked.

From Honda's point of view, had they been able to shuck the cladding and make a naked or minimalist bike out of the chassis, they could have saved some of the costs and appealed to more-traditional riders. But they didn't; and IMHO, the reason the PC800 stayed around as long as it did, was that management was DESPERATE to recoup some of the costs.