The Crossrunner is an all-new model from Honda, presumably built to replace the rather tired Transalp and uninspiring Varadero. These two bikes have sold very successfully, particularly in Europe, but my brief experiences with each left me pretty cold. Suspension felt sloppy, brakes were uninspiring, riding positions were okay and the engines were probably as practical as the Suzuki's, but ... kind of boring.
Honda could have chosen the reliable NT700V Deauville as the base to build from in designing a new adventure machine - but instead, it made the curious decision to use the V-4 engine out of the old VFR800, a high-speed sports touring machine. This makes the Crossrunner the only 4-cylinder bike in its class.
That's an interesting choice - twins are usually lighter, torquier and the greater gaps between their power pulses are understood to be an advantage where grip is uncertain - like it is 100% of the time you're riding offroad. So on the one hand, the design of the bike with its motard-peaked nosecone seems to scream off-roader, but the engine seems much more road focused - sports focused, even. It's a good 30% more powerful than the V-Strom, and anyone who's ever ridden a VFR800 in anger will know how beautifully this creature lives above the old imperial tonne. It loves to run.
The Crossrunner's design is in keeping with the direction Honda has taken with all its recent roadbikes - sharp tail, deep glossy paint, single sided rear swingarm with sexy star-shaped hub, stacked headlights - in fact if anything, this looks like a beefed-up, overgrown CB1000R - despite the fact that it's actually quite compact when seen in person.
ABS is again standard here - this time using Honda's superb Combined ABS system. That means that an onboard braking computer will not only correct loss of traction under brakes, it also actively proportions stopping power between the front and rear wheels to prevent unnecessary weight transfer and guard against poor rider choices like deciding to stop using only the rear brake. It's a great system and it works - unless you like doing skids or stoppies. Sigh.
An optional pannier/top box kit will presumably make the Crossrunner an effective and comfy tourer, and again plenty of time has been spent in the wind tunnel developing a touring screen. I've heard this a lot before though, and there's an awful lot of shockingly bad screens going around. Either way, there's a strong aftermarket that doesn't want to put up with bad aerodynamics any more than you and I do.
Road-sized rims and tires that give only the barest nod to offroad capability are pretty much the icing on the cake when it comes time to work out where the Crossrunner is targeted - it's one of the most road-focused adventure bikes on the market. It will also live on the sporty end of the spectrum - if its suspension is up to the task of quick progress. The Crossrunner is an interesting looking bike, and a fresh chance for Honda to get a certain sort of "Adventure" done right.
At the end of the day, both these bikes are probably fairly well pitched - the road is where they're likely to spend most of their time, and when it comes time to go party in the dirt, smaller middleweight engines are probably much more appropriate than the big 1200cc-class behemoths for the majority of riders. You can take any bike off road - these aren't going to trouble dedicated dirt machines, but they'll handle things better than most roadbikes.
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