The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
Tonight I finalized the purchase of my brand new (to me, thanks Ryan S!) 1989 Honda Pacific Coast PC800. It’s the white tupperwear stormtrooper bike of awesomeness! Tomorrow hopefully I’ll have the time to take it out for a quick jaunt around town. Since it was dark when I picked it up I didn’t have the chance to get a photo but soon I’ll post one.
SO MUCH FUN TO DRIVE! Only 6 miles though on the way home. 🙂
Yesterday I went out to Lebanon to see a man named Fred (not connected with Fred’s Honda in Corvallis) who is a motorcycle wholesaler. All he deals with is used bikes. He buys low mileage bikes from repo auctions and car lots, and turns around to sell them to motorcycle shops at a profit. The bikes he buys are top quality. He had a whole garage filled with Shadows and VTX bikes not to mention many other cruiser brands. I sat on several including an 07 Shadow 750 Aero.
The bike was dripping with chrome from stem to stern. Whoever owned it before had more money than sense. The bike only had 192 miles on it. Everything was brand new and pristine. And he only wanted a few dollars shy of $5000. If someone were to buy that bike new and trick it out like that, you’d be paying well over $10000.
Another bike that caught my eye was a Yamaha VStar Silverado from 07. It was a 650cc little cruiser fully decked out with everything a bike needs. Saddle bags, windscreen, light bar, floor boards, etc. It had some salt scaling but nothing a good shining up couldn’t fix. He wanted $2800 for it. Oh and it also needed a new back tire. It only had 5300 miles on the odometer.
After looking at all of his bikes I went back to Corvallis having the strange feeling that I just sat on a bunch of big, fat, heavy bikes. I don’t know what the motorcycle companies are thinking! Back in the mid 80s they produced some good-looking wonderfully nimble bikes. You were riding a cruiser but could push it to perform like a sport bike of the day with a little finesse. Todays cruisers just feel fat and uninspired. Much like America.
I next went down to Fred’s Honda in south Corvallis to look at the Honda Shadow Aeros that they have in stock. In the better lighting of the shop I was able to get a good feel for the bike. It didn’t feel quite so massive sitting under me and Emily S fit well on the back but still… So much fake chrome, such a visibly fat bike. And why? It’s not like the thing needs to be so massive. Hopefully they’ll start making some sexy throwback 80’s bikes soon. I should also mention that neither place would let me test ride a bike. The first place doesn’t have insurance and the second place thought it was too dark.
My overall impressions of a Honda Shadow Aero are that it will handle passably but not as well as my old Shadow VT700. It has way way more room than my old bike which is certainly nice. I didn’t feel cramped at all and felt like I would be able to go many miles without problem on it. Being a Honda and with the VT750 power plant, it will literally last forever with proper maintenance. Still… For how much they sell for today, I’d rather buy an older bike such as the Honda Pacific Coast PC800 that Ryan S is selling and save a little money for new riding gear than drop five grand on a chromed out “me, too” bike.
UPDATE: I ended up buying this bike and absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
Today I went for a quick test drive on a 1989 Honda PC800 Pacific Coast. It is a full-fairing bike with integrated rear trunk. Wikipedia has a good photo of the same model year and paint scheme as the one I rode (white). My buddy Ryan S is trying to sell his and I’m in the market for a motorcycle — hence the test ride.
The first thing people notice about this bike is its looks. The white PC800 looks like something a Stormtrooper should ride. In fact I was humming the StarWars Imperial March while I was riding it. The plastic front fairing gives me a little concern as it comes very close to my boots when my feet are on the pegs. I have size 15 shoes which makes fitting into anything difficult. Twice while riding I had a moment of trying to search for the right brake petal. The plastic wasn’t getting in the way but it was annoying bumping into it. Compared to my old Honda Shadow, this bike has a much lower brake petal. Adjustable of course but it was already pretty high up.
Riding the bike was really fun. It was responsive but not twitchy. I did feel moments of land-yachtiness but all in all it was responsive and fairly nimble. The full fairing made wind buffeting almost nonexistent although I did get a fair amount of wind rushing by my head where my helmet poked up above the slipstream of the windshield. One thing I did find was the ability to easily induce speed wobbles. Twitching the handlebars and shifting weight at the same time at around 30 or 35 mph got the bars to go back and forth and bike to lurch from side to side. It wasn’t real bad and it would damp out with just a little effort but it was rather interesting.
The PC800 has a very quite exhaust system. It was difficult for me to tell when I needed to shift by sound alone. Also the 800cc engine seems to have a very wide power band starting around 3000 rpm and topping out around 5500 or 6000 rpm. I often found myself running the bike at around 4000 rpm. Giving it low lugging rpms (around 2500 or lower) would make the bike hesitate when it was time to get up and go.
Unlike my old shadow, this bike only has five gears. Compared to some of the other Honda cruisers and tourers from a few years later, five is a lot of gears. However it still was a little odd how I kept feeling for the 6th gear. Also the lack of an overdrive light made me keep wanting to go higher. When I really romped on the throttle I got high rpms but I didn’t have the same getup and go feeling as on my Shadow. This could be because of the windscreen. Not having the wind push back is an interesting experience. I’m not sure if I like it or not just for around town driving but I could see the advantage for long distance trips.
Speaking of long distance trips I have no doubt that this bike could easily go across the country and back without a problem. Being encased in plastic as it is, the engine doesn’t get much attention and it doesn’t need it. It’s a low-maintenance Honda engine. The ample cargo space and big, plush rear seat are real dreams for passengers and for gear stowage.
The two real issues I have with the bike are 1) the looks and 2) foot room. I think each on their own I could deal with but combined it’s a little ifffy. One idea I had for the looks is to paint a rainbow on the front and call it Sparklelord. Another idea is to turn it into a Imperial Speeder and wear all-white riding gear.
After testing out another motorcycle or two I’ll revisit the Pacific Coast and see what I think.