Honda X-ADV - Fun second half of the ride! RAW sound POV

[@jeremyclifford1664]

Italy looks awesome,I love touring West Country,England,on my 'old'2001,Honda Fjs600 Silverwing scooter,(I'll be 70yrs soon,with disabilities!),easy for home maintenance,tough,n reliable,even taken it on trails,(gently does it),love belt drive,easy to change, worried 'bout x adv chain drive,always seem to run out chain,on long trips abroad,on my 600 tene're',wish their was a belt drive conversion,for xadv,though modern chain technology is probl'y better than it was 40 years ago,well,keep going,allez vittess,toutes suite!

[@alistairbox]

Hi Jeremy, thanks for commenting. For most of us, two wheels are a passion for life; I'm glad to hear you're still enjoying the sport. Many of the videos I watch are filmed in the UK and, for what I can see, much like Italy your country seems to be designed to provide endless winding roads and beautiful vistas. Like any other Honda, the X-ADV is crazy reliable. I've done just about anything with it, on it and, to be fair, to it and it hasn't blinked. After 15,000 Km, never a failure, of any kind. With that said, regardless of the drive, I should warn you that the X is far heavier and, crucially, taller than its scooter-ish looks would have you believe. I'm 1.75 m and I'm on tiptoes. Good ground clearance and suspension travel, but it gets quite physical on uneven terrain, as you have to choose which leg you need to firmly plant on the ground; both are not an option.

[@jeremyclifford1664]

@@alistairbox Yes,Silverwing fits me,almost as if it was designed for people like me,short' ish leg, disabilities,low centre of gravity,easy to maintain,though heavy,manageable,over 40,000 miles,n' totally reliable;if I was fit,n',so on,I would,praps',have an X adv;watching videos'I'll have to do,for the time' being,so thanks,n happy adventuring

[@alistairbox]

@@jeremyclifford1664 I enjoyed meeting you Jeremy, take care!

[@alistairbox]

@@jeremyclifford1664 Absolutely. Perhaps it'd be a good idea to go to an Honda dealer and sit on both the X-ADV that you fancy, and the street version the Forza, which sits lower to the ground, and maybe be a good compromise for you, getting the same power and DCT transmission, giving up only off road performance in the process...

[@jeremyclifford1664]

@@alistairbox Yes,hi Alistair,I'd possibly choose the Yamaha Tmax,instead,though an X adv would be my first choice,(British roads being so rough,) n my Silverwing might last over 100,000 miles, I'll see then,prap's x adv,s 'll be cheaper ,' av a good day,arriva'derci,(I think!)

[@linkupsolutions]

Nice video's ! What about Scorpion Rally STR (road, trails,...) ? My X-ADV is arriving within a few weeks and I wonder weither I need to directly change the OEM tyres with the Scorpion (85% road / 15% trails)...

[@alistairbox]

Hi! Good questions. I have been very happy with the OEM tires, and I used them all the way down to zero with 10K km. I've found them impeccable on the road and decent on gravel and small rocks, provided the incline wasn't too steep (see issue around the 7 minute mark in my video 'Honda X-ADV - off Road to Quattro Venti'). However, in my inexperience, you see me get dreadfully stuck in mud in my video 'Honda X-ADV - RAW Sound - Off Road Tuscany' around the 29 minutes mark. That was entirely the tires fault, they caked and became effectively slick tires, useless. I know I was taking the X a little out of its designed comfort zone, but I have to say that it performed admirably on every other account: plenty of power, the suspensions were reactive and I had plenty of travel, the bike itself was quite easy to maneuver and I didn't feel its weight at all! Transitioning to the Scorpion, I've found no loss of performance on the road, I got a great feeling right away. I haven't done much off road with them yet, but I immediately felt more connected with the terrain on the front when on gravel or mud. I haven't put the back in a low grip muddy situation yet, but you can tell by the threads pattern that it is much more aggressive for off road use compared to the stock tires. I thought the aggressive off road design would cause the rear to spin under hard acceleration on tarmac but, to my surprise, I cannot say that it has, so far. I cannot yet express myself on durability, I've had them on for too short a time to even make an estimate. If I may add a completely subjective note: they look awesome to me! In short: - OEM: great on the road, long lasting, decent on easy off road - Scorpion: great on the road, reportedly wear out faster, better off road, much better on loose terrain and especially on mud. They look great.

[@linkupsolutions]

@@alistairbox Thank you so very much for this great detailed insight. I am now sold to them and will ask my dealer to directly switch OEM with the Scorpion.

[@alistairbox]

@@linkupsolutions Happy to help 🙂

[@alistairbox]

@@linkupsolutions In my eagerness to answer your questions, I forgot to congratulate you on your purchase and to welcome you to the X-Club! I'm very happy with my choice; friends that have followed me switching form other brands report that they couldn't be happier with their choice as well, and wouldn't go back. As every biker, I am of course thinking about my next bike, but I can honestly say I find it hard to immagine moving away from Honda and its DCT so, in all likelihood, my next bike, when time comes, is going to be a newer version of the X if I continue to travel with my wife, or an Africa Twin DCT, if I continue this journey mostly alone with more time spent venturing off road. Is the X a unicorn? No. But I can assure you'll be hard pressed to find its equal: it''s a very unique concept and, if it fits your lifestyle, there's absolutely nothing like it out there. Enjoy!

[@linkupsolutions]

@@alistairbox Thanks. After cross, enduro, trails, CBR, GSXR, harley's, and scooter... I hope to get back (with a bit of tuning) to a mix of my beloved DR650 (25y ago) and my current scooter. Happy Honda thought about breaking the rules and making an SUV :-) Enjoy all your rides and continue making great vidéo !

[@drjimpapadakis]

Were these trees remnants of wildfires? Damn!!! We are living the same situation here in Greece... Well, the next update you need to do is your action camera. I dont think Insta provides the same quality footage as a GoPro... We can see somewhat clearly what is happening in front of your helmet but beyond x-adv's windshield the image is really pixelized... Oh, have in mind that a good method to preserve the quality of your footage (since it is reencoded by youtube) is to export it in a resolution higher than i was filmed, for example 2560 x 1440, and then upload it, just to be sure that your Full HD will really be a Full HD.

[@alistairbox]

Yeah, wild fires. They’re not common here in Tuscany by they happen often on this south-facing side of the mountain. I agree about the video quality, but the size of an Insta Go 2 makes it so practical to carry around! Thanks for the tip about KZbin’s compression. I’m painfully aware of it, as I can assure you that my original video is a beautiful full HD, where on KZbin it’s just horrible, and I can only apologize for that; unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about that as they reserve the good quality for the big channels 😅

[@alistairbox]

I was happy to subscribe to your channel, nice videos!

[@drjimpapadakis]

@@alistairbox Thanks, i basically have only 1, my first, lets say, more elaborated video. And despite the fact that this was also my first time using Adobe Premiere, i think it got out fine. Next videos wont have music, and i ll place the camera and the mount upside down and lower, to record it like the viewer is the driver. I saw basically from your videos, that owning an external mic really does make tremendous difference and it is really practical if you want raw sound. And just when i received my new cameras (1 used gopro hero5 black, and a new hero9) i broke my foot!!! The doctor will remove the k-pins next week, so i think that in 1 month max i will be riding again.

[@aawwoorrkk]

Welcome back! Good decision :) Looking forward to new videos. Just out of the curiosity - was this one captured recently, or it is from 2021?

[@alistairbox]

Thanks, it's good to be back. This video was captured last week. You may notice all the upgrades to the bike I've mentioned in the description, such as the new Quad Lock wireless charger mounted above the main instrument panel, the led fog lights from Honda mounted on the side crash bars, and the new Pirelli Scorpion Rally tires. Additionally, whenever you're curious, there's date and time displayed in the bottom left corner of the dashboard 😄

[@jacob-bi9ys]

Wish this was available in the USA

[@alistairbox]

I'm surprised it isn't. It's a pity because it's a powerful, new and unique concept, you can't find anything like it from other brands... Today it's either this or this... Or you can go bigger and go directly to the Africa Twin with the same DCT gearbox; there you lose some of the comfort but gain in power and off-road performance. I know that my next primary bike it's either going to be a newer X-ADV or, very possibly, an Africa Twin. If it's a second bike, then I'll get something lighter and more dirt oriented, like the Honda CRF300 Rally. Food for thought 😉

[@marcusortelius8375]

What kind of tank bag is on the X-adv?

[@alistairbox]

It is the original accessory bag (CONSOLE BAG 9L) made by Honda for the 2021 X-ADV. As it is, it fits a little tightly on my 2020 X-ADV (they're slightly different), but if you cut an extra hole in the strap like I did, it fits perfectly on all models. You can find on Honda's official website here "www.honda.it/motorcycles/owners/accessories-merchandise/hace-accessories-catalogue.html#hace/ADVENTURE/x-adv/Bagaglio"

[@marcusortelius8375]

@@alistairbox will be at my honda dealer the coming weeks, thank you for your comment ;-)

[@alistairbox]

@@marcusortelius8375 You're very welcome. Let me know if you need any picture to describe the location and procedure to add the extra hole on the strap 😀

[@yasmineb9082]

Neat! Question: are those two-way roads?

[@alistairbox]

Most of the roads in this video are, yes. If you find them narrow, please keep in mind that such is the nature of mountain roads that see little traffic year-round. Additionally, the camera's wide angle lenses and high placement on the helmet make the road look narrower than it is, so much so that cars have no difficulty getting by each other when they meet, except in the narrowest of spots, where one of them might have to back up a little. Funny enough, it's one such spot that I had the accident I refer to in my 'ride ends in disaster' video; facing another car, the truck in front of me back up without looking and smashed into me, damaging the bike.