- XL600V Transalp -

10 Years Transalp

Euro/US-difference

Colours

Specifications
These are specifications for the 1992 model. I know that the specifications for the '87 and '94 models are slightly different. Where known they're in. Please let me know if there are some missing. E-mail.


Engine	V-twin; 52 degrees angle; 4-stroke; water cooled; offset crankpins, 76 degrees; OHC whiteh three tuimelaars, three valves per cylinder; two spark plugs per cylinder; wet-sump lubrication; two-in-one exhaust.
Bore x stroke	75 x 66 mm / 2.95" x 2.60"
Displacement	583 cc
Compression ratio	9,2 : 1
Max. power	40,4 kW or 55 hp at 8000 rpm
Max. torque	54,4 Nm at 6000 rpm
Carburetors	C.V. 2 x 32 mm
Electrical	electronical double CD-I ingnition; 12Vdc; 12V/12Ah battery; AC-generator; electrical starter; electronic safegard on side stand
Generator	0.310kW/5000rpm
Transmission	primary through cogwheels; multiple wet plates clutch; cable operated; klauwengeschakelde five speed transmission
End drive	O-ring chain
Frame	semi-double-wiegframe
Suspension	front: forks whiteh 41mm vorkpoten, free travel 200 mm rear: aluminum swing-arm and one shock absorber, Pro-Link suspension, free travel 190 mm; adjustable spring voorspanning
Brakes front	1987-1996: single disk, diskdiameter 276 mm, double piston claw 1997-now: double disk, 2 x 256 mm, double piston claws
Brakes rear	1987-1990: drum brake 1991-1996: single disk, disk diameter 256 mm 1997-now: single disk, disk diameter 240 mm, single piston claw.
Tires front	1987-1996: 90/90-21, spoke wheel, tube 1997-now: 90/90-21, spoke wheel, tubes
Tires rear	1987-1996: 130/80-17; spoke wheel, tube. 1997-now: 120/80-21, spoke wheel, tube
Rims	1987-1993: goldcoloured. 1994-1996: silvercoloured
Handprotectors	1987-1993: white 1994-1996: black 1997: white
Wheelbase	1505 mm
Balhoofdhoek	62 degrees
Naloop	110 mm
Overall length	2265 mm
Overall width	905 mm
Overall height	1300 mm
Ground clearance	195 mm
Seat height	850 mm
Dry weight	1988: 174kg 1990: 175kg 1991: 175kg 1992: 183kg 1993: 185,7kg 1994: 183kg / 403 lbs
Max. load	180 kg
Gas	unleaded, octane 91 or higher
Fuel tank	14.5 + 3.5 liters
Engine oil	20W-50 or 10W-40, SE of SF. It will normally take a lot of different types but these two were mentioned by a Honda NL instructor.

Euro/USA-difference
Honda only sold Transalps in 1988 and 1989 in the USA. And only in 1987 and 1988 in Australia. And I believe only 1987 and 1988 in Canada. So every Transalp you buy now in the US is at least 10 years old. Some have a remarkable low mileage. The appreciation of the American market for the Transalp was so little that a grey import circuit from the US to Europe came alive. And that means that US-Transalps are in Holland to. Differences are:

mileage counter instead of kilometers
a different license plate lighting
can't turn the lights off, either low or high beam
head light glass marked 'DOT' instead of 'circled e'
VIN-number is different from european bikes

Some dutch dealers advertise a US-Transalp as a '1992-model' if they brought it in in 1992. But that is based on the date the bike was cleared by the dutch license registration office. Not quite right I think.

What can you do ...
Have a look at the front rim. On one side you can find a three or four digit date stamp. It looks like '389' or '1092' for example. This is the production date of the rim. The bike is most likely first registered a couple of months later. This is true unless your bike has had damage and the front or rear rims have been replaced.

So if you were to buy that '92-bike expect it to drop in value as soon as you leave the dealers. Because you are riding a 1988 Transalp and not a 1992 one. See second hand prices

Gas tank
The gas tank should hold about 18 liter / 4.8 US gal of gas. This is probably true. Due to the somewhat oddly shaped tank and the frame pipes it sure looks less. Normally you can ride for 13.5 liter / 3.6 US gal before switching to reserve. Then you have another 3.5 liter /0.93 US gal to go before you start pushing the bike instead of the other way around. As said, the oddly shaped tank prevents about 1.5 liter /0.4 US gal gas in the right lower half of it to flow to the left side where the gas outlet is. The solution is to lean over to the left or put your Transalp 'on its left side' to let the gas flow to the other tank half. From there on you can go the extra kms/miles.

History
1987/1988 - The Transalp was introduced in 1987. The 1987 model was available in white/blue, goldenbrown, silvergrey and white/red. It had a rear drum brake and a front disk brake. The 1987 and 1988 models were identical. Maybe the only difference was in the colour schemes.
1989/1990 - Identical to the 1987/1988 except for the number of horse power and the colouring. The noise/sound from the bike is more smooth.
1991/1993 - The rear drum brake had been replaced by a disk brake. It was available in blue/white and ... The 1992 model was light/dark maroon (dark red, purple red), light/dark green and light/dark blue. The 1991 and up models were never imported in the USA. The older 1987/1990 models were even brought to Europe as parallel imports because the appreciation of the Transalp was better. This does not mean that there are no Transalps in the US. There are several very dedicated (addicted?) Transalp owners. You can find some of them through the Transalp Mailinglist.
1994/1995 - The 1994-model has had some cosmetical changes. It got a nose-job, the head light changed shape in the process, the hand protectors are different, etc. From 1995 the rims are silver coloured instead of gold. The engine did not change. It seems that the 1994 model has smaller (bobines) then before. The 1995 model has larger (bobines).
1996 - The ignition changed. A throttle position valve was added.
1997 - The front break is a double-disk now. And the duo now has two grips/grasps beheind the buddy seat to hld on to.
1998 - The 1998 model has not changed compared to the previous year.
1999 - The 1999 model has not changed compared to the previous year.
2000 - The 650cc model was introduced.

19961025 - In Japan you can buy a 400cc Transalp .
19971009 - Apparently the 400cc Transalp is also sold in Greece.
19980310 - (By: Raymond Chew) Singapore is also familiar whiteh the 400cc Transalp. See Raymond Chew's Transalp .
19980310 - (By: Robert Alexander Pontbriand) Because the production moved to Italy and because of the small market for it, Honda stopped producing the 400cc Transalp.

Movies
Everybody saw "top gun", starring Tom Cruise flying around in his jet, pulling stunts, right. Back on his feet he uses a Harley Davidson to get around. And you'll say: Why not ? Well, "top gun" was done as a parody called "hot shots", starring Charlie Sheen. He too flies and he too rides a bike. But guess what he rides ..... a Transalp !! The colour is a little weird, the fairing is a little different and the sound was dubbed, but it is a Transalp. Go see for yourself.

Photo

(By: Edwin Loos, NL) Two bikes are used in Hot Shots. A Transalp for day-to-day driving shots and a Dominator (?) for the stunts. This shows from the fairing and the exhaust.
19970221 - Per Oehl, Sweden, confirms that. According to him it is an NX250 Mini-Dominator, that was sold in the USA and some other countries. The standard colour is red or blue/lilac and its 132kg weight makes it perfectly suited for the stunts shots where you see bike and driver. Some close-up shots, such as the wheelie, are faked but the were done whiteh the (black) Transalp.
19970805 - According to Per Rindar, mr Cruise rides a Kawasaki, most likely a GPZ900.
20000507 - According to Thomas Douqué it's a sports bike, Honda VFR of Kawasaki ZZR or similar.

Paint
The 1997-Transalp is build in Italy instead of Japan. It seems that the paintjob is not done adequately in some cases. Examples include paint that had moved (was pushed away) after the handlebar had touched it. And paint that came off while mounting the rear footrests. Some replacement parts were sent back because of the quality of the paintjob and sometimes the colour on the metal parts (tank) is so different from the colour on the plastic parts (fairing) that it shows. Maybe someting to pay attention to before buying a Transalp.

Police
19970801 - The Tolsteeg District of the Utrecht, Netherlands police force uses at least two, model 1994 (sharp nose) Transalps. They are painted white and have blue and red striping. And of coures have the usual sirens and blue lights. Photo .
19971022 - The Rivierenwijk District of the Amsterdam police force is also using a Transalp. This district includes the RAI Tradecenter. The Transalp is a 1997 model painted in red/blue. It was preferred by the officers of the bureau over the BMWFJ650 and Kawasaki KLE. It's used during busy tradeshows and for traffic duty. Photo .
19980611 - And the North- and Centre Limburg district of The Netherlands bought 15 Transalps at once for street and forest patrol. They cost NLG 32.000 each. Against NLG 16.995 at the dealer's. Photo .

Rentals
"Get a life, Get a Transalp !". If you can't buy one, you can always rent one. The (dutch) shops below will rent you one.

Name	Location	Phone
Goedhart Motoren	Bodegraven	+31 172 650 005
Hans Schots motoren	Zeist, e.a.	+31 30 693 9134
Motorverhuur Rotterdam	Rotterdam	+31 10 482 9498
MVM Motoren	Vleuten	+31 30 677 0551

Stuff
(By: kjbjsh) An excerpt from an article: "like honda's other 52 degrees v-twins, the transalp uses offset crankpins to make the perfect balance of a 90 degree v-twin. the design exaggerates the rocking couple tremors a bit more than 90 degree twins whiteh side-by-side rods on a common crank pin. honda's crank arrangement requires a wider crank to accomodate a center flywheel and offset pins. nevertheless, the transalp is far smoother than a counterbalanced big single and this makes the v-twin a more pleasing road companion than big thumpers (single cylinder bikes)."

Transcity
Baby brother wth almost the same name: NX125 Transcity . Only a 1-cylinder so actually related to the Dominator NX650. But it looks good. Spotted in Paris by Marc de Vries, Netherlands .

TV
(By: Edwin Loos) The Transalp is also used in sport events, like bicycle racing. He was spotted during the World Championship 1996 in Swhitezerland (two of them) and during the Tour de France. It is used as neutral spare parts bike and sometimes for displaying time. They're almost always yellow, for advertisong reasons and have a high wind screen, also painted yellow.

Workshop manuals
19971015 - According to my information there are no manuals for the Transalp in the Clymer, US and Haynes, UK series. The name transalp does not show in the lists that I got from Maring Publishers (+31 30 5716161). Maybe for Clymer the reason is that the Transalp was only imported in the States for a short period of time. Third is the manual from Bucheli Verlag, Zug, Zwhitezerland. They sell the 'Reparaturanleitung Honda XL600V', no.5095/5096. It is an illustrated book in german. also available in french.. And fourth is the Honda, Japan workshop manual that you can order through your dealer.
20030101 - Haynes now has a workshop manual: Honda Transalp and Africa Twin 1987-2002