The much-rumoured Honda bagger is a reality, as Big Red introduced its Rebel 1100 Touring today, ahead of the EICMA show opening in Milan.
It is exactly what you’d expect; a Rebel 1100 cruiser with a headlight fairing and hard bags. We have not seen capacity rating for those bags, but they appear to be higher-mounted and lower-capacity, similar to the saddlebags seen on some of the west coast club-style customs.
The fairing, however, takes its cues from the larger touring-oriented baggers like you might see from Indian these days, with a low-cut windshield and angular edges.
Otherwise, much of the bike is the same as the standard Rebel 1100. You get a liquid-cooled parallel twin engine, 1084cc capacity, lifted from the Africa Twin and retuned for use in a street-oriented cruiser. Canadian buyers can opt for either a standard six-speed gearbox, or the auto-shifting DCT (in the US, buyers can only purchase a DCT model). There’s a 43mm fork, and Showa shocks adjustable for preload. Front suspension has 4.8 inches of travel, and there’s only 3.7 inches in the rear, so this bike is far removed from its Africa Twin counterpart.
The six-speed standard model weighs 238 kg at the curb—add 10 kg for the DCT model.
Of course, ABS comes on all bikes in this line. There’s only a single disc brake up front, 330 mm diameter, and of course only a single rear disc (256 mm diameter). Fuel capacity is only 13.6 liters; that’s probably enough for most users, but for riders who really do want to go touring on this bike, that may be a bit light.
In front, there’s a 130/70R-18 tire, and a 180/65R-18 in rear.
Canadian MSRP for 2023 is $14,599 for the standard-shift model, $15,599 for the DCT bike. The only available paint this year is Gunmetal Black Metallic. Find more information at Honda Canada’s website.
