Honda Talons - Let’s see them

[Crusty]

@Schmidty My condolences, thats horrible news  

@Hondajimz  it "had" a fabwerx cage....as in you sold that Talon or changed the cage?

 

[Hondajimz]

@Schmidty My condolences, thats horrible news  

@Hondajimz  it "had" a fabwerx cage....as in you sold that Talon or changed the cage?

I sold it. Shortly after I bought it my step son rolled it at Pismo. The cage held up really well but the frame that's part of the A pillar kinked and the Ins. Co totaled it. I was able to keep it. Last year I let my nephew take it out while we were in Oregon and he rolled it down a dune. I cashed out again and said enough's enough. Got really good money and went back to Can Am. 

 

[Crusty]

I sold it. Shortly after I bought it my step son rolled it at Pismo. The cage held up really well but the frame that's part of the A pillar kinked and the Ins. Co totaled it. I was able to keep it. Last year I let my nephew take it out while we were in Oregon and he rolled it down a dune. I cashed out again and said enough's enough. Got really good money and went back to Can Am. 

Oh snap, glad the kids are all ok...damn LOL...it took a beating for sure.

Hard to argue the Can-Am choice..  :cheers:

 

[1HasBeen]

Interesting. Do you feel the X3 has a lower CG than a Talon R? I have only spent a few minutes in my buddy's R, and to me it felt like the CG was lower than my old X3 RC. There is the 4" width difference, though.

 

[jeeperdino]

One of the things that I don’t like about the Honda Talon is the location of the instrument cluster. 
I searched the inter webs and found a few relocation kits. The kits contain some plastics that allow you to relocate the instrument cluster from the center console to the steering column. 
Anyone install one of these kits?
I ordered this one. 
 

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this is what we have, new to us so not sure who makes it

got to hammers last night, going to test out a set of 31s

 

[Hondajimz]

Interesting. Do you feel the X3 has a lower CG than a Talon R? I have only spent a few minutes in my buddy's R, and to me it felt like the CG was lower than my old X3 RC. There is the 4" width difference, though.

I've always felt top heavy in my Talon. I didn't like the seating position as it sits up high like a Rzr. I'm tall with long legs and fit better in the Can Am. 

 

[Schmidty]

I've always felt top heavy in my Talon. I didn't like the seating position as it sits up high like a Rzr. I'm tall with long legs and fit better in the Can Am. 

I cannot argue about leg room, the Canned Ham has got the goods there. But the seating position comes at a cost of line of sight vision. I have longerish legs for my height, but am overall shorter. I can't see out very well in a Canned Ham, other than a ways out. In the desert, you need to be able to watch terrain up close, down to which rock to avoid so as to not have a hole in your sidewall. I can't do that in a Canned Ham. I can in a Honda or Polaris. There are some personal preference things that for me, are deal breakers on Canned Hams. And vision is one of them.  I think its a Ford Chevy thing. Everyone needs to do what fits them. For me, I love my 4 seat Honda. When I am done with it, it will be what I want. "If", and I say "IF", I didn't stay with a Honda, I would get a 4 seat Pro and LT it. 

 

[FOG]

this is what we have, new to us so not sure who makes it

got to hammers last night, going to test out a set of 31sView attachment 24829View attachment 24830View attachment 24831

That looks nice. How do you like the new position?

Yours appears to be mounted to the dash. The one I got mounts to the steering column on top of the plastic.  I haven’t installed mine yet, but when I do I’ll post some pictures.  In the picture below the bottom round piece of the pod bolts into the hole just forward of where yours is located in your picture. 
Either way I’m hoping I get much better visibility of the instrument cluster. 

 

[FOG]

I cannot argue about leg room, the Canned Ham has got the goods there. But the seating position comes at a cost of line of sight vision. I have longerish legs for my height, but am overall shorter. I can't see out very well in a Canned Ham, other than a ways out. In the desert, you need to be able to watch terrain up close, down to which rock to avoid so as to not have a hole in your sidewall. I can't do that in a Canned Ham. I can in a Honda or Polaris. There are some personal preference things that for me, are deal breakers on Canned Hams. And vision is one of them.  I think its a Ford Chevy thing. Everyone needs to do what fits them. For me, I love my 4 seat Honda. When I am done with it, it will be what I want. "If", and I say "IF", I didn't stay with a Honda, I would get a 4 seat Pro and LT it. 

I agree. Forward visibility was a priority for me as well.  Coming from a sand rail without a hood made it important to me. But I also knew I would have to deal with less visibility in a SxS. 
I test drove the CanAm, Polaris, Yamaha and Honda. I think the Yamaha had the best visibility followed by Honda and Polaris. 
I’m sure everyone has their own priorities. I had my list of them and feel like I made the right decision for me by getting the Honda Talon. 
The Talon is not perfect. It’ll never be my last sand rail which was pretty close to perfect.  But I’ll keep tinkering with it and share here. 

 

[FOG]

I finally got around to relocating my instrument cluster to the steering column. 
The kit I bought was great but the instructions should have clearly stated that you need a small child to assist you with the installation. 
 

 

[FOG]

My next project is to hopefully improve the ride with some different coil over springs. 
I’ve researched a number of spring kits and have decided to go with the springs in the Eibach stage 2 spring kit. It’s the one  that made the most sense to me regarding the spring rates and lengths. 

 

[NIKAL]

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[FOG]

Do a full shock re-valve and springs. From what I’m told it makes a big difference on the Talon. 
 

Also if your looking to improve on your fuel capacity & distance you can go. TrailTank makes a drop in replacement fuel tank that fits in the stock location, using the stock pump, lines & cap. It increases your fuel tank from 7.5 gal to 10 gal. 2.5 gal increase. 

https://www.trailtank.net/product-page/2019-20-honda-talon-1000r-x-2-seat

Thanks for all the feedback. 
I’m going to start with the springs and then see how that works. I’ve had great results with this approach in the past with several of my sand cars. 
I like to start with 50 to 70% of the exposed shock shaft at ride height compared to it at fully exposed, full droop. 

 

[FOG]

The springs I used. 
 

 

[Schmidty]

Just sent a 4seater out yesterday am, which went directly out to the dirt to play.

 

[FOG]

Just sent a 4seater out yesterday am, which went directly out to the dirt to play.

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That’s looking good. 
Ready to Rumble!

 

[FOG]

After putting some tape on my roll cage, see previous post, I started thinking about modifying the stock roll cage. 
So I acquired a couple of cages to experiment with. 
Hoping to get a lower profile in the rear to get rid of that stink bug look and beef it up. 

 

[FOG]

I finally got around to getting the new Eibach springs on the Talon and doing some riding in the dunes. 
My goals were to have a softer ride in the smaller chatter bumps and a stiffer ride in the bigger bumps and G outs so the Talon doesn’t bottom out frequently.  And also to have much more adjustability. 
I’m happy to report that all three of my goals were accomplished. One other thing I noticed is that the Fox Live Valve switch makes a bigger difference when I go from Normal to Sport mode. 

 

[FOG]

Did some more adjusting, testing and measuring with my new suspension set up on the Talon and I like the results. I’m really impressed with the Fox Live Valve shocks. In addition to automatically damping body roll in the corners, squatting during acceleration, and nose diving while braking they perform great in other areas like the whoops. 
For example I found about a 1/4 mile of whoops that I ran in both directions and then took some shock travel measurements in addition to my seat of the pants subjective feeling. 
I first ran in Normal mode at 30 mph. Then in Sport mode at the same speed. The shock travel distance was 3/4” less in the Sport mode and the Talon felt moderately stiffer. 
I then ran in Normal mode at 50-55 mph through the same whoops and again in Sport mode at the same speed. The shock travel distance was now 1.5” less in the Sport mode and the Talon felt noticeably stiffer.

The shocks were never fully compressed in this test. That made me feel very comfortable. BTW I usually don’t do whoops at 50-55 mph. 
However, the shocks did fully compress in other G out and jump testing that I did. But again there was a noticeable difference between the Normal and Sport shock modes. 
It was just me in the Talon during this testing. Therefore the passenger side shocks were not traveling as much and the difference between the two modes was less. The Fox Live Valve doing it’s magic. 
In the dunes I’ll probably run in Normal mode with just me in the Talon and in Sport mode with a passenger. 

 

[SandTrap]

My Buddy has his car in getting the turbo installed.. He said he will be dropping it off at my house next week so we will see.