Post-Sale Update: After 8 bids on eBay, this Honda Transalp sold for $3,428. That’s a solid buy.
The Honda Transalp XL600V was a dual-sport that was truly ahead of its time. A slightly less off-road biased cousin of the Honda Africa Twin, the Transalp was first released in 1987. This was one of the odder bikes that Honda ever sold – truly a jack of all trades sort of bike. The US only got the Transalp between ’89 and ’91.
Powered by a liquid-cooled V-twin, the first generation of the TA produced approximately 50 horsepower and was capable of 110 miles per hour. An original MSRP of $4,498 is actually rather similar to what you’ll have to pay for a nice example nowadays. Weighing 450 pounds, the bike was a little heavy for single-track, but if you could only have one bike and wanted to tackle a multitude of terrain, a Transalp with some luggage was tough to beat. Looking for more information? Motorcycle Classics comes to the rescue with a good explanation of why this will be a classic in the future. The dual-sport craze has really taken off in the states in the last few years, but bikes like this Transalp and the BMW R100GS were some of the first to bring the joys of dual-sporting to the US.
This specific Honda Transalp XL600V (VIN: JH2PD0602KM200276) has just 11,842 miles, and comes very well equipped with a Givi trunk, Givi crash bars, Garmin GPS, MRA touring screen, Trail Tech computer kit, and much more. I’d say it’s well setup for nearly everything you’d probably want to do on a motorcycle.
Find this Honda Transalp XL600V for sale in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey with bidding up to $3,000