Does it bother anybody else?

[VStarRider]

Where I live F6B's are a niche market at best. The closest Honda dealer to me has only ever had one F6B and they still have it. Harley, Victory and Indian rule the roost in my area with a smattering of sport bikes and metric cruisers.

I'm not sure why the B has such small appeal. To me it's the cats meow and exactly what I want. Fortunately Honda came out with it and have demonstrated to their fans how good the GL platform can look.

Same thing here, basically in upstate NY, which seems to have a lot in common with Michigan and other upper Midwest states.

Someone posted that these bikes drift in-between touring and cruisers, depending upon location.

I would place the F6B in the "touring" category myself, with the bags and tunes and fairing. Most tourers are optioned-up cruisers. Look at the Victory CC and CC Tour.

I think, as others have said, the F6B does not fit in any one category. It has not latched onto to any particular market. It has a full-touring motor, comparable with Honda's own full Wing and the BMW 1600. Yet, it looks like a cruiser. However, the seating position is of modified standard Japanese motorcycle nature, like the Gold Wing is. Yet, like the full Wing, it has sport bike origins. However, it has limited full-touring capacity and the stock windshield screams "cruiser".

I don't get what Honda was after with this bike. Cruiser? Cruiser tourer? Modified standard with bags and gobs of power? I dunno. I like what it offers, and so do all of the members of this forum, but obviously we are unique because Honda doesn't sell many of these bikes and I can see why. Not a well-thought out marketing strategy.

[Jimmytee]

Where I live F6B's are a niche market at best. The closest Honda dealer to me has only ever had one F6B and they still have it. Harley, Victory and Indian rule the roost in my area with a smattering of sport bikes and metric cruisers.

I'm not sure why the B has such small appeal. To me it's the cats meow and exactly what I want. Fortunately Honda came out with it and have demonstrated to their fans how good the GL platform can look.

Harleys are big here too, like everywhere else. The dealer I bought my F6B from though is a little dealer and he has sold bunches of them. All of them leftovers. He gets one in and it doesn't stay for maybe 2 weeks the most. Odd huh? Mine was the first he sold. They had just been open a few months and he had been waiting on the new 2014 F6B he had ordered. I called him, he is 2 miles from my house, and told him what deals I had found elsewhere. He called back in half an hour, told me he could have me one the next day and beat the best price I had found by $300. After that he cancelled the 2014 he had been waiting on and just started bringing in new 2013s. Those have become scarce so he statred bringing in 2014s and a couple of low mileage used ones. He sells everyone he brings in.One didn't even last a day.

[F6Dave]

As an owner of 2 of the original Valkyries, I've become used to buying niche motorcycles that Honda builds, then drops. The Valkyrie was reasonably popular when it hit the market in '96 as a '97 model. Then Honda decided to build loads of them, and ended up with a huge surplus. They had to sell those at deep discounts, and ended Valkyrie production in 2003. Sounds familiar!

I don't care anymore because I love the flat six platform. It's hard to beat its durability, ease of maintenance, smoothness, and power characteristics. Luckily, since my old Valks were based on the very popular GL1500 platform, there hasn't been a problem finding the few mechanical parts I've needed. I expect the F6B to be the same.

Other manufacturers sometimes build low volume niche bikes for years. Examples are the Kawasaki Concours (I owned one of the originals) and the Yamaha (Star) Venture Royale. I'm not sure why Honda can't do that.

[Brewdog]

I was pulling in to a Harley Davidson dealer and a guy saw me ride up to with my wife. I had just got off my bike and he walked up to me with excitement in his eyes and said " are you trading that in?" Quickly I said no way, this is the best bike I've ever owned! He said, that bike looks like an airplane, I love it. I've had comments like futuristic, airplane, look at the controls, looks star wars. Pretty cool stuff.

[stevenolts]

I love the bike and I feel like I got a great deal at $13600.00. It does not matter what the resale value is because even though I may buy another bike I will never sell my F6B. I have put 20,000 miles on it in 18 months and it is getting better all the time. I have ridden a lot of bikes and there is still nothing like it. Sure there are a few bikes I would like to own but if I had them they would probably be a second bike to the F6B. They would be fun to take a spin on now and again but most of the time I would choose my baby for any real ride.
Steve

[Jimmytee]

I won't pretend to tell the future, but it would take a really good upgrade in the Gold Wing to make me worry about selling my F6B or trading it in. I really love my bike. Have it set up pretty well, and it puts smiles on me every time I ride her. I'm thinking of a new paint job and suspension upgrades are in my near future. The bike will just keep getting better I'm sure.

[VStarRider]

I took a late evening 30 mile cruise along the Lake (Ontario) tonight after washing the bike. From time to time, I really take note of how smooth and refined it is. You need at least four cylinders to get that, IMO. There is a stretch of road that has manhole covers that is pretty quiet so I always practice my avoidance maneuvers there. For a 900 lb bike, it responds so quickly and gracefully to inputs ... it feels like it is "on your side" if that isn't too lame to put in a public forum. The closest bike I have had that glides like this one is my '82 Suzuki GS650, a bike half the size and weight. I learned to ride on that one - very smooth in its own right. I miss the days when four cylinder bikes were standard fare!

My 2006 Yamaha Apex snowmobile - with a version of the R1 motorcycle engine - was similar in its hefty, yet graceful, power, handling and ride combination on groomed trails.

On a side note, I have had many people look at the bike and say it looks like it belongs in a Batman movie.

[Retired Army]

Lets set the record straight, my F6B came from the factory with Gold Wing right on the bike just above the ignition key. I would say that makes it a Gold Wing F6B. Honda has applied for a patent in japan to produce the Gold Wing with a leading link front end. It also sound like they will be sticking with the flat engine. http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ho...azine-concepts

[luckyluciano]

I paid full list. I think for the look of the bike, it should of had a lot more features as previously mentioned in this thread. The original list price is just too expensive to not have the extra features. I don't think it would've caused Honda a lot more money to include the perks. They should've included everything, cruise control, heated seats and grips, reverse, GPS, and a power when the screen would be extra cool .
Having said that, if you keep this bike for 10 years it averages out to depreciate at $2 to $3000 a year, if you paid a list like I did.
It's worth it.

[JMartin]

I've just begun looking at the F6B lately. I currently own a PC800 and an ST1100P, but there is a White/Matte 2016 sitting at my local dealership that has been calling out to me. I haven't discussed any price with them yet... in fact, I just threw my leg over it for the first time this past week. I will say though, it amazes me that there are so many very lightly used F6B's for sale that are $7,000 or $8,000 below the list price of the new one. My problem is that I only want the White/Matte color combo, and if I understand correctly, it just came out in 2016? So it may be a while before I see any used White editions on the market.

I just can't stomach paying anywhere near list for a new one, only to lose several thousand dollars just by putting a plate on it. Ugh.

In the mean time, I'm going to hang out here on the F6B Riders Forum for a while and gain some insight into the bike.