10 Honda Motorcycles With Reputations For Legendary Reliability

Over the years, Honda has built up an enviable record for building reliable motorcycles. Aside from the odd “glitch in the Matrix,” reliability is more or less a given with any Honda product. This reputation didn’t just form overnight, though; it was hard-earned. While most Japanese companies offer high-quality motorcycles, Honda tends to go the extra mile when it comes to engineering in fail-safes.

Quality assurance is only part of the puzzle. Many of Honda’s motorcycles are overbuilt, almost to a fault. Often coming from the factory in a relatively mild state of tune, and with fewer innovative features, all in an effort to improve long-term reliability. Suffice to say, this strategy works, and these are the bikes that prove it.

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1965 C100 Super Cub

Price Range: $1,000 – $3,000

Honda

With the Super Cub, Honda introduced millions of people around the world to simple, reliable transportation. In so many ways, it is more of an appliance than a vehicle, but it still has a certain charm to it. Honda continued building the Super Cub more or less in this form for literal decades, and the modern version continues to sell well all over the world.

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1970 CB750

Price Range: $5,000 – $7,000

Sam Carter via Unsplash

Even while the Super Cub was selling in droves through the 60s, established manufacturers didn’t really take Honda seriously right up until the CB750 debuted. The CB750 was quicker, more reliable, and cheaper than just about all its contemporaries. It established the UJM trend with all the other Japanese manufacturers joining the party with similar models, bringing several manufacturers – including Harley-Davidson – to their knees in the process.

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1985 Gold Wing GL1200

Price Range: $1,000 – $3,000

Honda

Even though the Gold Wing started out like any of the other UJMs, it quickly evolved into one of the finest touring bikes money could buy. Back in the mid-80s, it became the first bike to offer a full touring fairing from the factory. Today, this might seem like a simple innovation, but it proved to be a major point of difference and catapulted the bike to the top of sales charts in the US.

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1998 CBR1100XX

Price Range: $3,000 – $5,000

Honda

By the 90s, speed sold motorcycles. The race to build the fastest production motorcycle had also heated up, and Honda had wrestled the title away from Kawasaki with the now legendary CBR1100XX. The Suzuki Hayabusa would eventually devour the Blackbird, but these bikes lived on as impressive sport tourers, able to accumulate scarcely believable miles.

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2001 Gold Wing GL1800

Price Range: $4,000 – $6,000

Honda

The flat-six Gold Wing has proven to be metronomically reliable over the years. While the latest Gold Wing comes packed with innovative modern features, Honda was still preoccupied with making this bike as reliable as possible back in the early 00s. It was relatively simple compared to the modern equivalent, and this has only served to improve its staying power.

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2008 VFR800 Interceptor

Price Range: $5,000 – $7,000

Bring a Trailer

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Honda’s V4 powertrain. The original sports bikes built in the 80s suffered cam failures – not dissimilar to what KTM has been going through – but were quick to rectify the issue. By the 00s, these bikes had evolved into one of the very best sport tourers money could buy, and today represent something of a bargain on the used market.

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2012 VFR1200F

Price Range: $5,000 – $7,000

Honda

With an impressive 170 horsepower V4, this sport tourer will show a fair few sports bikes a clean pair of heels in a straight line. Even though this was frightfully powerful and equally reliable, it was also pretty heavy. A dynamic handler this most certainly is not. But, if you are in the market for an affordable bike capable of doing the quarter mile in around 10 seconds, then this is certainly worth a second look.

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2014 Honda Valkyrie

Price Range: $7,000 – $9,000

Honda

While the used price for these bikes is still relatively high, you essentially get a stripped-down Gold Wing for your money. This potent power cruiser has the same buttery smooth flat-six, similar ergos, and almost as much comfort. Unfortunately, its design won’t resonate with everyone, and it is easy to see why this model eventually died a relatively quiet death.

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2017 Africa Twin

Price Range: $6,000 – $8,000

Honda

Honda arrived a little late to the ADV game, but the Unicam engine was well worth the wait. The latest version is just as reliable, but the original Africa Twin didn’t have nearly as much tech packed into it and will, in all likelihood, outlast us all. Even though it might seem a little underpowered compared to the ever-evolving competition, it packs an enormous amount of grunt.

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