The motorcycle scene is awash with fads that constantly ebb and flow throughout our pop culture. If it’s not café racers like the Triumph Thruxton and the Royal Enfield Continental, it’s adventure bikes like the BMW R 1300 GS and the KTM 1290 Adventure. Some such fads are in and out before we even get to know them. Others return again and again, despite having fallen out of favor long ago.
Such was the case with the custom chopper scene, which had its time in the limelight several times over the years. Honda, not one to miss out on an opportunity to sell a few bikes, tried to capitalize on the most recent chopper craze with the introduction of the VT 1300CX. You guessed it, otherwise known as the Fury. But was the brand too late to the game? And why, with the choppers all but relegated to the dustbin of history, does Honda insist on continuing to make this bike in 2025?
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Brief History of the Chopper Culture
From the Captain America Bike to Orange County Choppers
Choppers have always been an inherently American creation. England had its café racers, and we had the chopper. Both were born out of the need to make factory-produced bikes lighter, faster, and more personalized. Where café racers took typical British bikes like Nortons, BSAs, and Triumphs, and removed all the unnecessary bits, choppers took American-made Harley-Davidsons and Indians and did the same thing. But the end result, visually at least, could not possibly be any more different.
In the chopping process, American cruisers acquired longer front rakes, wild pipe configurations, crazy color schemes, and handlebars that were upturned in every possible direction. Nothing is more indicative of this style, at least to some older generations, than the Captain America bike made popular by the Easy Rider film, starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. To younger generations, on the other hand, the returning popularity of the chopper was shepherded in by the TV show American Chopper in the early 2000s.
It followed the crew of the Orange County Choppers, as they made custom choppers for various celebrities, corporations, and charities. But that, too, eventually, came to an end, and motorcycle riders moved on to other emerging styles. These days, choppers are little more than a gaudy footnote in the history of motorcycles. Which is why it’s extremely curious that the Honda Fury even exists in 2025 as an option. Who is this motorcycle for?
The VT Is Honda’s Factory Custom Chopper
Better Late Than Never
The Honda VT 1300CX Fury was introduced as a 2010 model in 2009. Arguably, this was the tail end of the most recent chopper craze. The Orange County Chopper crew was going through internal upheaval, which ended up ripping the show and the Teutul family apart. General demand for choppers was starting to taper off, but Honda pushed forward and rolled its factory custom chopper out onto its showroom floors.
You can’t argue, at least visually, that it didn’t look the part. With its raked-out front end, low seat height, and exposed engine bits, the Fury promised polished chopper looks, with the same Honda reliability every rider had come to expect. And sales must have been pretty good, because the Fury, with virtually zero changes in the last 15 years other than paint schemes, continues to be sold today.
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The Honda Fury Is A Unique Cruiser With A Competitive Price
2025 Model MSRP: $11,499
|
Engine |
Max Power |
Max Torque |
Top Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1,312cc liquid-cooled 52° V-twin |
57 HP |
89.3 LB-FT |
110 MPH |
15 years on, and the Fury still looks the same. It also weighs the same (a porky 675 pounds), costs pretty much the same (actually cheaper, with the original 2010 MSRP being $12,999), and has the same engine specs. Pushing all that heavy chrome around is a 1,312cc V-twin, doing an admirable job of pretending it was made in Milwaukee. Surprisingly, though, it doesn’t spool up that much power, as it only produces 57 horsepower. Torque, on the other hand, which is admittedly a more important aspect for a cruiser, is almost 90 pound-feet.
When it comes to features, it’s closer to being a true chopper than in any other way, because it basically has none. Tech-wise, you get ABS, and that’s about it. The low seat may be enticing to newer riders, but when you take the bike’s weight into consideration, newbies should perhaps reconsider. There’s the shaft drive, of course, and that’s not very chopper-ish, but that’s Honda for you. It wanted a bike that looked as unreliable as a ’60s Harley, but would outlive even the burliest of roaches, 300 years from now.
Features
- A V-twin engine with tons of torque
- Maintenance-free shaft drive
- Standard ABS
- Low 26.7-inch seat height
- Legendary Honda reliability
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A More Modern Alternative To The Honda Fury
Not The American Cruiser You Expected
Despite the chopper fad being all but over, at least for now, cruisers are still very popular in America. So if you’re turned off by the divisive looks of the Honda Fury, yet you can’t quite force yourself to turn away, there are some similar alternatives. Chiefly among them is the promising debut of the Buell Super Cruiser. Sure, there are always Harley and Indian to look at. But they don’t really have anything that competes, at least visually, with the Fury. And smartly so, most would say. But Buell is also an American motorcycle company, and is loosely tied to Harley-Davidson (even if only tangentially).
Buell is no longer run by Erik Buell (its founder), but it continues to produce bikes utilizing whatever brand recognition it has left. As of this writing, it has four bikes in its lineup. There is a sports bike, a naked standard, a sports touring bike, and the aforementioned Super Cruiser. Designed with the help of Roland Sands, the Super Cruiser seems to have a bit of that chopper DNA in it, with a longer front end, stepped seat, and exposed engine bits. It also promises tons of power (175 HP) and torque (100 lb-ft) from a V-twin that’s smaller in displacement (1190cc) than the one in the Fury. But there are two downsides to the Buell Super Cruiser. The first one is that it’s not quite available just yet, with the promise of Fall 2025 delivery. The other is that the MSRP is an eye-watering $25,900 – a full $14,401 more than the Fury. Which makes us ask the same question we’d asked earlier in the article: Who is this bike for exactly?