Make no mistake about it: the VT1300 Fury was a seriously important model for Honda when it was released. Honda MPE Australia (Motorcycles, Power Equipment – marine products were not yet important) flew me over to the US in 2009 to sample the bike and write it up for the Australian market, something they had never done with another model.

The young bloke who handed the bike over to me – I’m sorry, I have forgotten his name – was one of the designers, and when he said “This is the only bike we have designed that came back almost entirely unchanged” he sounded as if he still couldn’t quite believe it. Let me just say that I liked the bike very much, even though I could not understand why they hadn’t given it a bigger engine – and I never got an explanation.

The year after the launch of the Fury, Honda introduced the rest of the VT1300 lineup with the Sabre, Stateline and Interstate. But that wasn’t all they did. In a remarkable expression of faith for a Japanese company, they also gave three young designers from Honda Research & Development America the opportunity to build customs based on where their visions would take the Fury, Stateline & Sabre. The designers were given free reign within a limited budget and just two requirements. The bikes had to be full on runners, and they needed to stay true to the core concept of the production vehicles.

The crunch was that they had only three months from start to finish to design and build their concepts. The Furious (Chopper), Switchblade (ProDrag) and Slammer (Bagger) had to be ready to debut at the December 17^th, 2010 International Motorcycle Show at Long Beach, CA. From there, they would be taken on a nationwide tour through the next year. I don’t imagine that Erik Dunshee, Edward Birtulescu and Nick Renner got a lot of sleep during those three months.

The Stateline became a classic bagger, called “Slammer”. Designer Erik Dunshee took on the task of revealing the life of low. “Fueled by elegance and power the Slammer sports a fully adjustable air-ride suspension, NAV/Multimedia, 10” subwoofer and 500 watts of power,” said Honda. “With a full front end conversion, including a lean 23“ custom wheel, the designer achieved all this without frame or engine modification.” Man, he didn’t have time! “Low has never looked so good.”

The bike had fully “air ride adjustable” front and rear suspension with a range from 6” ride height to 2.25” lowered. It had a custom spec crossover twin pipe exhaust, full custom bodywork including a leather drop seat and a three speaker, including a 10” subwoofer, 500 watt sound system. The composite coated narrow track front rotor had a six piston caliper.

The Sabre became the Pro Drag “Switchblade”. Conceived by designer Edward Birtulescu, Switchblade was a racing-inspired cruiser with styling cues from Formula 1 and MotoGP. “With one look you know that Switchblade is fully committed to precision and performance,” said the company. It featured Carbon fiber bodywork, three way adjustable racing suspension and a single sided swing arm with a 535 chain conversion. “Switchblade has a mass centralized proportion to reinforce this super sport assault,” or so they said. Might have a slight problem with cornering clearance there, mind you, despite the onboard GPS lap timer & data acquisition unit.

Finally, designer Nick Renner took the Fury and turned it into “Furious”, a classic hardtail chopper. “A bold blend of new and old school flavor. Pounding the street with a 23 inch wheel op front and a 20 on the rear, Furious makes no apologies,” said Honda with more enthusiasm than grammar. The bike got 45 degrees of rake and was converted to a hardtail to create a successful clean, pure chopper. To reinforce the point it had metalflake paint, variegated leafing, and a diamond stitched seat. “Long and low, clean and mean… Furious is an instant Neo-Classic.”

I have to say that I love the idea. I wonder where the bikes went after their national tour? Love to see them in the metal.

(Photos Honda R&D Americas)