The Yamaha Bolt is one of those motorcycles that people describe as “fun.” Basically, it’s adequately powered and fashioned for largely cruising about town, with some interstate cruising thrown in for good measure.
The Yamaha Bolt is an excellent starting bike; its 942cc air-cooled, fuel-injected, v-twin engine, comfortable posture, high-grade road manners, and new bobber styling make it an excellent choice for novices to grow into and improve on.
While the Honda Shadow is a fantastic motorcycle for riders of all skill levels. It has excellent handling, which provides young riders the confidence to go to larger, more powerful bikes. The Shadow is also quick and efficient, making it an excellent urban commuter bike.
Comparison Between Honda Shadow and Yamaha Bolt
The Honda Shadow Phantom® is a blacked-out interpretation of the traditional cruiser concept. However, when compared to the Bolt, it’s evident that developing a class-leading bike requires more than just a coat of black paint.
Following are some features that compare and contrast Yamaha Bolt and Honda Shadow.
- Modern and Powerful Air-Cooled Engine
The Shadow Phantom® has a liquid-cooled engine, while the Bolt makes full use of air-cooling in a bigger, more contemporary design. The Bolt motor is approximately 200cc larger than the Shadow®, has freer-flowing four-valve heads, low friction roller rocker arms, a twin bore throttle body, and still has the sleek lines that only air-cooling can produce.
- Clean, Customizable Belt Drive
The Bolt sends power to the back wheel through a quiet, clean-running belt drive, which allows for much modification if desired. Good luck designing a customized project using Honda’s shaft drive!
- Powerful, Controllable Braking
Front and rear 298mm wave-type rotors provide outstanding stopping power on the Bolt. The Honda® has a basic non-wave-type front disc design and an old-school drum brake at the back.
- Light Weight
Despite having true steel fenders and a gasoline tank, the Bolt weighs just 540 pounds2—9 pounds less than the Shadow Phantom®, a bike with plastic fenders and a far smaller motor.
- Agile Chassis
The Bolt is engineered for agility from the bottom up, with more aggressive steering geometry, less weight, and a shorter wheelbase. To keep up with the Bolt, the Shadow Phantom® must overcome its lax geometry and stretched-out wheelbase.
- Modern Lighting and Instrumentation:
The Hondalights ® and instruments are undeniably retro,’ but the Bolt mixes attractive simplicity with current technology, including LED tail lighting and an LCD instrument display.
- High Value
The Bolt and the Honda Shadow Phantom® are priced fairly comparably, $79901 versus $74991, but for the little premium, the Bolt provides so much more motorcycle—more power, more technology, and more style—that it’s really not a contest at all.
Why did Honda stop making the shadow?
In 2007, Honda discontinued making the Honda Shadow 1100. The Honda Shadow Sabre model was released, which was based on the Honda VT1100 engine and featured a different design from the still-produced Spirit model.
The front cast aluminium wheel was the most noticeable characteristic.
This variant also featured a slightly lower rear gear ratio in the gearbox, which allowed the bike to accelerate faster off the line than the standard Spirit model. Nevertheless, this resulted in greater engine RPM at motorway speeds.
Because of decreasing sales and the availability of the VTX1300, Honda discontinued production of the VT1100 Shadow in 2007.
