The Honda Euro Sport (or VT500E Euro) is a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

in the

Honda VT series The Honda VT series comprises motorbikes with two-cylinder V engines. More sporting V engined bikes are given "VTR" model numbers. Four-cylinder V-engined Hondas are designated VF or VFRs, while Honda motorbikes with inline engines mostly belong t ...

. It was made between 1983 and 1987 but it only sold about a tenth as many as the

Honda CX500 The Honda CX series motorcycles, including the GL500 and GL650 Silver Wing variants, were developed and released by Honda in the late 1970s, with production ending in most markets by the mid 1980s. The design included innovative features and tech ...

it replaced, at least in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Similar models

Although looking entirely different, the VT500E Euro is actually quite close to the VT500FT Ascot in principle, despite the latter sharing many more parts with the VT500C Shadow cruiser. All three shared the same

Honda VT500 VT500 is a common name for the family of motorcycles sharing the Honda VT500 V-twin engine, with the cylinders set inline with the long-axis of the frame. Launched at the Cologne motorcycle show in September 1982, it was produced with various des ...

engine and drivetrain, however.

Features

The Euro was meant to be a sporty bike with sport touring aspiration. A big 17 litre tank, or 4.5 US gallons, gives it a much greater range than the other two models. The footpegs sit further back and the handlebars are lower than on the Ascot, and especially the Shadow, without being anywhere near racy. The passenger portion of the seat is not nearly as cozy as the bit offered to the rider; narrower, shorter and with high set pegs.

Performance

Neither Ascot nor Shadow can keep up with the Euro in actual performance, despite claimed power being the same (Shadow) or just 2 hp less (Ascot). The 50 hp helped the Euro to a top speed of 187 km/h / 116 mph when tested by ''Motorrad'' magazine of Germany in 1983.

References

Euro sport Motorcycles introduced in 1983 {{Motorcycle-stub