The 2017 Honda X-ADV Will Unite Us

Today sucks. It’s not about winners and losers, it’s about the discourse that brought us to this very moment.

Look at that electoral map. Gaze into the red and blue dots dotting our country. What do you see? Division. Namely, the angry, seething divide between coastal urban city centers and the wide expanses of the heartland.

Related: Check out the rest of our EICMA coverage

What we need now is a heavy dose of nice from sea to shining sea to stitch us back together. We need the perfect common denominator that can be ridden by anyone, to anywhere.

Because vehicles stitch cultures together. They offer us common ground to swap stories of repairs, maintenance, wheelies, and headaches. And they also bring us to different and awesome places, full of people that have the same vehicle as you. And with that shared bond, joy is spread.

Luckily, the Honda X-ADV is perfect for just this mission, and the wraps just came off at EICMA. And what better brand than Honda to bring people together? You meet the nicest people on them from what I hear.

For one, it has an accessible power level for all skillsets. The X-ADV is powered by the 745cc parallel-twin engine and Dual Clutch Transmission from the European-only 750NX. Honda claims peak power is 54 horsepower and 50 ft. lbs. of torque.

Secondly, it has the capabilities to roam. With six inches of wheel travel up front and 5.9 in the rear, it features more than enough travel for gravel road mobbing, and the fork is a 41mm cartridge upside down unit and has preload and rebound adjustability. The rear shock only has spring preload adjustability. At 524 pounds, it’s portly, but that weight is most likely held exceptionally low.

Spoked wheels (15 inches in the rear and 17 inches up front), and knobby tires give the little guy some big boy ADV looks, too.

So you’ll be able traverse the terrain of your choosing comfortably and full of cheer - a regular Johnny Appleseed on a throne of joy spreading nice from coast-to-coast because the X-ADV has an adjustable windscreen, 21 liters of luggage space, and a fuel range of 185 miles.

Sure, you’ll get there a little bit slower, but why not take that local fire road, or pull off to that local diner instead of mobbing the interstate for hundreds of slab miles?

You'll want to take your time anyway since making friends is easy on the Honda. Look at that face. With its tiny LED headlights and an impish grin it says, "LET'S GO SHOOT FIREWORKS AND RIDE RESPONSIBLY," not "GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU SLUDGE GUTTER."

And best of all, you can do all of this with one hand on the throttle to save the other for waving “Hi.”

It even comes in red, white, and blue. Because America.

Scooters spread smiles like Reddit spreads dank memes. You can’t be mad on them, you can’t be mad around them, and no one can be mad walking up to you.

I’ve seen the crankiest of souls get off a scooter and crack a smirk. I’ve seen grown men turn into children when racing them, and even my little twisted heart grows a few notches after riding them, and the X-ADV seems like a package that will be doing that tenfold.

From Wall Street to Main Street. From L.A. to LA. Let’s all ride the Honda X-ADV and make friends again. If Honda brings it to our shores that is.