New 2012 Honda NC700X 700cc Parallel Twin!

is 42 the new old?

on that note, the scooter crowd wants nothing to do with chains, but the motorcycle crowd kinda likes abs. honda na should have had 3 models, one w/ manual box and abs.
honda's decision will sure help sell more 2012 vstroms. ever wonder why bmw sells so many bikes???
ABS

i know many people of all ages who don't shift cars now and for some never did, yet they ride motorcycles, gear boxes and all.

i'll give ya it was not targeted me, but it could be a great choice for my wife...if it had abs.
i'll also give ya the discounted point as dealers will go lower on the nc too.

edit: i understand know your horse in this race. you sell hondas. fair enough.

Sorry, I don't have a horse in this race. I sell Honda CARS right now, but it's not like I'm totally devoted to them, and I'd switch brands if a better opportunity came along.

I'll say that I prefer to buy my bikes used but have bought new ones in the past. Frankly if I had up to $ 15K to burn on a bike my first choice would probably be an 800 Tiger. Hell, maybe my next bike will be a used Buell.

I've owned various (lot's of) Hondas, Kawasakis, Suzukis, Yamahas, and even a Harley Davidson. I've also ridden, but not yet found enough desire to own a Ducati, BMW, Triumph, Buell, or Moto Guzzi. I ride street, and dirt. I'm not stuck on one brand or another, I love V-stroms and think they're great (yet hideously ugly) bikes.
I like all kinds of bikes.

I find this bike attractive because of it's 1) price 2) riding position 3) built in storage space 4) fuel economy. I've owned bikes that get mpg in the 30's and I think that's pretty poor and bikes should be able to do better.

$ 6999 is CHEAP for a new 700, and I admire the fact that it's waaaay cheaper than any bike that I see as being in it's class. When looking at a new bike for $ 7000, an additional $ 1000 is alot of money.
Over the past few years it's seemed like Honda has been rather full of themselves, and has been pricing it's bikes too high so I see this as a refreshing change for them.
I think Honda should've put a shaft drive on the NC, but I'd guess the reason they didn't was due to cost so I can understand it. I wouldn't have minded it they used a belt drive, though I'm still a little bit suspect of them.
I could care less about an automatic transmission, but while selling cars I find that manual shifting is lost art, most people don't know how, and have no desire to work a clutch pedal. I wouldn't mind ABS, but it's not a deal breaker for me either way, and I think the majority of riders feel the same as I do about it. Why did Honda bundle them together? For the same reason that they only brought one of 3 of the NC's over here, because of cost in this is a finicky market, where the biggest volume sales are in cruisers, and sport bikes

This bike is also cheap compared to it's competition. Face it- it's quite a bit less than a Strom or Versys, and you don't need to buy a top box for it which saves another $ 400+. I just find it annoying and unfair that you compare this bike's MSRP to other bikes at discounted, or used prices. This bike will show up on the used market pretty quickly just like all the others, and dealers will discount them too.

Sure, Honda used the word ADVENTURE in describing it, but riding any motorcycle can be considered an adventure compared to a car. Realistically most BMW GS's never get off pavement either, though I know you can do it and a number of people do, I've ridden dirt with them. The NC is not an off-road oriented bike, it's a street bike and we all know that, it's wheel size shows it, yet I've ridden a VFR on dirt roads, and even off-road (accidentally) so you could do it with this one too, just as well as you could with a Versys, etc.

Everything in life, and motorcycles is a trade off. Yeah, it's lacking in top end power compared to a DL650, but in all honesty every motorcycle can go too fast and will out-accelerate most cars. In the case of this bike it makes up for it with what seems to the equivalent of better fuel economy.

It's obvious to us all here that this bike is not for you. Sorry that they didn't build it to your desired specs, and it's not necessarily built to my desires either, I'm just glad that it's going to be available, and I hope it sells well. Maybe if it does they'll expand on it's available specs.

Oh, and it turns out I'm even closer to being an old fart than you are, but you just seem to come across as one in this thread.

Hi edgy999.

Looking forward to your review of the NC700X.... if you could give your opinion of how it handlesrides/pulls 2up passenger seat comfort etc, would be appreciated. I know the score in Wales yep, watch out for the rozzers mate.

Cheers
Potski

i have a honda car and dig it. they are really good at building cars theses days & imo at the expense of their motorcycle biz.
i've owned honda bikes and in the end disapointed how things have gone with their bikes over the last 10 years. yes the price is awesome and my wife likes the look, but alas no abs and she doesn't want a scooter transmission. it's kinda the beginning of the neutering of the motorcycle experience & honda is trying like hell to figure out what will sell in this config. the auto fjr failed, the dn-01 failed, don't see aprila manas everywhere, the 1200 fjr auto is not doing well...maybe this all says something.
seems honda next approach is the cheap angle. seems they are throwing darts all over the place seeing if one hits the target. maybe if they asked what people want and then built it things might be different, but alas they do not. build it and they will come is there attitude. if this flops too, then it says people want a shifting motorcycle or a scooter, no-touch belt final drive and all. guess we'll see???

i'd be interested in the crossrunner as a street bike as it uses the vfr motor and is upright.
honda used a little nicer components but still cheaped out on the suspension. it's almost like they're ignoring the suspension on these bikes.

Nice post RR.

I too don't have any brand loyalty, and am curious as to how it performs by actually riding it. Something I intend to do once it becomes available. It certainly seems to be a bike with some advantages with it's supposedly torquey engine, and I'm curious to see how it performs in real world situations.

You're a Honda hater, we get it already!

The suspension, you don't have to think about it, probably a good thing. It's good enough for the price point. Honda is making some good new bikes which may bring more success over the next 10 years, they're turning it around.

As for the auto transmission, get it, don't get it, whichever you prefer. I'd like to try it, who wouldn't want an auto to run through the city or take a little trip to the mountains? I'm just too cheap, to pay extra for it.

nope. just disappointed. i like the new crf250l and might choose a transalp over the strom if it was in the us. i've owned several honda's in the past in can see one again in the future. i'm a complete fan of japanese machines!
i own a honda suv, so if i hated honda i would have bought a toyota. honda engineers amazing machines but they keep talking me out of buying another one. where is the FI xr700l? where is the transalp in the us? why has the crf250L taken so long? why is the crosstourer no mention to the us? we got the nc only and once again honda has me looking elsewhere. i need a new bike when i'm back in the us and the strom or versys are where it's at.

so ignoring the suspension and saying it's good enough helps you how? :huh guess if you ride slowly that works.
me personally i like good suspension and push mine to it's limits.
i've updated mine on my dr as stock was weak.
i like how the euros use quality suspension components even on their mid bikes..and dislike how the japanese force us to upgrade right away. but it is what it is.

many of us still like to shift. it's the full body experience that motorcycling is!

I don't think so. I think his post was pretty dead on what Honda is doing. Trying all over the place but really never building something that is actually as good as the old VFR, Africa Twin, ST1100, ... you name it, was. It's a shame, but Honda today builds a lot of half-assed weirdnesses.

In Europe they still have some really decent and good looking bikes, but in the US? Forget about it.

Honda is a lot like the Empire.
They keep giving us Imperial Walkers and Death Stars when we really want a T16 for Wamprats.
It's like being stuck on Endor with only race replicas to ride at 200 kph through the forest and swamps.

Come on brother, it's $ 6995! A Strom and a Versys come with similar, cheap, non-adjustable suspension too.
More, and or thicker fork oil often helps a ton, shortening the stock springs, or replacing them are all cheap upgrades for a front end. Many Euro bikes come with better suspension, but then again they cost more. Depending upon a rider's style and weight not every bike needs an upgrade. When I had a VFR I never felt enough of a need to replace it's rear shock, but then again I only weigh about 175. If I weighed over 200 lbs, it might have been a different story.

My Versys has adjustable suspension.

Beggin' yer pardon, but the Versys features adjustable pre-load and damping front and rear.

Me too. Not because I will own this bike, but because in about 5 years my son will be able to ride one due to new Euro regs (aged under 24, he'll be stuck with 47bhp or less, which this bike is designed to cater for).

OTOH I might just get my Versys restricted by then, and buy an extra bike for myself. Either way, even though the 700X is not my kind of bike, I'll be reading edgy's impressions.

yes it is and for $900 more kawasaki versys http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/product-specifications.aspx?id=572 get it done w/ better suspension (adjustable & USD up front) & alot more motor punch and for $400 more the strom gets you into abs (but less quality suspension) & once again an awesome motor http://www.suzukicycles.com/Product Lines/Cycles/Products/V-Strom 650/2012/DL650A.aspx .

prior to this bike honda was most always priced too high comparatively to the other 3 japanese and i applaud them for reversing that trend. imo they unfortunately swung too far the other way, just to be the cheapest. i'd say if they matched the versys in price $7900 but included abs they would have offered a package many would think twice about and by coming in $400 less than the strom w/ abs they have that sold up too.

unless you're bottom price only (and you probably buy a klr or dr anyway) someone spending $7k is gonna say ok for a few bucks more what else do i get??? and that answer might not please honda.

i don't hate the bike. infact it's moving forward what honda is doing if they had played their cards right here in the US...we always get the short end of the stick however.

honda na pricing trick to tie abs only to the dct is just a ploy to sell that auto technology (to those who might not want it anyway) in their attempt to know better than the customer what we want.
guess we'll see how the sales figures pan out and THAT will be the true litmus test.
hasn't gone so well for the other auto bikes...

Mods please put this thread out of its misery... or at least move it to Road Warriors - I can't even SEE the trail anymore !

Cant believe this thing will get 70 mpg. lets hope more makers will start bringing out larger bikes that are fuel efficient.

They do, it's just they are a lot bigger. GS and S10 fuel economy can be really good, The new Stroms are good and can very close. AS FAR AS WE KNOW.

The only things that changes that is that the motors CAN be revved harder and WILL start gulping fuel.

What the NC will do when riding with the other bikes at the same speed in the real world is yet to be seen. It may even be better than claimed.

It may be way better sometimes and not much different at others. time will tell.

Dunno guys, is this thing a motorcycle or a scooter?


Apparently the engine is derived from the Honda Jazz automobile, and if you've ever driven one of those then you know what a boring engine they've plugged into this new moto-scooter.



50Hp, a redline at 6500 RPM and the most basic or suspensions... Wow, how exciting is that? :huh

I could see this moto-scooter appealing to non-motorcyclists looking for a fuel efficient commuter vehicle. Other than that, I can't really imagine who would buy such a thing...

Honda's already got the VFR powered Crossrunner. Could this scooter dressed in mc clothes be the shemale equivalent in the motorcycle world? The Honda Crossdresser???