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Is the 750 motor that much better than the 700 (670) ?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1183
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Deleted member 1183

I have been seeing various comments on here from folks who are domiciled in the US, bemoaning the fact that the 750 NC is not available to them. My honest opinion having recently ridden a 750, is that folks are not missing that much with their 700's

I recently took out a demo 750DCT NCX for a morning, and rode it in all conditions that I would normally ride my 700 in. I tried it on motorways accelerating hard here and there to pass lines of cars. I tried riding briskly on my favoured mountain backroads. Immediately after returning it I hopped on my 700 and rode the same roads. Tbh I found the differences to be only slight. I was surprised to find my 700 motor felt a little more lively in comparison to the 750. The 750 might be marginally quicker to accelerate on motorways in top gear but no more than that. The 750 was a little smoother when being revved hard. I actually prefer the pulsations of the crank on the less balanced 700 which leave you under no illusion how hard it is working.

Handling wise there was little difference. The 750 felt softer suspended. My 700 is a standard gearchange, and I will admit to liking the DCT on the 750 but that aspect is obviously not to be compared. I have a three piston caliper on my 700 front brake, the 750 has only two.

I pondered the possibility of changing for a 750 as I particularly liked the DCT and the demo bike will shortly be for sale. The more I thought about it, in between outings on my 700, the more I went off the idea. Honda sometimes have a habit of sanitising their motorcycles as the model years progress. With this process they softened the original CB 750 beyond recognition. I think they have also done so with the 750 NC. It is slightly smoother by virtue of the second balance shaft but that has also taken a little away from the positive affect of the extra cc's. The bore has been increased thereby changing the bore stroke ratio. Otherwise it is the same bike but has for me, lost a little of its character.

In the end I decided to keep my 700. The forks will be modded and the shock has been ordered. I am glad I rode the 750. It is a nice bike and I liked the DCT. However it was not nice enough to persuade me to make the change. I look forward to the views of others who have ridden or owned both.
 
The extra balance shaft appeals to me, but the addition of 75cc means nothing. The differences between the two motors and motorcycles are so insignificant that I've never lusted over the 750. If they had added significantly more fuel capacity, or shaft final drive, now that would mean something.
 
I asked that very question and it held me off buying an NC for a while. After reading owner reports extensively and many youtube videos from people who rode both, bottom answer is no. Supposedly our 700 wasn't de-tuned for the A2 European licensing so it had more power to start with. Most people who compared both said they can't tell a difference. The added weight of the 750 model offsets some of the torque advantage and horespower difference, 51 vs. 54. Shortly after reading all the feedback I ordered my NC almost a year ago and never looked back.
 
Thanks for the write-up Griff I have been wondering what were the differences. I have a 2012 I may changed to a DCT in the future but maybe wait for a a left over 2015 (if there are any) when the 2017s come out. Not so interested in the extra displacement but the DCT and ABS.
 
According to my Honda dealer, the main advantage of the NC750 over the NC700 is the reduced vibrations and the improvement of the DCT (smoothness and better at downshifting)
 
I think that I read somewhere that the NC 750 has been geared a little higher than the NC 700 but I'm too lazy to look it up. If it's true then any possible increase in acceleration from that little bit of extra power would probably be offset by the taller gearing anyway.
 
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Think there is a fair amount of " marketing" in the 700-750 upgrade decisions. Like back in the day when CB500 went to 550 or XL-XR600 went to 650 or Transalp going from 600-650-700. Currently the CBR250 to CBR300 is another example ?
 
Think there is a fair amount of " marketing" in the 700-750 upgrade decisions. Like back in the day when CB500 went to 550 or XL-XR600 went to 650 or Transalp going from 600-650-700. Currently the CBR250 to CBR300 is another example ?
In the case of the 700/750 remember that the 700s came to market in time to meet EC A2 license requirements of 47 hp. When the 500s came to market two model years later as Honda's A2 bike offering Honda acted to move the 700s further away from the 500s, both in displacement to 750 and in hp to 54.
 
I have been seeing various comments on here from folks who are domiciled in the US, bemoaning the fact that the 750 NC is not available to them. My honest opinion having recently ridden a 750, is that folks are not missing that much with their 700's

I recently took out a demo 750DCT NCX for a morning, and rode it in all conditions that I would normally ride my 700 in. I tried it on motorways accelerating hard here and there to pass lines of cars. I tried riding briskly on my favoured mountain backroads. Immediately after returning it I hopped on my 700 and rode the same roads. Tbh I found the differences to be only slight. I was surprised to find my 700 motor felt a little more lively in comparison to the 750. The 750 might be marginally quicker to accelerate on motorways in top gear but no more than that. The 750 was a little smoother when being revved hard. I actually prefer the pulsations of the crank on the less balanced 700 which leave you under no illusion how hard it is working.

Handling wise there was little difference. The 750 felt softer suspended. My 700 is a standard gearchange, and I will admit to liking the DCT on the 750 but that aspect is obviously not to be compared. I have a three piston caliper on my 700 front brake, the 750 has only two.

I pondered the possibility of changing for a 750 as I particularly liked the DCT and the demo bike will shortly be for sale. The more I thought about it, in between outings on my 700, the more I went off the idea. Honda sometimes have a habit of sanitising their motorcycles as the model years progress. With this process they softened the original CB 750 beyond recognition. I think they have also done so with the 750 NC. It is slightly smoother by virtue of the second balance shaft but that has also taken a little away from the positive affect of the extra cc's. The bore has been increased thereby changing the bore stroke ratio. Otherwise it is the same bike but has for me, lost a little of its character.

In the end I decided to keep my 700. The forks will be modded and the shock has been ordered. I am glad I rode the 750. It is a nice bike and I liked the DCT. However it was not nice enough to persuade me to make the change. I look forward to the views of others who have ridden or owned both.
Thanks for this informative review. Regarding Honda's sometime habit of sanitising models over time I agree. Honda is often regarded as too polished and characterless and boring as a result of high levels of refinement. Ironically the NC 700 single counterbalancer engine came to market with a good dose of character and a bit of soul but Honda couldn't seem to leave it alone.
 
Thank you for informative post, Griff.
I too was wondering if I should buy the older 700 or the newer 750 model S - I'm glad I found my as I don't seem to be missing much. And that's quite a few bucks left in the pocket for picking the 2013 I bought.

It seems the only reason for you to change to the 750 would be DCT. I'm riding it for every day purposes and while I can definitely appreciate it in traffic jams (have a lot of these around here!), it doesn't come without flaws. Slow-speed maneuvering makes you feel a little more disconnected from what the bike does, and doesn't give just as much control as the manual. What I'm saying is - if you have the possibility, have one for few days and ride it to work (if that's what you do), see if you still like it before deciding to switch to DCT (even used one).
 
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