Moto Magazines trying to pigon hole the NC

[Cutter J. Duke]

I had to send a letter to the editor of Cycleworld magazine; I told them if they keep referring to the NC as a beginner’s bike I would run over their foot. I'm no beginner, with over 40 years of riding experience, my last ride being a GSX-R750 that I traded for my new NC. Calling a motorcycle a beginner’s bike in America has generally been a nail in its coffin. Outside of the 250cc boom at the onset of the climb in gas prices, nearly any standard style motorcycle with less than 125hp has been pegged a "beginners" bike. Being a predominately male sport (sorry ladies we know you ride, but the numbers hold this true) and the American male being who we are, we want "big and bad" to impress our friends, enemies and the girls (again sorry ladies, but you know men).Over the years I've seen a lot of fine Standard style motorcycles fade away because of this moto-journalist tag line. The testers want them faster so everyone else must too. This is why Honda imported to Europe first, its where the standard bike market is the strongest, the U.S. is in the midst of a test, will the market accept a 700cc 50'ish horsepower, sit upright bike that’s not a Harley clone or an outright mega-mile touring ride. I've put several of my sportbike freak friends, the ones who said I was crazy for trading my Gixxer, on this bike and every one admits (alone never in a group) that they enjoyed the ride and it was fun to ride something that didn’t require the "work" that a 1000cc fire-breather takes to ride. Hey Honda-How about a NC only test ride day at your U.S. dealers, Free Hotdogs and balloons for the kids...You may make the NC an American favorite and bring the "Standard" back to the UJM. That would be a real win.

 

[Thomasec]

Cutter, I agree with you entirely. Although the NC's main market seems to focus at both ends of the spectrum, young beginning riders and older re-entry riders (me), it can do so many things well enough to find a place in many an experienced riders stable. (Just note those riders on this forum.) It's main feature of interest will be that wonderfully efficient engine (and innovative DCT). I hope that the high mpg and Honda quality will be enough to keep it around a while.

 

[Rocker66]

Tell them that it is obviously only being bought by beginers as I only have only owned 75 bikes over a period of.49 years . I'm that there are many on here with even more experiance who are happy with their NCs

 

[gkgeiger]

Tell them that it is obviously only being bought by beginers as I only have only owned 75 bikes over a period of.49 years . I'm that there are many on here with even more experiance who are happy with their NCs

I haven't owned 75 but maybe a little over 50. For many years I averaged 20K miles. The NC is my ride now and I love it. The only thing I don't get is why wouldn't everyone want a DCT. If you haven't ridden one you should. It's the most fun I've had on a bike in years. Oh, by the way I've been riding for 55 years.

 

[dzknmd]

I have the DCT and I love it. I tried the manual program once and decided why bother when the S and D programs work so well. The ABS is icing on the cake.

 

[Rocker66]

I haven't owned 75 but maybe a little over 50. For many years I averaged 20K miles. The NC is my ride now and I love it. The only thing I don't get is why wouldn't everyone want a DCT. If you haven't ridden one you should. It's the most fun I've had on a bike in years. Oh, by the way I've been riding for 55 years.

I had the DCT wesion of the VFR1200 which I really liked. The only problem I had with the DCT was in a car/bike park in Wales when whilst pulling out of a tight parking spot A car driver couldn't make up his mind whether to go or stop causing me to come to a sudden halt. Not having a clutch to pull in to avoid the stall the bike did just that and started to topple. I was unable to hold it up and ended up under the bike . This all happened at less than 5 MPH. I'm afraid that this put me off DCT

 

[tromba]

I tried both out and I liked the manual better. Just having the control and being used to shifting sold me. The extra cash was a deterrent too, that alone could have biased my decision making process. To each his (or her) own!!

 

[Cutter J. Duke]

I never tried the DCT, after all these years of shifting I might hurt myself trying desperatley to shift an auto. Also do we have any contacts with Honda? If not maybe we need to start bugging their PR guys, I'd be willing to volenteer the time, I worked in television and have delt with PR guys before. We need to score some "street cred" with the home office.

 

[gkgeiger]

I had the DCT wesion of the VFR1200 which I really liked. The only problem I had with the DCT was in a car/bike park in Wales when whilst pulling out of a tight parking spot A car driver couldn't make up his mind whether to go or stop causing me to come to a sudden halt. Not having a clutch to pull in to avoid the stall the bike did just that and started to topple. I was unable to hold it up and ended up under the bike . This all happened at less than 5 MPH. I'm afraid that this put me off DCT

In Motorcyclist Nov. issue the new editor Mark Cook did his editorial "Automatic For The People". He talked about both models but said the NC was much better suited to the DCT. Also the new version is better then the one you had. I guess it's not for everyone but for me it's perfect. The situation you had would have been eliminated because there's much less to think about and do.

 

[Beemerphile]

I enjoyed the CVT (automatic) on my Yamaha TMax and would have had no aversion to the DCT on the NC except my dealer had two manuals and said he didn't plan to order a DCT because he didn't think he could sell it at nearly $9,000. So, rather than wait for him to order me one, I bought what he had. I would have liked ABS but have an aversion to linked brakes. The extra $2,000; 30 lbs.; slightly lower rated HP and MPG; and double oil filters didn't help the sale. The six speed is very smooth and the clutch pull is easy (to a BMW twin rider used to a transmission that shifts like a box of rocks). I will strap on a spare clutch cable alongside the operating one and I am expedition ready.

In the end, I had $2,000 to start the extreme farkling, and in fact, it will cover over half of it.

(Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited or taxed, lost ticket pays maximum rate, may contain peanut oil, slightly higher in California, other restrictions may apply)

 

[soggybottom]

I agree with you guys, I too have owned near 100 bikes since 1968 (lost count yrs ago). It also sounds like and looks like we are an older bunch of bikers with hundreds of yrs of combined experience. Over the last 12 or so yrs I have been mostly interested in Goldwings, BMW RT's, GT's, and LT's and anything in between as a second bike. I picked the DCT model because of it's bold and fresh ideas. My other bike is a BMW R1150R. Anybody that reads this thread will realise the NC is not just a beginners bike, I don't think it is a very good beginners bike. Now someone start a thread on age and experiance of NC owners, I'm to lazy.

 

[radiotinnitus]

Well, I've had the DCT for less than 2 weeks, but so far I can't imagine it stalling at low speed. I've had manual cars and motorcycles and I definitely know how they can stall at low speeds. My bike is extremely easy to handle at low speed with no groaning or stalls whatsoever from my motor. To my way of thinking, cars and trucks should be manual and motorcycles should be automatic (at least for my kind of motorcycle riding in city traffic). It is totally awesome inching out into an intersection waiting to make a left turn with both feet on the ground and not shifting. I go in a split second exactly when I want to go and I'm into 2nd gear before most super sport riders could ever hope to be.

As far as this bike being for beginners or not I'd say that depends on the beginner. I think it's way too big, powerful and dangerous for my daughters (17 and 20), my wife or many, many other people who have never ridden to try to learn on. Definitely not. A lot of other people I'm quite sure could learn on it, do learn on it, and are fine.

I, myself, learned on a relatively top heavy and clumsy Suzuki 500 when I was 17. My dad found it used in the paper and he drove me over to somebody's driveway to pick it up. I am now amazed at the stupidity of this; neither my dad nor I ever having ridden nor knowing anything at all about motorcycles. I don't remember the ride home. That part is strange because I must have been terrified. I took it over to a school parking lot and learned the ropes by myself, no instructor. I never did drop or wreck that bike. Probably, that was more my guardian angel than any skill I had. Later I sold that bike to a friend and he promptly got hit on it.

That was the only manual motorcycle I've ever owned. I had it for several years, but I never really loved it. I remember the big gas tank sloshing with fuel between my knees and the high center of gravity. I didn't like it, but of course, it never occurred to me that somebody should have put the gas tank under the seat! And then I remember having to come to unexpected stops in traffic and either having to shift into neutral or down shift into a gear that my motor didn't really want to go into. Very awkward machine in traffic!

After that I've always had a series of Honda scooters which have never let me down. Far more nimble and useful than my first motorcycle. So maybe the NC is a big scooter like some of the biker crowd derisively call it. One men's magazine named the NC700 as one of the 10 coolest things to buy in 2012 AS LONG AS YOU DON'T BUY THE AUTOMATIC VERSION! So I guess I'm not cool. Oh well, at least in my mind, I've got the coolest ride out there. (Excepting some of these modded versions people are talking about here. Dang you guys, where am I supposed to get the $ for that stuff and explain it to my wife!!!!!!!!!)

 

[robnpat]

I am a beginner, and the only other bike I've rode is the one at the BRC course. For me, this fits me just fine and will allow me to grow as my skills improve. I think this bike is great for both beginners and those that have had many miles in riding other bikes. After having a couple hundred miles on it, I stopped by my dealer (it's about 3 miles from my house) and told him my experience on it, so that he can let other potential customers about what a beginner customer thinks of it. All I can say is 'Thank you, Honda! You came through for me by designing this bike'

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

I enjoyed the CVT (automatic) on my Yamaha TMax and would have had no aversion to the DCT on the NC except my dealer had two manuals and said he didn't plan to order a DCT because he didn't think he could sell it at nearly $9,000. So, rather than wait for him to order me one, I bought what he had. I would have liked ABS but have an aversion to linked brakes. The extra $2,000; 30 lbs.; slightly lower rated HP and MPG; and double oil filters didn't help the sale. The six speed is very smooth and the clutch pull is easy (to a BMW twin rider used to a transmission that shifts like a box of rocks). I will strap on a spare clutch cable alongside the operating one and I am expedition ready.

In the end, I had $2,000 to start the extreme farkling, and in fact, it will cover over half of it.

(Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited or taxed, lost ticket pays maximum rate, may contain peanut oil, slightly higher in California, other restrictions may apply)

I forgot about extra cables ran beside each other. Thanks for reminding me! I forget a lot nowadays. Can you remind me again in a couple days?

 

[wozza]

I had the DCT wesion of the VFR1200. The only problem I had with the DCT was in a car/bike park in Wales when whilst pulling out of a tight parking spot A car driver couldn't make up his mind whether to go or stop causing me to come to a sudden halt. Not having a clutch to pull in to avoid the stall the bike did just that and started to topple. I was unable to hold it up and ended up under the bike . This all happened at less than 5 MPH. I'm afraid that this put me off DCT

I don't understand how a DCT bike can stall..
The NC DCT has near on perfect throttle control and low speed U turns can be performed on my machine at very low speed easily. Though I wouldn't like to try that on a VFR1200. I must admit the VFR1200 is definitely not my cup of tea at all.

I have ridden both versions of the NC and both are superb. The manual gearbox is great having a lovely precise gear change....definitely a great gearbox, but I was still swayed to purchase a DCT

 

[mike5100]

I must admit that any doubts that I had about the DCT - in particular traversing my steep gravelly drive - have been unfounded. And I am amazed and delighted with how clever the system is. I expected that when I set off from the top of Honister pass in D-mode that it would do it's usual trick and change up really early so that by about 30mph I would be in 5th or 6th, but them Honda engineers are clever. If it detects you have the throttle closed but you are not decelerating, it keeps it in a low gear so you get full engine braking even in D-mode. It did this down Sutton bank too.
Mike

 

[gkgeiger]

I must admit that any doubts that I had about the DCT - in particular traversing my steep gravelly drive - have been unfounded. And I am amazed and delighted with how clever the system is. I expected that when I set off from the top of Honister pass in D-mode that it would do it's usual trick and change up really early so that by about 30mph I would be in 5th or 6th, but them Honda engineers are clever. If it detects you have the throttle closed but you are not decelerating, it keeps it in a low gear so you get full engine braking even in D-mode. It did this down Sutton bank too.
Mike

I don't think mine has ever upshifted with the throttle closed.

 

[dduelin]

Rider Magazine November 2012 issue has two articles on the NC700X and it is also front and center on an editorial page. Three reviews! Very good reviews. I fit one of the expected buyer profiles ....... like many of us do ........... experienced riders looking for an economical and fun second or third motorcycle with innovative technology.

 

[Rocker66]

I don't understand how a DCT bike can stall..
The NC DCT has near on perfect throttle control and low speed U turns can be performed on my machine at very low speed easily. Though I wouldn't like to try that on a VFR1200. I must admit the VFR1200 is definitely not my cup of tea at all.

I have ridden both versions of the NC and both are superb. The manual gearbox is great having a lovely precise gear change....definitely a great gearbox, but I was still swayed to purchase a DCT

I had no problems with slow speed manouveres on the VFR but in this instance having to stop dead with front wheel already turned somehow did cause the bike to stall. As I have said DCT or DCT is just a matter of personal taste and I liked it on the VFR for 99.9% of the time. I apreciate that the bike is not everones cup of tea (which bike is?) but I found that it played it's role as a sports tourer very well. Only the combination of the bikes weight and my dodgy knee prevented me swapping the DCT version for a manual one.

 

[FlaNC700X]

Why is the color scheme different on the rider mag. NC?