WILL THE NC 700 SURVIVE-Questions?

[n30r3l0ad3d]

Really? Things must be a lot different in MI than here in AZ. The dealers seem to have one new one on the floor but as for used, when I bought mine, there were two on Craigslist - one at a dealer and one private. I bought the one at the dealer & not sure what happened with the other (sold it, kept it). But since I bought mine in late June have not seen any used ones posted. A look at Craigslist just now only shows a couple of dealers up in the Phoenix area selling new ones. Now if I were looking for, say, a HD Sportster, there are pages of them.

The dealer I bought mine from had 3 silver one's, 1 being used. And when I say "so many used NC's for sale" it's because I seen a few dealer's selling used one's on youtube when searching for NC700X videos, as well as video bloggers selling / trading up theirs for "x" reasons.

 

[dog]

One complaint. Wish it had a belt instead of a chain.

Just curious, would not a shaft-drive be even better? I have no idea, but if you are wishing you might as well wish big!

 

[670cc]

Shaft drive is too heavy and robs too much power. Both would contradict the design goals of the NC700.

Raise the rear of a shaft drive bike and spin the rear wheel by hand. The drag is much higher than a well adjusted, lubed chain drive. You can easily notice the difference between shaft and chain just rolling the bike around the garage. That drag is going to cost you in efficiency.

Personally I might have favored belt but I realize it would not be robust in off road conditions.

Greg

 

[n30r3l0ad3d]

Shaft drive is too heavy and robs too much power. Both would contradict the design goals of the NC700.

Raise the rear of a shaft drive bike and spin the rear wheel by hand. The drag is much higher than a well adjusted, lubed chain drive. You can easily notice the difference between shaft and chain just rolling the bike around the garage. That drag is going to cost you in efficiency.

Personally I might have favored belt but I realize it would not be robust in off road conditions.

Greg

Going to agree with most of what you said. But being that I have a lake racer sled that blew a belt at 75 MPH and put almost a 1 1/2 foot diameter hole through my belly pan and bent one of my steering arms in my sled, I will pass on the belt drive. Sure, the NC probably wouldn't make enough power to blow a belt but still, no thanks.

 

[JamesD]

Where I'm at the things that sell best are cruisers, sport bikes, MX bikes and quads. I think I've seen a few dual sports but not many.
Most of the people that have commented on my NCX have never seen anything like it and had never heard of an adventure bike.
The NC S version would probably do ok here but are they even in the states?
I think all we get is the CTX which has too much plastic and a weird exhaust IMHO.

 

[bigjeff]

The nc700x flies off the floor in Florida and I love mine. It is an awesome bike for sane riding. If your insane and ride that way - Honda makes those too. just sayin'

 

[SergeantChuck]

The nc700x flies off the floor in Florida and I love mine. It is an awesome bike for sane riding. If your insane and ride that way - Honda makes those too. just sayin'

This is what I went to the dealer to look at and I walked out with the NCX. I made the sane decision.

 

[SergeantChuck]

Here is something to read if you have time and are bored at work like myself. Supposedly an allegedly leaked document posted on a Japanese blog lists several new Honda models names. There is no mention of the NC on the list although the list looks cut off at the bottom. I’m not saying I think this is a valid list. Just something to read.

Leaked Document Allegedly Reveals New Honda VFR800F, CTX1300, CBR650F, CB650F and CB250F » Motorcycle.com News

This is a link to the blog that originally posted the photo. I used the chrome browser so I could easily translate. They do mention the NC a couple times but nothing signification. Weird to read.

????? : ?????????????NCX50/CB250F/CB650F/CBR650F/VFR800F/CTX1300/CBR250R????????

 

[ron700]

I love the Fireblades but can't handle the riding position. I've thought about changing the handlebar but don't know how the driving dynamics would end up and what all needs to be done.

 

[wozza]

At the end of the day we'll just have to wait see what happens. They'll probably be different bikes for different markets anyway. There's no CTX700 in the UK, but there is in the USA. Likewise we get the CBF1000 and the USA doesn't that I'm aware of.

 

[Mike Cash]

Here is something to read if you have time and are bored at work like myself. Supposedly an allegedly leaked document posted on a Japanese blog lists several new Honda models names. There is no mention of the NC on the list although the list looks cut off at the bottom. I’m not saying I think this is a valid list. Just something to read.

Leaked Document Allegedly Reveals New Honda VFR800F, CTX1300, CBR650F, CB650F and CB250F » Motorcycle.com News

This is a link to the blog that originally posted the photo. I used the chrome browser so I could easily translate. They do mention the NC a couple times but nothing signification. Weird to read.

????? : ?????????????NCX50/CB250F/CB650F/CBR650F/VFR800F/CTX1300/CBR250R????????

I call shenanigans on that image.

 

[SergeantChuck]

Who knows what it is? Stumbled across it and figured I would throw it out there. Im sure it is nothing important. Just found it to be a curious article.

Galaxy S4

 

[Mike Cash]

Who knows what it is? Stumbled across it and figured I would throw it out there. Im sure it is nothing important. Just found it to be a curious article.

Galaxy S4

It looks like conjecture and doesn't strike me as being in a format or using terms that I would expect on an actual corporate document.

 

[JamesD]

I can't see any dates on that but then I don't read Japanese. It just looks like there aren't any to me.
And I can't see anything that indicates what country those are destined for so no guaruntee any new bikes will hit the US.
I would be inclined to believe there was going to be a 1300 CTX, but then it would compete more with the Shadow.

FWIW, if Honda were to bring the the Crossrunner to the US, that could account for larger displacement rumors though it would have a larger displacement than the rumors.

 

[Mike Cash]

And I can't see anything that indicates what country those are destined for so no guaruntee any new bikes will hit the US.
.

The column on the left is a strong indication that the country in question is Japan, as the displacements are grouped (and named) according to the categories of the Japanese licensing scheme.

The terms and formatting don't strike me as something that would originate from corporate headquarters, although it could have been thrown together by someone farther down the line as a reference document based off of something else.

 

[SlowSteve]

I think the future of the NC- is not going to be set in either the US or the UK, but in places with really large biking populations such as India, China, Tiawan etc.

For those guys, the NC-X becomes a luxury bike - viewable in the way way that we would view something line a BMW1000RR - much bigger, much more expensive and much more powerful than most people want or need, but an object of desire none the less.

Honda will have dropped millions into the DCT design, so I can't see that going away any time soon - it's a clever concept but it will have cost a hell of a lot in R+D and especially tooling to deliver on.

As to the NC- itself - an underpowered 670cc engine is small by western standards, but in many countries - for example India which I know well, would be considered off-puttingly large - a 350 is a fairly big bike over there.

I think that the biggest threat to the NC- is what happens with the CD500x and cb500f - these bikes are the same/lower cost, smaller engine and getting great reviews. Being a 500, rather than a 670, they are more within the phycological comfort zone of a lot of people in other countries.

I think, if a DCT version of the new 500's come in, there may not be a huge future for the NC-X.

 

[Phil X]

As to the NC- itself - an underpowered 670cc engine is small by western standards, but in many countries - for example India which I know well, would be considered off-puttingly large - a 350 is a fairly big bike over there.

I think that the biggest threat to the NC- is what happens with the CD500x and cb500f - these bikes are the same/lower cost, smaller engine and getting great reviews. Being a 500, rather than a 670, they are more within the phycological comfort zone of a lot of people in other countries.

I think, if a DCT version of the new 500's come in, there may not be a huge future for the NC-X.

The new CB500 are an oldfashioned concept, nothing new about it, selling well but that's it. 100% boring. Would not even be fixed by adding a DCT. Many motorcyclists are technically conservative in some way, and this is the reason Honda (and others) make bikes like these CB500. It sounds like a motorcycle, revs like a motorcycle, yaaaawn. Honestly, I do not see any competition to the NC series. And I do not even believe a DCT in the CB500 would sell, because those buyers would not consider riding DCT. Real motorcycles need manual shifting!

For instance, we have many people over here stepping down to NC700 or even Integra 700 coming from conservative bigbikes like CBF1000 or whatever (you name them, I forgot), telling they would not miss anything with the NC. Many of them sell their bigbikes _after_ purchasing and riding the NC! This is for sure not a matter of pure performance (neither is the NC "powerful", nor is it leightweighted), but a matter of fun/performance/cost/usability ratio. Bundled with low fuel consumption, nice styling and practical usage. The NC was a considerable step in motorcycle concepts, which does not at all apply to the CBs.

For me stepping up from low weighted bikes there is for sure some performance loss owed to overweight of the NC (and I certainly consider the CB series overweighted as well), but all in all the NC still is an enjoyable package capable of any onroad riding style and trip length I like. I personally do exclude offroad and track riding just because I like to do such things with bikes better suited for, but that is not a big deal.

So, I am pretty sure in the long range the NC will certainly survive because of its versatility and refreshing concept. Those who got an NC because its cheap after all (complaining about hitting the rev limiter all the time) might very well hop over to CB series or 6cyl-bigbikes or whatever, but I think there are still many who would not consider this.

I would blame the NC700X for two things: overweight and copying of some BMW styling elements at the front with its nasty beak (tried to fix by painting, but only partial success). Still the NC700X design seems to be far superior to the new CB, in my opinion.

I am not yet sure whether DCT will make its way into motorcycling, but I am sure Honda made a big statement here not to be copied easily at that pricing and reliability. Looking at the big scooter market, there would be no alternative to the Integra 700 for this reason IMHO. Better performance at lower fuel consumption than all of the competition at matching performance. And still fully ridable with motorcycling in mind. I would absolutely love to take a long and exhaustive ride at Italy's lovely mountain backroads with an Integra700 cruising in between all those masses of bikes and see what it is like. That sounds like fun.

 

[JamesD]

The column on the left is a strong indication that the country in question is Japan, as the displacements are grouped (and named) according to the categories of the Japanese licensing scheme.

The terms and formatting don't strike me as something that would originate from corporate headquarters, although it could have been thrown together by someone farther down the line as a reference document based off of something else.

Since Honda motorcycles come from Japan, all the Japanese writing tells us is it's a document from Japan, not that it's something only destined for Japan.
Unless it says more than I think it does... which I doubt given the format.

It looks an internal product list/summary without the text part of a document that explains it.
For a company that makes a large number of products for a specific market (motorcycles) it actually makes sense to have some sort of itemized list.
But without more info we have no idea if it's a proposed list of all bikes, bikes for a specific market, or if it's even the final list.
I don't think it's fake but there isn't enough info to really draw many conclusions.

The document seems to group bikes by displacement and category.
I'd be interested to know what the rightmost visible column says.
I'm wondering if those are numbers they expect to manufacture in the thousands.
Since the CTX1300 is new it would make sense for them to make more of them since dealers don't have any existing stock.

Since the NC and sport bikes aren't listed they would be in a different category.
The NCS would probably grouped with sport bikes and the NCX with adventure bikes.
But then I'm just trying to make sense of what I can see which there really isn't much of.

 

[jtkirk]

Hope the X will be around a long while or at least some variant. As someone else said - the longer I have it the better I like it. Really don't see myself ever getting another bike.

 

[JamesD]

I think the future of the NC- is not going to be set in either the US or the UK, but in places with really large biking populations such as India, China, Tiawan etc.

For those guys, the NC-X becomes a luxury bike - viewable in the way way that we would view something line a BMW1000RR - much bigger, much more expensive and much more powerful than most people want or need, but an object of desire none the less.

There are a couple problems with that.

First, the overwhelming majority of bikes in those markets are cheap.
Many are based on the old 200cc Honda motor that was used in the XR200 but built much more cheaply.
They are cheap to build, cheap to buy and offer relatively decent fuel economy.

Second, the luxury category is all status symbol, so Harley is the obvious choice.
Someone that wants a luxury status item usually isn't concerned with good gas mileage or buying a budget Honda.
I'm not saying it's impossible but I think the NC would need a near cult like following elsewhere to attract the luxury crowd.
The VFR has had a large following since the '80s and it still hasn't caught on in these areas as a status symbol so I'd call that idea very unlikely.

The NC/CTX seem more suited to Western urban/suburban areas to me.
I don't think the NC will ever dominate unless Honda finds a way to deliver fuel economy and near sport bike performance which would be more expensive.

Now, if at some future date the tooling for these motors gets sold off to a company in China or India (as with the Honda 200cc motors), then you might see cheap knock offs appearing in those markets and I would expect them to become pretty common.

Honda will have dropped millions into the DCT design, so I can't see that going away any time soon - it's a clever concept but it will have cost a hell of a lot in R+D and especially tooling to deliver on.

I think DCT is just starting to catch on and will become more common across Honda models.

As to the NC- itself - an underpowered 670cc engine is small by western standards, but in many countries - for example India which I know well, would be considered off-puttingly large - a 350 is a fairly big bike over there.

I think that the biggest threat to the NC- is what happens with the CD500x and cb500f - these bikes are the same/lower cost, smaller engine and getting great reviews. Being a 500, rather than a 670, they are more within the phycological comfort zone of a lot of people in other countries.

I think, if a DCT version of the new 500's come in, there may not be a huge future for the NC-X.

I have to agree that 500s are more likely to catch on in markets like India and China.
The Chinese manufacturers have only recently started transitioning to 250cc and that's mostly for export.
India is still largely 200cc or less.

Frankly, roads in many of these countries aren't very good so higher speeds don't matter.
In China I believe motorcycles are actually banned from the freeways unless they have recently changed that.
I think that was largely done because people were trying to ride 50cc bikes on the freeways and it takes at least 125cc to handle those speeds.

I think the 700cc/750cc market in the US, Europe, South Africa, etc... is large enough to support the NC.
The question is, will it sell in large enough numbers to satisfy Honda or more specifically, American Honda.
American Honda hasn't imported a lot of bikes that are available worldwide.
With the CTX appealing to shorter riders and people wanting cruiser or people wanting more speed, the NC line may not survive in the US.
All anyone has to do is look at what happened to the 919 in the US. It lasted a few years and got dumped.