Honda NC750X DCT - a lightweight solo touring option

Honda NC750X DCT – a lightweight solo touring option

I have now owned my NC750X DCT for four months, have done 7,000 miles touring around Wales and thought I should report on my findings for the benefit of riders who may be interested in touring on this bike. My reasons for buying this bike in the first place?
I do long distance touring on tarmac, always without a pillion and mainly in Europe. I needed a light weight bike for pushing about. Arthritis in hands meant sitting upright now essential (previous bike a Blackbird). The DCT is of great benefit here as working the clutch for 8-10 hours a day, day after day, became very painful and I tended to use nearly as much ibuprofen as petrol! I always try to minimise motorway travel so was prepared to sacrifice some motorway mile eating ability for lightweight handling on minor roads and mountain passes. Price, of course. £7,000 sounded a great deal better to me than £14,000.
So how has the bike lived up to these expectations to date? Nearly perfectly. I had to make a few changes. Firstly the usual stuff like heated grips, centre stand, MRA Varioscreen, fitment for satnav, hugger but also a little more as I didn’t like the sound and the front suspension. A racing can from a previous bike sorted the sound very nicely thank you very much and a fork rebuild improved the front end markedly, especially when pushing on a bit on less than perfect tarmac.
The bike also outperformed expectations in some areas. The main one being that absolutely incredible DCT. It is seriously good, ultra smooth and always in the right gear (and that includes gearing up and down). The second one being the handling of the bike. Now I bought this bike to get away from the temptation to head for the autobahn for another 175mph stint and it certainly does that. What about excitement in the twisties? Well, I can assure you there is plenty. This bike handles very well and the DCT is no stumbling block in this department. I’m running BT023’s, a tyre I have great confidence in especially as I once got snowed in overnight in the Pyrenees on my Blackbird and managed to ride out of the pass on the snow without a spill (and that, may I add, was without ABS and traction control).
What, in my opinion, this bike is not for? Off road riding, two up distance work or for riders wanting to carry loads of luggage and camping gear. I travel very light and stay in hotels. A small tail pack and of course the space in the “fuel tank” will see me through for a fortnight, or so I hope as I’m about to go down to Grenoble to do Route Napoleon followed by the Route des Grandes Alpes on my way back. Will tell you how that went in due course.
MartinDT

Hi Martin , I look forward to reading your forthcoming GA travels on this bike.

Out of curiosity, do you still have the luggage for yours? I am guessing you have/had hard luggage and decided to remove them for the lighter travel style, hence making the luggage now redundant to your needs?

Hi Jay.
No, I'm afraid I don't have any hard luggage as I've been travelling light for some years. Some time ago I read that one of the motorbike testers tried out some merino wool base layers and so I decided to conduct my own test. Wore mine for 10 days night and day (with separate underpants washed daily) and on my return home found that they still had no B.O. This made me decide that all I needed for the evenings on tour was a pair of jeans & a shirt and lightweight shoes. This revolutionised my packing for ever!!

Which begs the question Martin, on what basis do you form your opinion that the NC isn't up to carrying loads of luggage?

Hi Jay, Good point, perhaps I was a bit hasty with that comment. Looked at same pictures of an NC750X with LOADS of luggage last night on a different UK website. It works for him. For me personally, loads of luggage (which I don't need) will interfere with what I want to do when I get to my destinations, which inevitably are mountain passes and where optimum handling is important to me.

Nice write up Martin. It just goes to show that the perfect bike for touring on is the one that suits the individual's need and it sounds as if you have found a perfect match. Hope you enjoy many more miles on it.

Well, when you've had enough of it Martin give me a shout, I might take it off your hands , but be quick!

MartinDT.....

I ran a Honda NC700X for a year and one thing that I really hated was the seat. I had to constantly push myself back away from the fake tank. The seat was angled towards the dummy tank and was very slippery. I thought that I would get used to it but I never did.

Any idea if they changed any of this for the 750, or was it just me ?

Apart from the seat and the dummy tank ( the dummy tank thing didn’t work for me....can’t put my finger on it, I just didn’t like it ) it was a good bike. I liked the engine grunt, the handling, economy and the great brakes with ‘modern’ ABS (a world away from the ABS on my old R1150GS) ............PLUS, I got a seriously good deal on it from the Honda main dealer in Castleford.

Enjoy.....

jonnie comet said:

MartinDT.....

Any idea if they changed any of this for the 750, or was it just me ?

Enjoy.....

Click to expand...

I think they might have changed the seat a bit. For one the cover is no longer smooth but has a rough texture. I did slide forward a bit when the bike/seat was brand new but that seems to have disappeared with time/miles. So perhaps the seat has worn in a bit on my recent 3 x 10 hour rides in Wales. It may also be that my new Halvarsons pants have a leather insert in the seating area. I'm also aware not to apply any bike cleaning stuff to the saddle which may render it slippery. Whatever, the problem seems to have disappeared.

MartinDT said:

I think they might have changed the seat a bit. For one the cover is no longer smooth but has a rough texture. I did slide forward a bit when the bike/seat was brand new but that seems to have disappeared with time/miles. So perhaps the seat has worn in a bit on my recent 3 x 10 hour rides in Wales. It may also be that my new Halvarsons pants have a leather insert in the seating area. I'm also aware not to apply any bike cleaning stuff to the saddle which may render it slippery. Whatever, the problem seems to have disappeared.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply......

just sold my nc700x dct. Shad replacement seat, lowered footpegs and up and back risers made mine very comfy. DCT gearbox was brilliant on my european trip and MPG outstanding.
Very good bike just not thrilling!. Replaced with a caponord which IS thrilling. 52bhp to 126 bhp. In a few years time will go back to DCT.

Hi Burt, I know exactly what you mean about the Caponord, an outstanding bike in my book. I test rode one and was laughing out load inside my helmet within the first 200 meters!! Incredible fun, what a hoot! If only my arthritis could cope with pulling a clutch lever or they made a DCT. Suspension pure magic.
This is a typical example why to be cautious about motorbike journalists' opinions - I have read some rather negative reviews which of course is total nonsense.

Why not start a now post giving your opinion of the Caponord Burt?

Some people laugh when I mention monowheel trailers, but they make a lot of sense.

Weight is carried lower than any bike luggage, your stuff is secure and when you reach destination the trailer uncouples and bike is back to everyday lightness.
I'm NOT comparing these to the twin wheel small car trailers we sometimes see dragged behind Goldwings and Harley tourers.
Mono wheels lean with the bike and are narrower than hard luggage so won't affect filtering. They lean with the bike and the trailer carries most of the weight so don't compromise handling like luggage does.
The only downside is reversing but the trailer uncouples easily. Try pushing a loaded GS backwards when you mistakenly park into a corner.

This is the bicycle version
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271632664381

A bigger covered version isn't rocket science.

Mmmm. No offence, Bendy toy, but I think I'll pass on this one.

Bendy toy said:

Some people laugh when I mention monowheel trailers, but they make a lot of sense.

Weight is carried lower than any bike luggage, your stuff is secure and when you reach destination the trailer uncouples and bike is back to everyday lightness.
I'm NOT comparing these to the twin wheel small car trailers we sometimes see dragged behind Goldwings and Harley tourers.
Mono wheels lean with the bike and are narrower than hard luggage so won't affect filtering. They lean with the bike and the trailer carries most of the weight so don't compromise handling like luggage does.
The only downside is reversing but the trailer uncouples easily. Try pushing a loaded GS backwards when you mistakenly park into a corner.

This is the bicycle version
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271632664381

A bigger covered version isn't rocket science.

Click to expand...

Something like this Bendy Toy?

http://www.mono-trail.co.uk

A quick report on how the bike performed on the 2,500 mile trip down to the south of France. The downside: On the way to Grenoble, 2 days of sitting on the motorways with gusting wind mostly straight into me, I learnt that a small screen can’t do a big job. Certainly not a comfortable experience. Once onto Route Napoleon the bike was very comfortable and certainly powerful enough. Also had sufficient power to give me a lot of fun in the 14 Alpine mountain passes which lay ahead. DCT gearbox impressed once again as it is always in the right gear. Opted for returning on a non motorway route across France to Calais.
So, all in all an excellent trip in which the NC750X DCT proved quite up to the job of long distance touring.

As noted earlier it really sounds like you've got the right bike for your needs & medical condition, which is great to hear.
Excellent feedback about the bike too.

Here is some input from my brother in Hong Kong. He uses the bike solely for commuting in very heavy traffic:
NC750X DCT Bike Report:

Bought my NC750X DCT in March 2014 in Hong Kong and now with 10K on the clock. Decided to go for the DCT gearbox option due to heavy traffic volume going to work each day. I chose black as the colour with the added extras of a centre stand and a rear hugger.
My bike is fitted with the harder Pirelli Scorpian tyres as opposed to the soft Michelins fitted to UK models which have recently been replaced under warranty by Honda. Other recent NC750X recalls by Honda have involved replacing both the speedometer due to inaccurate mileage readings and the frunk (fake tank) lock which is stiff to operate.

The bike itself is very well screwed together, the wing mirrors are fitted high to aid traffic filtering and the seat height relatively high. The huge frunk contains a full Honda toolkit and room for an XL sized full face helmet. The standard bike has no rear hugger or front fender extension and both are recommended as extras with the latter to protect the exposed radiator. The bike has a single HISS smart key for both the ignition and frunk and I recommended that you purchase a second key to operate the frunk as there has been many people complaining of the stiff frunk lock bending the ignition key leaving people stranded on the road. Power transmission is by chain to keep the costs down. Instrument cluster is LED, clear and practical with mileage, gear selection, revs and clock indicators.

Single brake disk to front and rear but only independent ABS on the NC750X as opposed to C-ABS on the NC700X. Some people reckon this is a cost saving measure but others reckon that the combined system clouds the feel of the brakes but Honda has never actually explained the change. Brakes feel good both in the dry and wet.

Riding position is high with excellent visibility and an improved and more comfortable seat from the earlier NC700X. Front screen is fine for day to day use but the option for the larger screen more attractive if you plan an expedition. DCT comes with a hand operated rear handbrake for parking as the bike always parks in neutral and never in gear. Never yet had the need to use the handbrake. The bike feels light at low speed and the centre of gravity is very low due to the low siting of the engine to create the frunk space. Tank size is only 3 gallons which seem small when compared to the size of the bike but adequate when it can achieve 70-80mpg.

The DCT model has no clutch lever and this feels very strange to begin with and in my opinion the strangeness never goes away. The DCT has a Manual /D and S auto settings on the right handle and a +/- paddles on the left handle similar to a mountain bike. In D-mode the bike will select the gears for you and you will be amazed how quickly the bike reaches 6th gear and at only 2,000rpm. The downside is that the bike always feels close to stalling at low speed and always hunting for a higher gear but the upside is between 70-80mpg which is amazing for a 750cc engine. S-mode has a sportier feel with the bike retaining the lower gears longer and rarely even reaching 5/6 gears and so no need for ever using the + paddle as the engine is always hunting for a higher gear which can be frustrating. In almost a years riding, I have never had to select the + paddle, always the – paddle to raise the revs. Never bothered to use the M-mode after the first inquisitive
attempt as its just messy and pointless when compared to the smooth D and S modes. Many people love the D-mode at low speeds but I don’t and prefer the traditional manual clutch as it provides much more feel and control. DCT can also be juddery when changing down from second to first gear in commuter traffic. Strangely, I prefer the DCT at high speed as you can drop two gears in a second and fly past other cars far quicker that a manual gear change. A safety feature of the DCT is that the bike always starts in neutral and reverts to neutral when switching off.

The NC750X is not a fast bike but quick enough for day to day use and the engine (which they say is half of a 1400cc Honda Civic engine) has a rev limit of only 6,500rpm and on the motorway you rarely do more than 4,000rpm so the bike feels quite lazy at speed. In summary, the Pro’s; very competitive purchase price, high mpg, riding height, ease of use, reliability, 8,000 miles between services, the frunk and overall build quality. The Con’s; very few but the DCT can be annoying when constantly hunting for a higher gear and the headlight could be brighter!

Hope that's of some help.

I had the NC700X for about 2 years (10,000 miles) and for the first 12 months I used it for commuting 90 miles a day, regularly returned 74mpg. Plus points, fuel consumption, No-Tank, low centre of gravity. Bad points, suspension, touring screen not fit for purpose and not exciting to ride.



Now retired, so no longer commuting, also now living in Andalucia so changed it for this.



Which has more of a grin factor!