I know, it's a Honda

[Lee337]

Over the bank holiday weekend I had the oportunity to ride a 2019 Honda NC750XA instead of my trusty Tiger. Probably rode it around 400 miles over 3 days around the county so thought I'd give you my verdict.

I'll hold my hands up now & say it's one of the local Blood bikes, not a loaner or courtesy bike, so the riding was not necessarily the roads I would usually ride when out on the Tiger, or Trophy for that matter and it stands to reason that I kept to the spped limits at all times (not that I don't when riding my own bikes  )

At first sight, it doesn't look too bad. it's smaller than the tiger, doesn't weigh as much and the seat height is lower. Despite its relatively low power figure (54bhp) it was quite agile once I got used to it but compared to my Tiger, it's gutless. Wind the trhottle on and I was left wondering whether anything was going to happen before finally accelerating away. This was not helped by how quiet the engine is - I just felt it was lacking something.

Brakes & suspension aren't too bad - its firmer than my 64000 mile tiger anyway but then they're built for different purposes. The brakes work well enough and the single front disk is certainly capable of stopping the bike.

The seat is about as comfortable as a park bench and after around 40 minutes, I was desperate to stop & stretch my legs, not an easy task when your ass is numb, so it's definitely not a long haul bike in my opinion.

The one I had was kitted with Shad panniers, which are probably on a par with the Tiger's size wisebut because of the lower seat height, I didn't find myself kicking them every time I threw my leg over the bike (unlike the Tiger). I also noticed that the screen isn't original to the bike, having had a taller touring screen fitted. it meant that even at legal road speeds, I cound ride with my visor up with very little wind or turbulence.

The mirrors were adequate, I could see behind me but still had to move my head around to get a good view. The controls were different. Unlike the indicators on the Tiger being above the horn on the left hand controls, the indicators were below the horn. More than once I hit the horn instead of the indicators when approaching a roundabout. I found myself having to look each time to ensure I hit the right button. The bike was fitted with both ABS and Traction control. I get ABS on a bike but with 54bhp on hand, is Traction control really necessary? You can turn it off if you wish, there's a button on the left, on what I can only describe as a stalk that sits above the switchgear. I never bothered as it will leave a nice orange warning light on the TFT instrument panel to remind you that you've done something it doesn't want you to do.

As for the TFT screen itself, I found it easy to see what speed I was going * the rev indicator is a nice shade of purple/blue, but the closer you get to the redline, the more er... red the indicator gets. There are other functions available which I didn't really explore. For example, there's a ride timer. There's probably a clock too, but most of the displays weren't easy to see in full sunlight for my old eyes. There's the usual trip meter (possibly 2 I think) that replacess the mileage display and the instant mpg as well as average mpg. There was an odd display that came up where the mileage is too. On this bike it read 20220503. Took me a while to realise that this is the date, year/month/day. What possessed them to a). put it where the trip/mileage indicator is and b). why write it backwards? I'm surte there are other functions within the TFT screen but I really couldn't be bothered to find out.

Fuelling up is interesting. My first observation si that fuel tank shaped mass between your legs is not the fuel tank, it's storage and quite large too. Don't know if you could fit a full face lid in it as I ddn't try, but it can't be far off. No, the fuel tank is under the pillipn seat, a tidy 14l tank. Lift up the seat and twist off the fuel cap and there's the filler. unlike most bikes I've ridden, there's a plate approx 50mm below the filler cap with a hole in it just big enough to fit the fuel nozzle in to. Stops splashback but you can't see the fuel going in to the tank, so I tended to stop once the fuel pump clicked off. I couldn't say it was full to the brim or not. Probably not, but at 75mpg, I doubt it would make that much difference. The other thing I noticed was there's often a little dribble pf fuel out of the nozzle when you lift it away from the bike. On this bike, the fuel cap appears to sit inside some sort of 'drip tray' so that dribble just sits there unless you grab a handful of paper towels & mop it up.

One big plus was the average 75mpg I got over the weekend, compared to the 46mpg average for the Tiger. Other than that, and I guess it's mainly what you ge tused to, but I prefer my Tiger. I find it more comfortable, especially on long runs, now I have road tyres on her, I find the ride through the twisties just as good on the Tiger as I did the NC750, but the Tiger having more oomph certainly feels more nippy.

One last thing, I can get both the Tiger and Trophy up on their centre stands with relative ease. The same can't be said for the NC750. Not sure what it is, but the usual 'stamp down on the centrestand lever while pulling up the back of the bike' technique just didn't work. I eventually managed it by using the aforementioned method combined with yanking on the bars and pushing my body against the pannier. Only did it once. the rest of the weekend it spend on the side stand.

It's taken me 3 years to get the Tiger where I want it so I'm not going to change it any time soon - certyainly not for a Honda NC750X.

[Nick Calne]

It is a bike that's hard to desire. That's what I think whenever I see one.

[ghulst]

I think it's a great bike if you are looking for a golden retriever of a bike... They are loyal, not fast, but enthusiastic. I guess if you were a TransAlp rider, this would make a sensible choice.

[ssevy]

My buddy's V-strom 650 was also a Golden Retriever type of bike - excellent way to describe it!


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[TigerKing]

Great write up Lee.
I had a NC750XA for a short period of time when I injured my foot, I only bought it as it was a DCT version and I was due to go on a tour but couldn't change gears on my Tiger 800.
Its a very boring and unimposing bike, might as well be delivering pizzas on a moped.
And, the DCT was really terrible, or maybe I just couldn't get used to changing so many gears in so short a distance, I'd never now own a DCT bike.
Its very easy to manoeuvre with a low centre of gravity, helped greatly by the real fuel tank being so low.
And yes, you can fit a full face crash helmet in to that dummy fuel tank storage space, that is a really neat feature.

[ghulst]

Interesting statement @TigerKing. Especially as I have a friend who does motorcycle control training, who swears by DCT and can do anything with it. According to him, it is mostly due to the setup. (Though it will never turn the NC750XA into something really exciting.)

[Lee337]

My IAM instructor has a bike with DCT and swears by them, says he'd never go back to a manual for his main bike.

Personally, not having ridden one I couldn't comment, but I've heard both sides of this particular argument.