Rumours Suggest NT1100 E-Clutch Model For 2025
The CB650 and CBR650R E-Clutch landed earlier this year, and if the murmurings from Japan are correct, the Honda NT1100 will be next
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Some Japanese motorcycle media outlets claim to have information relating to the next model to gain the innovative Honda E-Clutch transmission.
The E-Clutch system is just one of a raft of similar automatic gearbox technologies being looked at by motorcycle manufacturers as a method of getting more bums on seats, and also getting through emissions regulations. E-Clutch is a kind of halfway-house between Honda’s hypercomplex but phenomenally intuitive Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) and a conventional one-down and six-up gearbox. You still get a gear and clutch lever, although should you not want to use the clutch you can let the bike, and its electro-mechanical clutch actuator, do all the hard work for you, even when pulling away and coming to a stop.
The reports that the Honda NT1100 is the next bike in line to get E-Clutched comes from YoungMachine, the famously accurate Japanese website that is spookily correct in situations such as this. The bike they are specifically stating is to gain the technology next will be a police-only variant of the NT1100. An E-Clutch variant of the NT1100 for the rozzers seems like a fairly sensible move, being that the NT1100 is a trad’ tourer, although the fact that it’s already available as a DCT option (which has the added bonus of fully automatic and manual button-shifts) makes the potential move slightly confusing. The only other bikes in the range to get the technology thus far are the 2024 Honda CB650 and CBR650R E-Clutch.
E-Clutch though is a much simpler solution (mechanically speaking), adds less weight to the bike and is cheaper to produce. It is also effectively a standard bike with automated clutch actuation (as is the case with the MT-09 Y-AMT we reviewed), meaning it can be maintained and repaired much like a conventional bike.
YoungMachine though does seem to be very keen on the idea and is even pointing to a potential 2025 model year announcement of the plod-spec NT110 E-Clutch. We’d expect if that were to happen a civilian version would not be far behind.
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