#DualClutchTransmission

Any motorcycle reviewer will tell you it takes a long ride and several miles to really understand how good – or bad – a motorcycle is. This is especially true when the motorcycle in question is a model refresh and not an entirely new machine. But this might be the first time I can remember where just riding from my house to the stop sign at the end of my street left an impression that would last my entire time with the bike. The updated, 2020 Honda Africa Twin is good. Really good.

What a time to be a motorcycle rider. Why, you ask? Because motorcycles today are faster, safer, and more comfortable than ever before. Moan all you want about motorcycles becoming too smart for their own good, but it’s this very technology that allows us to be faster, safer, and more comfortable. Today no one will deny the motorized bicycle being superior than the horse and carriage, nor will they deny the advantages of electric starters over the kickers of yesteryear. But it’s really been the last five to ten years that we’ve seen a huge technological jump in motorcycling. Here are some notable advances seen on today’s motorcycles.

Dear MOby,

Dear MOby,

That’s all well and good, if only this model was coming stateside. U.S. consumers will have to make do with NC700X whose 2016 upgrades were announced in a press release last month.

It’s remarkable to believe it’s been over six years since Honda introduced its somewhat revolutionary dual-clutch transmission in a production motorcycle. A common technology in sports cars, dual-clutch transmission technology hasn’t quite permeated its way into motorcycles. Honda still continues with the DCT today, and it’s a technology that we enjoy sampling, and we can thank the 2010 VFR1200F for bringing the tech to two wheels. Here, we get E-i-C Duke’s take on the bike and the transmission from its launch at the Sugo circuit in Japan. To see more pictures of the VFR1200F, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

When Honda released the 2012 NC700 series of motorcycles with an optional Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT), some members of the riding public scratched their heads. To an experienced rider, operating a well-engineered clutch and gearbox is seen as an asset, not a negative. What the naysayers couldn’t wrap their heads around was that Honda was trying to attract new people to the ranks of riders.