dduelin
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I recently purchased a DCT model and have 947 miles on it under a variety of conditions. From July 2012 to October 2014 I owned a manual transmission version so this is my second NC700X. The short reply is I love the new bike. The NC700X hits a really sweet spot for me for else I would not have bought a second one. I'm a relatively experienced rider with a number of different bikes in the garage in the last ten years. Before that I rode on and off since 1970.
This bike combines small bike agility and back road handling with adequate power and highway presence to ride long distances. Honda reliability and build quality means a lot to me and I couldn't be happier to be back on a NC700X. Now, what's it like to give up the manual 6 speed for the DCT 6 speed? Well, for starters I don't see that I gave up much of anything but the few extra pounds that DCT and ABS add to the base model. Sport mode upshifts at points that approximate the way I rode my manual bike and when I wish to override the DCT's logic I can and do with the paddle shifters. When I just feel like riding a little mellower I just use D mode. If I want to choose each gear myself there is full Manual mode but I find myself using M less and less as time goes on. The gearbox is brilliant but it's not perfect. If I'm riding aggressively into a corner and deeply trail braking in Sport it will downshift accordingly but under heavy braking I know I'm going down at least another gear but it's holding the gear it's in and I'll override the computer and thumb down one more gear but since it's not ride by wire the throttle doesn't automatically blip and match revs so I have to do it the old fashioned way with the right wrist. If the box was manual I'd have the ability to toe it down and coordinate the revs with the clutch. DCT takes the clutch away so I have to be good (nay, perfect!) with amount of blip and when. It's a challenge but I'm getting better with these fast manual downshifts under braking. This is really only noticeable when riding like 8/10s or more. Ask less of it approaching a corner and it drops into lower gears like a champ and always is ready to power out of the turn. In Sport it holds the appropriate gear as long as it takes to ride through usual corners. I'm guessing it holds the lower gear about 10 seconds which is plenty long to ride through the corner. Long sweepers that take longer require a manual override and it was intuitive and easy to learn this.
A small annoyance is the downshift behavior in Sport when I'm slowing from 40 or 50 mph to 20 or 25 mph under closed throttle as in coming to a traffic signal or slower traffic. The gearbox in Sport kind of dumps the clutch(s) out with each downshift which is at a higher rpm where the compression braking is stronger. I found that I am oft times choosing to thumb it to D when slowing as the downshifts in D are at lower rpms and more gentle - as I would be doing with the manual gearbox anyway. I did not like to ride under 55 or so in 6th so I use S to hold the 5th to 6th shift off to a speed greater than 55. Easy peasy. The thumbs are learning new tasks as I go along.
It will be interesting to take the first ride to the mountains. With the manual box I would at times find myself running 5500 rpm or more under closed throttle setting up downhill corners. This left nearly zero headroom to the rev limiter when powering out of the turn so I learned to upshift at corner entry to get the bike lower in the power band and use more brake instead of engine compression braking to slow to entry speed. The Manual mode allows holding any gear to any rpm so I know the bike can do it but if I'm riding most of the time in Sport it won't be intuitive to use Manual. I resolve to use Manual at least some of the time when riding in a spirited manner to train my thumbs to act without conscious thought. The reality is that most of my riding is on mundane roads within a couple hundred miles of my home.
I really like the DCT and think Honda did a great job matching this engine's character to the gearbox. I'm not getting the kind of mileage I got with the manual bike but I've been riding it harder most likely and playing with the gear box learning how to use it. The mileage with SippeeCup2 will probably get better with time. I'll try it out one day and see if I can get 90+ mpg just for the grins. The Madstad adds some frontal area the 2012 did not have plus the DCT bikes are geared a little differently IIRC. It won't do the ton yet, giving up at 99.8 GPS mph where the 2012 would do 105 with ease
This bike combines small bike agility and back road handling with adequate power and highway presence to ride long distances. Honda reliability and build quality means a lot to me and I couldn't be happier to be back on a NC700X. Now, what's it like to give up the manual 6 speed for the DCT 6 speed? Well, for starters I don't see that I gave up much of anything but the few extra pounds that DCT and ABS add to the base model. Sport mode upshifts at points that approximate the way I rode my manual bike and when I wish to override the DCT's logic I can and do with the paddle shifters. When I just feel like riding a little mellower I just use D mode. If I want to choose each gear myself there is full Manual mode but I find myself using M less and less as time goes on. The gearbox is brilliant but it's not perfect. If I'm riding aggressively into a corner and deeply trail braking in Sport it will downshift accordingly but under heavy braking I know I'm going down at least another gear but it's holding the gear it's in and I'll override the computer and thumb down one more gear but since it's not ride by wire the throttle doesn't automatically blip and match revs so I have to do it the old fashioned way with the right wrist. If the box was manual I'd have the ability to toe it down and coordinate the revs with the clutch. DCT takes the clutch away so I have to be good (nay, perfect!) with amount of blip and when. It's a challenge but I'm getting better with these fast manual downshifts under braking. This is really only noticeable when riding like 8/10s or more. Ask less of it approaching a corner and it drops into lower gears like a champ and always is ready to power out of the turn. In Sport it holds the appropriate gear as long as it takes to ride through usual corners. I'm guessing it holds the lower gear about 10 seconds which is plenty long to ride through the corner. Long sweepers that take longer require a manual override and it was intuitive and easy to learn this.
A small annoyance is the downshift behavior in Sport when I'm slowing from 40 or 50 mph to 20 or 25 mph under closed throttle as in coming to a traffic signal or slower traffic. The gearbox in Sport kind of dumps the clutch(s) out with each downshift which is at a higher rpm where the compression braking is stronger. I found that I am oft times choosing to thumb it to D when slowing as the downshifts in D are at lower rpms and more gentle - as I would be doing with the manual gearbox anyway. I did not like to ride under 55 or so in 6th so I use S to hold the 5th to 6th shift off to a speed greater than 55. Easy peasy. The thumbs are learning new tasks as I go along.
It will be interesting to take the first ride to the mountains. With the manual box I would at times find myself running 5500 rpm or more under closed throttle setting up downhill corners. This left nearly zero headroom to the rev limiter when powering out of the turn so I learned to upshift at corner entry to get the bike lower in the power band and use more brake instead of engine compression braking to slow to entry speed. The Manual mode allows holding any gear to any rpm so I know the bike can do it but if I'm riding most of the time in Sport it won't be intuitive to use Manual. I resolve to use Manual at least some of the time when riding in a spirited manner to train my thumbs to act without conscious thought. The reality is that most of my riding is on mundane roads within a couple hundred miles of my home.
I really like the DCT and think Honda did a great job matching this engine's character to the gearbox. I'm not getting the kind of mileage I got with the manual bike but I've been riding it harder most likely and playing with the gear box learning how to use it. The mileage with SippeeCup2 will probably get better with time. I'll try it out one day and see if I can get 90+ mpg just for the grins. The Madstad adds some frontal area the 2012 did not have plus the DCT bikes are geared a little differently IIRC. It won't do the ton yet, giving up at 99.8 GPS mph where the 2012 would do 105 with ease
