Dark horse hits top five
Price: Engine:
» £11,999 » 1084cc 8-valve DOHC parallel twin Power: Weight: Seat height:
» 97bhp » 244.5kg » 820mm
Ask a Honda dealer which of the current range of big capacity bikes is easiest to sell and there will be no hesitation: NT1100. They can’t get enough of the things. It might not cause a commotion in your underwear like a Ducati Desertx, but Honda’s tourer is flying out of showrooms.
Ride one and it’s easy to understand why so many prospective buyers return from a test ride, put the new kitchen on hold and sign on the dotted line. It’s not just that the NT is supremely comfortable, surprisingly good fun to chuck about and deceptively fast, but there’s also an overwhelming feeling of solidity and quality. The suspension action has an expensive compliant-yet-controlled feel, the surface finishes all appear so deep that you’d have to go at them with an axe to get through to metal or plastic, and there’s nothing flimsy anywhere – the pillion grabrail/rack structure looks like it could shrug off a nuclear strike nevermind some weekend luggage.
There is a weight penalty for such structural integrity. The 244.5kg Honda feels weighty as you lift it off the sidestand (again, sturdy enough to prop up a small ship), but once moving it’s wonderfully balanced and is entirely happy to be hurled down country lanes. In fact, because of the soft suspension, it’s easy to find yourself travelling startlingly fast on poorly surfaced roads (ie most of them) because the NT flattens all the smaller bumps without even hinting at any instability. I lost count of the number of times I arrived at a series of bends with a slightly startled look on my face. For a bike that looks as exciting as roof insulation, it can’t half shift. Fortunately the brakes are excellent and the wide bars make the NT a doddle to tip into corners. Most of the NT comes from the Africa Twin – it’s essentially the same bike with 17in wheels, lowered suspension and more weather protection. That’s generally a good thing (apart from the maddeningly complex switchgear). The Africa Twin’s 1084cc parallel twin engine, in particular, works beautifully in the NT, giving the bike some thudding character that’s lacking in its four-cylinder sports tourer rivals. There are a few more vibes at motorway speeds, but they’re entirely tolerable and a small price to pay for the lunging thrust at lower revs.
And though the DCT gearbox adds a grand to the price, in sports mode it makes the engine addictively playful, bounding up through its midrange like a supermoto. The NT might dress like a geography teacher, but it doesn’t take much encouragement for it to swear at the headmaster. The DCT is fantastically pillion-friendly too.
The final weapon in the NT’S armoury is the price. At £11,999, it undercuts its sports touring rivals and hits the practicalityperformance-value sweetspot like few other bikes.
The alternative view
The wonderful thing about the NT1100 is the way it fits together as a package, from the power delivery to the panniers. As a bike to actually use, maybe two-up, and probably for more than a two hour Sunday morning spin, it is bloody marvellous. And good value too. Honda clearly know about making motorcycles, I only wish they’d paint them in better colours. The NT looks dull.