#Automatic motorcycles 2015 trial#
The semi-recumbent seating position with feet pushed forward (due to the low seat height) will no doubt remind some of Honda?s initial DN-01 attempt, a trial balloon that fizzled out a few years ago.īut, although there are similarities, the DN-01 was softer-curved, smaller, heavier with a higher seat height and harnessed a less powerful V-Twin engine mated to a ?Human Friendly Transmission? (CVT).
Honda adds a neat trick with a rear pillion seat that flips up to serve as the rider?s backrest, clicking through three upright angle choices.įull floorboards allow occasional shifts of foot position and a ride posture that really doesn?t feel that different from, say, a Honda Forza or Suzuki Burgman scooter. You sit in this bike, not on it, although the seating doesn?t feel especially low during riding until you start to bank through the corners. It?s great that sometimes we make a certain machine simply because we can and because we want to, not because we ?should?.?Ĭocky, and it shows as the NM4 starts with a lightweight diamond-shaped steel-tube frame stretched to middleweight cruiser wheelbase dimensions and low-seating architecture, in fact, the lowest seat height (650 mm) of Honda?s entire lineup. ?Honda is a big company,? said Keita Mikura, NM4 Vultus Project Leader, at the time of the concept debut. This bike also debuted at the London ComicCon, which should tell you something about its audience.Īnd just check out the design team attitude.
Those kinds of influences and free-reined encouragements shine in the NM4 end result. But, frankly, I don?t think Honda gives a what old fogey riders like us think.Ī group of young designers in a skunk works team built this bike to appeal to an entirely new generation of riders.Īnd those young designers were raised on a blended mix of ?Japanimation?, manga and anime art forms that included books, comics and movies like ?Akira?, an early anime cult classic featuring biker gangs in post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo. You can practically see traditional riders blanche and get woozy at first sight of all that angular black plastic covering the shiny machinery and metal bits. The NM4 employs ?Forward Massive? styling, combining sharp-edged, stealth fighter angularity with a kind of blacked-out, Batbike ethos, a styling sum total that is radically futuristic, way cool and maybe just a little polarizing. The NM4 (NM for New Motorcycle) first debuted at the Osaka Motor Show in early 2014, showing in two concept flavours - a simple stripped-down NM-01 in black and a white-coloured NM-02 model with included panniers.ĭuring the development process the name ?Vultus? was also bandied about, kept for European models but dropped for North America where a final version, in matte black but with the panniers included, will be offered simply as the NM4. Of course, switching gears would not actually be physically necessary because the NM4 features a DCT automatic transmission among other new features. Hmm, a chance to be one of the first in Canada to ride Honda?s futuristic and much-talked-about new motorcycle, the 2015 NM4. Once I was safely sidelined, I checked the new email that had fired off the cellphone vibration. I was deep into the tightest corner of the handling course at the weeklong testing session of AJAC?s Car of the Year program, when I felt the tingle. PRICE: $12,499 (arriving in limited numbers at select dealers starting this fall) 2015 Honda NM4 - futuristic fantasy ride or Batbike? SUSPENSION: Front 43 mm telescopic fork 100 mm (3.9 in.) travel Rear single shock, Pro-Link aluminum swingarm 100 mm (3.9 in.) travelīRAKES: Front 320 mm wave disc with two-piston caliper rear 240 mm wave disc with single-piston caliper.
#Automatic motorcycles 2015 manual#
TRANSMISSION: Six-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) with Drive and Sport automatic modes, also manual mode, with O-ring-sealed chain final ENGINE: 745 cc liquid-cooled SOHC parallel twinįUEL DELIVERY: PGM-FI electronic fuel injection
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