Honda Ctx: Comfort, Technology, Experience
HONDA CTX: COMFORT, TECHNOLOGY, EXPERIENCE
ROUNDUP
Honda’s bold plan to comfort the cash-poor, soothe the technophobic and get the world on two wheels (again)
JOHN BURNS
HONDA SPRANG FOUR MORE IN ITS line of modular 670cc parallelTwins this February at the Chicago International Motorcycle Show in the cruiseristic form of the new CTX700ND and CTX700N, along with the fairingequipped CTX700D and CTX700.
“D” denotes automatic Dual Clutch Transmissions, while CTX stands for Comfort, Technology and experience. Like the standard-style NC700X, the CTX is a “world bike,” meaning it’ll be available in markets like India and Brazil, but American Honda’s Jon Seidel says this one was created with the North American market in mind. Those cruiser proportions are no mistake: Honda has moved many, many Shadows in the U.S. market since 1983.
A low seat is key in the showroom, and one that’s just 28.3 inches off the ground should make the CTX accessible to just about any rider. And the available DCT means you don’t need to learn to shift, either. Just like the NC, you can choose full-auto mode or paddle-shift. Also like the NC, the CTX DCT models come with an anti-lock braking system not available on the six-speed manual. Honda sees the DCT automatic as a huge advantage in drawing in new customers. And while new riders are in its crosshairs, Honda also expects more than a few re-entry buyers—along with plenty of people aging gracefully out of Gold Wings and bigger bikes, who could use something inexpensive, easy-to-keep and functional. Not only is the seat low, it’s also big, thick and designed to accommodate a broad range of U.S. body styles.
The same online intelligentsia that disapproved of the NC is currently railing against the CTX, but the NC is reportedly moving nearly as well as Honda’s best-selling streetbike of 2012, the CBR250R. And the generic styling some don’t like could make the CTX that much more appealing to youths looking to reject the conventional motorcycle in the same way the Scion xB flips off the automobile. Squint and you can see the old Helix scooter in the CTX—a machine that sold like crazy (mostly in Japan) and developed a cult following everywhere. It can’t escape the DN-01 comparison, either, but the CTX has little in common with that $15,000 experimental craft except its profile.
As for pricing, the CTX700ND, with DCT and ABS, will sell for $7999, which makes it the most affordable DCT model ever offered by Honda. The fairing-equipped CTX700D, with DCT and ABS, starts at $8799. With a standard transmission, both models drop by $1000, a price structure that Honda has now applied to the NC. For this year, the base NC700X (Cycle World’s Best Standard for 2012) has been bumped $500 to $7499, while the DCT/ABS model gets its price cut $500 to $8499. Honda is calling the CTXs 2014 models, but bikes will be in dealerships this spring.
With the line of new 500cc Twins announced last November, alongside the CBR250R and CRF250L and now these CTXs, Honda is attempting to appeal to new riders with a veritable smorgasbord of affordable models no other manufacturer comes close to matching. Honda was rumored to be aiming for nine new models under $8K by 2014, which means it still has a few to go. Seidel tells us to expect more variations on the CTX theme. If the CTXs keep the RC1000Vs flowing, we’re all in favor.
