Honda’s automatic clutch is called E-Clutch and it does the hard work for you. You still shift but never have to slip the clutch with your hand or pull the clutch lever to shift up or down. It’s almost like a quickshifter with a bonus!
Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/honda-e-clutch-equipped-cbr650r-cb650r-first-ride/
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Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/honda-e-clutch-equipped-cbr650r-cb650r-first-ride/
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld
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SportsTranscript
00:00We're here in Georgia for Honda's e-clutch experience. The bike that this e-clutch has
00:04just come out on is the CBR650R and the CB650R. This whole experience is really about just the
00:12clutch here. And you may ask yourself, what is the e-clutch? Well, it's a new clutch that's
00:16automatically controlled with two servo motors, which is very different than DCT. The purpose
00:22here is not to do the same thing as a DCT. This is not an automatic transmission. This is nothing
00:27like it at all. It's really just an evolution of the manual clutch. It does have some of those
00:33benefits that a DCT transmission has, but let's just talk about what this does and what it doesn't.
00:39Unlike a DCT, this thing just basically acts as a quick shifter once you get rolling. But when you
00:44are stopped and you put it in gear for the first time, you can take away just like an automatic
00:48bike and roll away with no clutch at all. From that point on, it just turns into basically a
00:54quick shifter, but you've still got to go through the same process just as if it was a manual
00:58transmission. If you're coming up to a stop and you're in fourth, fifth, sixth gear, you've got
01:02to downshift through the gears just like you normally would. That's one of the big differences
01:06compared to DCT. On a DCT bike, if you're in sixth gear and you're slowing down, the bike's going to
01:12start downshifting for you and going through the gear. So this morning, we spent some time on the
01:16racetrack at Atlanta Motorsport Park, which was a really interesting place to check this out for
01:22the first time because on the racetrack, the bike really just feels like it's got a quick shifter.
01:26Once you leave the pit lane, everything just seems completely conventional. Nothing seems
01:30out of place at all. You're doing up and down shifts just as if you had a quick shifter. And
01:35so you don't really think about it. On the track, everything worked really well. The timing's really
01:40good. You settle into a groove and you just ride the bike and you don't think about it at all. You
01:45just kind of get used to it. And it's very what you're used to, just riding on a track on a sport
01:50bike. Then later on today, we went on a street ride and this is where you've got to make your
01:54brain think properly because you come up to the stoplight and you're so used to grabbing the
01:58clutch or not grabbing the clutch or doing your traditional things that you have to think
02:03it through. So taking off for the first time, just got to make your hand not touch the clutch,
02:08have it in first gear, pull away, and then you start shifting through the gears and everything
02:13seems conventional again. It does do a couple of things that'll remind you that you're on a
02:18manual transmission bike. If you're in too high of a gear and you start coming into a super slow
02:23corner or coming to a stop, it'll start giving you a warning on the dash telling you that you
02:27need to downshift so that it won't stall if you get caught in that taller gear. After 20, 30 minutes,
02:33you really forget about it being different. And the only thing that really stands out is when
02:38you're leaving that first time is just remembering that you can pull away without the clutch. Other
02:44than that, I would say that this bike is going to help people who want to learn to ride for the
02:51first time. I think it's going to give them a little bit of an advantage or a little bit of
02:54confidence to do that and then it's completely conventional. Whereas I think on a DCT, it's such
03:00an automated process that you can use the paddles and shift through the gears like you normally
03:06would in a car with paddle shifts or you can put it in fully automatic mode and just twist and go.
03:12So there are two totally different philosophies on what this is and I think what Honda's trying
03:17to do with this bike, with the e-clutch, is just to develop a bike that is a refined version of
03:23a manual clutch that has some advantages like a DCT has without going that whole step and making
03:30a DCT which weighs about 20 pounds more, costs a lot more, whereas this is maybe four pounds more
03:36than a conventional setup. I think that's where Honda's going with this and it really opens the
03:40door for future things as well because this is such an easy thing to add to any bike that they
03:45could put this on an adventure bike, they could put it on a full-on sport bike, they could put it on
03:49all sorts of things, whereas I think the DCT is really focused on touring bikes and the Africa
03:54Twin and things that you're going to do like that, the Goldwing. It's a very interesting thing and
03:59we had a good day today and I think it functioned really well and I'm curious to to get back home
04:05and test one and live with it on a regular basis and develop the thoughts on it more, so leave it at that.