Honda X-ADV - the Adventure Scooter! ... a road test.

I was lucky to have the new adventure scooter from Honda for a week. I'd just come back from a trip around Iceland on a R1200 GS and have previously ridden across the world on a 105cc Honda step-through. I have no allegiance to either big bike or small, and so was curious about this new adventure scooter, as I've always looked at machines such as the Suzuki Burgman as potentially the perfect bike for going around the world on. They have excellent luggage capacity, good weather protection and are practical and versatile in a way that even proper 'adventure' bikes are not.

So an adventure scooter seemed like the perfect recipe.

A PROPER MOTORCYCLE

The X-ADV is actually a proper motorcycle. The fact that it is chain driven (rather than belt) and has the engine up at the front means that it doesn't qualify as a scooter, and fundamentally is nothing more than a NC750, reimagined to look like a scooter, with the X-ADV itself based on the Integra that Honda started out their hybrid moto-scooter experiments with.

So the engine is the same 745cc parallel twin as in the NC750 range, given an extra 500rpm in this instance in order to give it a sportier ride, and fitted with the latest fourth generation dual clutch transmission gearbox (DCT). Much else is new on the bike. There's a new cast aluminium swingarm, tubeless spoked rims (17-inch front, 15-inch rear) fitted with Bridgestone Trail Wing tyres, as well as a new headlight and fairing design that go some way to justifying the fact that this DCT equipped X-ADV is nigh on £2500 more than an equally engined NC750. £9599 is the damage.