Cycle News

2016 HONDA VFR1200X FULL TEST P106 One of my first experiences on the VFR1200X was a sun-up to sun-down ride from Southern California to Central California, nearly all of it on back-country (aka twisty) roads. It was a large group ride and later that eve- ning, many of my riding compan- ions (some of them a few years younger than me) commented over dinner how tired they were and were planning on calling it an early night. I don't blame them; it was a long day. Normally I would've done the same, but on this night, I was still feeling surprisingly chipper and was down for a few more rounds at the hotel lounge. but when you do it thousands of times in one day, well, it adds up! Without a doubt, I found the DCT tranny to significantly reduce the workload, a great thing for those long days in the saddle, especially on twisty roads, where the DCT works amazingly well; I felt I was going just as fast through the corners as I would on a manual-shift bike—maybe even faster—once I got used to it. But even if I wasn't going faster, just the fact that I was saving so much energy not shifting was worth it to me. If you do want to mix things up a bit, you can switch to manual mode and change gears yourself via the traditional gearshift foot lever that is still there like a "nor- mal" bike (but there is no clutch lever), or via the paddle shifters on the left handlebar, which are great fun to play with. However, when speeds pick up and things get serious, I simply let the DCT do all the shifting work in auto mode while I focused on other things. But, most of my time on the VFR1200X was in the real world, Monday through Friday stuff, like zig-zagging through traffic and splitting lanes on my way to work, or just running errands around town, where, again, the DCT transmission is nice to have. In these situations, I didn't miss one bit pulling in a clutch (Clockwise from above) Sport, Drive and Neutral. Not much to it. With one hand you can easily adjust the height of the very effective windscreen with this mechanical lever. The VFR1200X is offered with a standard manual six-speed transmission or Honda's Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). We'll take the DCT, please. Shifting a manual-transmission motorcycle isn't a big deal and doesn't require much effort or energy, but when you do it thousands of times in one day, well, it adds up! The next day, I soloed it home, stopping only twice to fill up on gas, and when I rolled up my driveway that evening, I was still feeling remarkably fresh and had no problem fulfilling a dinner promise that I had made with my wife. I kept thinking, why wasn't I feeling so hammered after two really long days in the saddle? Then it occurred to me that it probably had a lot to do with the VFR's DCT transmission. Shifting a manual-transmission motor- cycle isn't a big deal and doesn't require much effort or energy,

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