Not sure if removing the need for clutch control helps new riders or not … for most people, learning it on a small bike will improve their riding technique before progressing to a bigger one (which seems to be the goal of most new riders).
What this does do is make bikes more accessible to people with disabilities regarding the use of one hand or coordination issues between hands, which is a good thing.
As a person who moved from Kawasaki Vulcan S to KTM 390 I’d say I needed to learn how to use the clutch again. Using a clutch on the road might surely be educational to new riders, but I don’t think it adds any skill that can help you elsewhere
I’m not sure I follow …?
The only motorcycle discipline I found where I had to re-learn how to use the clutch has been trials. Even in Moto Gymkhana the clutch is used the same (just more)
Convenience features like an automatic clutch defeat the reason I ride. No thanks.
You still have a clutch here. Still I know what you mean
I don’t hate it because it’s new, I hate it because the Rekluse clutch accomplishes the same thing and does not fill me with an sense of existential dread and trepidation about haywire electronics. A Rekluse is also too dumb to be fooled in the manner Ari demonstrated in the video.
If you want a little Honda with no clutch, just get a Super Cub.
Yeah, good question, if the e-clutch stops for what ever reason, can you still move?
Also the honda 50, that was/is semi auto, I suppose the system couldn’t be made to handle more torque.
There were versions of the Cub bigger than 50cc. Even the current Grom derived 125cc one has a centrifugal clutch.
Yes, but I reckon for a 650cc, the pedal would either be really stiff or have an excessive throw/movement. Probably, I’m not a paid engineer
nobody is convincing me the honda cg isn’t the best beginner bike ever, especially the older ones.
no extraneous features, just dirt cheap maintenance easy ride and reliability.
Personal experience with the “first generation” e-clutch on a cb650r is that it can inadvertently take away your power control when slipping the clutch during low speed manoeuvres.
Holding the lever at the bite point (lever depressed about 1/3rd of the way to the handlebar) during a u-turn, the e-clutch had kicked in and pulled away my control completely (the lever goes slack) meaning I need to dip the lever and re-release it again.
As it slackens way past the bite point (like 2/3rds of the way to the handlebar) I find it an added difficulty having to go from 1/3rd depressed to 2/3rd and back to 1/3rd to get slipping control again, especially mid-slow speed manoeuvre.
On the other hand, it’s effortless shifting up and down without needing the clutch.
