Honda DN-01

Friday 22nd August 2008, heading down to J2 Honda in Southampton. The mission today was to check out the new DN-01 motorbike by Honda. For those who have no idea what I am talking about (not even sure I do!), the DN-01 is a kinda "production concept sports cruiser moped", that is my definition of it anyway. With the styling it is very much a sports bike with the full fairings and aggressive projection headlamps up front. Cruiser due to its riding position which is much more reminiscent of a Harley, the shaft driven rear wheel and handle bars that have a really large rake on them. Finally a moped as it has an (semi)automatic gearbox on it or as Honda call it, the HFT or "Human Friendly Transmission". I won't pretend that I fully understand the way that this system works, although it doesn't seem to operate in anyway that conventional car auto-boxes work. Annoyingly I am not able to ride the bike because I am still on my restricted license, however I am not too sure that it is any more friendly then a normal manual box.

Despite that it is a fantastic looking bike with very sleek lines and aggressive styling. Due to it being an automatic it doesn't have a clutch lever or a gear selector for your foot, so you have nothing to do with the bike on your left hand side. Unlike a moped you still have the rear break controlled by your right foot. Gear selection is either done automatically (duh!) or you have a manual control via two buttons on the left control gear. It would be interesting to find out how intuitive that control system actually is and if having the gear selector still done by your foot would be any better or worse. The HFT features 3 modes, two fully automatic and one manual. The two auto modes allow for different riding styles; a "D" mode for normal riding and an "S" mode for, well more sporty riding. In these two modes you get a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) for a smooth ride with no gear changes. In manual the 'box seems to simulate gear changes with 6 distinct 'gears'. The engine is a rather nondescript 680cc V-Twin 8v developing 60bhp(45kW) and 47ftlb(64Nm) torque. From asking around it seems the bike should be available for around £10k which does seem a little steep but for such a unique looking bike with its futuristic styling and choice of gearbox modes to suit your fancy, it could be a reasonable buy for those looking for an interesting commuter bike.

DN-01 website.