Hondahouse and the DN-01

Went for a drive on a rainy Saturday, down Hull Street, and went to Hondahouse there. Nice dealership, the people there were friendly, the store was very clean and well laid out with a good selection of motorcycles. They also had other Honda items, such as boats and even lawn mowers. They also had this DN-01. Very interesting motorcycle, its sort of a cross between a sport bike and a cruiser in styling. Big item on the 595 pound, 680cc V-twin bike is the hydro-mechanical transmission; which is a fancy Honda way of saying....its an automatic. The bike does not have a clutch lever at all. It does though have two modes of operation; Drive mode, and Sport Mode. Honda is always on the cutting edge of motorcycle design and engineering and this is just the latest example. I have had two Honda's in my life; a 1977 Honda 550 Four and a 1997 Honda 600 Shadow. Both were excellent motorcycles, especially the 600 which I had for some eight years and 36,000 trouble free miles. Other than tires, brake pads, chain and sprocket (normal wear items) nothing else was replaced on it. It even had the original battery when I sold it. Selling the DN-01 may be somewhat of a big job for Honda though as the bike has an MSRP of $14,599. Still, I would imagine there will be some discounts from that price on the bike. The idea of automatics is to expand interest in motorcycling. Its also technology that will be coming more and more; Honda is not the only maker offering automatic motorcycles. A few years ago, water cooled engines on motorcycles was very rare, now it is virtually the norm.

Hondahouse was a fun dealership to explore. People were nice without being high pressure; in fact have not had problems with that in the three local dealerships I have been in so far. I like that, sometimes you just want to look around. Know when I purchased the Vulcan, I did a lot of looking and comparision. It came down to the Vulcan 1500 and the Honda VTX 1300; a few more features on the Vulcan made the decision for me (place I purchased from in North Carolina sold both brands so they did not have a problem with the choice). Honda though makes many outstanding motorcycles, and is an excellent choice. It is a very interesting company which makes a wide range of products. Honda even makes a small jet aircraft (the company called HondaJet is headquartered in North Carolina). Unless you live in a cave, you have to know that they also make some outstanding automobiles.
They have over the years created some motorcycles though that have changed the way motorcycles and motorcyclists are seen by people. Not only do they have a great racing history, but also have created such bikes as the Honda CB350, CB750 four, the Gold Wing (a legend in motorcycle touring) and the Honda CBX (an air cooled in-line six!). Some of their bikes have become motorcycle legends, some have been failures of a sort. It remains to be seen what will happen with the DN-01. They have tried this before in the past; but it may have been an idea ahead of its time. This motorcycle will certainly be worth watching in the marketplace.