The Future of Motorcycling, We Ride the Honda NM4 - Review

I exited off the 105 highway, where it dead ends into Norwalk California, Bell Bullitt helmet on my head and Mini Buran shoulder bag thrown over my lap. Despite the girth of the fairing, I had just spent the last 45 minutes flying down the 110 South to the 105 East, my normal daily commute from our Hollywood offices.

Traffic was moving slow toward a redlight, as a beat-up Honda civic tried desperately to get alongside. I slipped the throttle and move forward, as the car did the same. I immediately began rehearsing my ride in my head, trying to remember how many fingers I gave to those breaking the solid double-yellow line from the car pool lane, or if I yelled at someone to get off their phone. I turned, prepared for a berating from a disgruntled cager to see two young Hispanic guys with equally big grins, desperately try to roll down their apparently broken window.

“Hey! What is that thing?” the passenger yelled with his lips stretched to the little crack at the top of the window.

“It’s called a Honda NM4!” I shouted back.

“Cool, dude!” They both gave me thumbs of approval.

They were at that adolescent age when you’re never really that excited about something unless you’re being sarcastic. I believed their enthusiasm was genuine, but it got me thinking about the bike. The Honda NM4 Vultus, which in Latin means expression or facial expression, was conceived by a young group of Honda designers who heavily based the bike off of the futuristic motorcycles found in an anime film, Akira.

READ MORE: 2014 Honda NM4 Vultus Concept Bike

It essentially was built as a concept bike, one that Honda realized it could produce with minimal risk and investment. Under the skin, the NM4 is based off of the CTX700 and NC700, which are both offered as DCT (automatic) or traditional hand-clutch manual. The NM4 has a little more rake and wheelbase, and of course a different ride height to the NC700 and different fairings and subframe than either bike. The NM4 does not come with a manual option.

The bike is a harsh expression that leaves people with feelings of want or hatred, no in between. The NM4 does not evoke feelings of “meh.”

It’s Not A Tu... Scooter!

This is how I felt as I continually had someone relate the bike to a scooter.

Many immediately wrote the bike off as a scooter (just scroll down; I’m sure by the time you read this, there’ll be comments already), and maybe it has some resemblance in that like a scooter it’s fun, insanely easy to ride and I’m not sure if I’d want my buddies to see me riding it.

Me personally, I don’t mind the looks, but I’m a firm believer in form following function, so it’s only cool if it works.

The Ride

As with most loaner bikes, the first few hundred miles involved commuting, something this bike does exceptionally well. I think Honda felt bad that we hadn’t ridden the bike yet as there was no formal launch or media ride so we talked them into letting us ride it for about a month, driving up and down the LA freeways with the occasional weekend lunch trip into the mountains. We didn’t see too many curvy roads, but it was hard to drag the pegs once. It has a surprisingly awesome lean angle.

Ergonomics, Weight and Feel

Yes, it is an automatic, and you do sit inside the bike like a Gurney Alligator, way down into the frame with your butt right on the transmission and the engine in front of you. The rear seat snaps up as an adjustable back rest, resulting in insanely comfortable ergonomics. I wanted to take a nap at every stop light.

But it’s not a scooter - it has the weight, feel, lean angle and power of a full-sized motorcycle. How many scooters use an 18 inch front wheel and 200mm wide rear tire? Few scooters can bank hard onto a long highway entrance ramp at 90mph.

READ MORE: Honda NM4 To Debut At ComicCon London

Weighing in at 562 pounds (which is the exact same weight as a new Harley-Davidson Sportster), it was nice to have that heavy weight. It made the bike feel real, solid and stable especially on the highway. The bike, as with the NC700 and CTX700, has its engine leaning forward and low in the frame; the rider’s weight is also low and the platform is somewhat narrow, making it a very well balanced motorcycle. The weight was never an issue in any riding situation.

The low, leaned back cruiser feel makes you nervous that you’re going to snag a peg. When Bruce Speedman rode the bike for the riding pictures you see in the post, he constantly was worried he was going to snag a peg in tight turnarounds, but luckily that never happened.

The NM4 felt like it had a ridiculous amount of lean angle and the big rear tire would roll over for a long ways. You’d never normally feel the rear tire, until you really get into a hard banking, then you’ll need slightly more effort to get her on the edge of the tire.

No Clutch, No Problem - The Engine/The Electronics

It’s far from liter-bike fast, but the super-quick shifting makes up for the lack of raw horespower. The NM4’s 670cc is the same you’d find in the NC700 and the CTX700, which is also available with the DTC automatic.

The NM4 is a people mover, and it’ll spoil you, with no clutch, a backrest, floorboards and a low seat. The electronics and more importantly the power delivery through the dual clutch system is so spot-on and quick shifting, you won’t miss the clutch lever.

The start from a dead spot has a perfect mix of smooth and seat-pinning torque. It feels similar to a performance torque convertor like you’d find in a muscle car. Power comes on steady and smoothly according to the level of throttle input.

When stopped it’ll remain still and in neutral; you won’t accidentally sling yourself into traffic if you grab a handful of throttle. It has some slight lag, but you can preload it by spinning the transmission up a few hundred rpms before taking off.