The Honda CB650R E-Clutch; is this the promised land? Is it the perfect place between manual gearboxes and Honda’s DCT?
The evolution of motorcycles is essential. Without it, we would never have moved forward and would still be adjusting the chain between the engine and the gearbox on pre-unit Triumphs.
Some will not be interested in the technology, stating that they have a clutch and gear lever, and that is all they need. Interestingly, the Honda CB650 E-Clutch has both of those.
Confused? We were.
Honda E-Clutch System
We are all familiar with a traditional motorcycle clutch and gearbox. A single clutch system is used to disconnect the engine’s drive from the gearbox so that we can select a different gear with the foot lever.
Once we have picked the next gear, up or down, we release the clutch, and the drive from the engine reconnects to the gearbox. Simple.
Dual Clutch Transmission, or DCT, works by having two clutches, one for odd gears and the other for even. One clutch can be open while the other is closed, allowing the next gear to be selected without driving the wheels.
Everything else you typically find in a traditional gearbox is also present in a DCT. The clever part is how the clutches swap the job of driving the rear wheel, regardless of whether you are going up or down through the gearbox.
The Honda E-Clutch system has taken part of the DCT’s cleverness—knowing when to pull the clutch in—and gone in a different direction.
With the E-Clutch, you need to change gears. It knows when this is about to happen by monitoring the speed, throttle position, RPM, load on the gear lever, and load on the counterbalance shafts, all of which are referenced against the gear you are currently in.
It is all very clever, but is it any good?
The Ride – E-Clutch
Pulling away for the first time isn’t an event you want recorded and put on YouTube. There is a subtle knack to using the E-Clutch from a standing start. It wasn’t difficult; it just wasn’t what I expected.
My brain was in “grip it and rip it” mode, where you open the throttle, and the clutch takes time to spool up, gradually driving the rear wheel. Nope, the E-Clutch is much more sophisticated than that. Rip open the throttle, and you are going to accelerate hard.
For me, the knack is to crack the throttle, hold it for a moment, and then continue to wind it on. The E-clutch does a wonderfully smooth job of feeding the power in, and when the clutch is fully released, you and the throttle are in direct control of what happens next.
Opt to pin the throttle wide open from a standing start, and the E-Clutch system will slip the clutch to deliver the power as efficiently as possible. If this sets the rear spinning, traction control will help keep everything in line.
Should you pull up next to an E-Clutch bike at the lights … well, you get the idea. They have “launch control” and don’t need to close the throttle between gear changes.
Having found my solution for smooth getaways, which took me all of two minutes, the CB650R’s E-Clutch is simple and easy to use. You can even snick it into neutral when rolling up to a set of lights (bad habit).
More Than a Quick Shifter
My NT1100 has a fly-by-wire throttle, a bidirectional quick-shifter, and an auto-blipper, which it needs to make downshifts smooth. It also requires a reasonable number of revs to work effectively. The higher the RPM, the smoother and more efficient the quick-shifter performs.
The QS will work at lower RPM, but using the clutch in those situations gives a much smoother and mechanically sympathetic ride. The E-Clutch has no such restriction, as the system uses the clutch rather than cutting the ignition and fuel for a split second like the quick-shifter.
The result, even on the non-fly-by-wire CB650R – yes, there are throttle cables – is an almost seamless upshift and downshift wherever you are in the rev range.
I want a Clutch
You have one. There is a lever on the left-hand bar; if you use it, the E-Clutch system steps out of the way and lets you do your thing.
You can slip the clutch to filter through traffic or sit just on the biting point, turning circles in the car park on full lock if you wish.
There is nothing special or complicated about it. As soon as you use the clutch lever, the E-Clutch gets out of your way. This is especially useful when the workload is high in heavy traffic, and you revert to muscle memory, exactly as I did.
Overall, the E-Clutch system is beautifully integrated and easy to ride with. Do as you wish, no thinking is required; the system will work with you.
The only time we (for which read Roger) found a problem was when downshifting two or more gears (box shifting).
When he is on it, Roger’s riding style is to brake late and shuffle down the gearbox two or three cogs at a time. I brake sooner but lighter and change down more progressively. Roger’s demand to drop three gears quickly—on his road bike, he doesn’t release the clutch—could sometimes confuse the E-Clutch system, resulting in an indicated false neutral. The gear was selected, but the display and I assume something in the electronic wizardry, couldn’t keep up.
Pause just that half a second between downshifts, and the problem never occurs.
Honda CB650R & CBR650R
- 649cc Inline 4 – 16 Valve DOHC
- 92BHP – 63nM Torque
- 41mm Showa Big Piston Forks
- 207Kg – 810mm Seat Height
- 15.4-litre tank – 180+ Mile Range
- Caster Angle 25.5° – 100mm Trail
- 310mm Twin Disks 4-Piston Calipers
- Tubeless 120/70R17 & 180/55R17 tyres
The Ride – Honda CB650R
Given the flexibility of the E-Clutch system, it is easy to forget that it is connected to a refreshed and updated version of Honda’s beloved 650cc screaming 4-pot engine, housed in a lively and agile chassis.
At six feet tall, I found the footrests marginally on the high side, giving me a compact riding position, whereas Roger, a few inches shorter, found the ergonomics perfect.
That said, I spent all day riding the CB650R on a mixture of country roads, dual carriageways, and through towns without any issues. I would have done it again the next day if Roger hadn’t beaten me to the keys.
The suspension may not be adjustable other than for preload on the rear, but it is well set up, and neither of us had any issues with it. Given that our weight differs by 15-20 lbs (10 kilos), neither of us felt the need to change it.
The head angle is slightly too acute for me, making the front end sensitive to any change mid-corner, but this is also how the CB650R achieves its agility. Rolling the throttle on a tight turn is where it was most pronounced, but it is a minor point.
The Engine
It is an old school, 16-valve, 4-pot, 12,500 RPM red line screamer. Compared to the P-Twin and V-Twins that dominate this capacity range, it can sound like the pistons are about to kiss the valves only to discover you have another 4,000 revs before you reach the red line.
There was a time when engines like this would have all the torque and power hammered into a narrow band high in the rev range. Those days (thankfully) are gone, and the CB650R motor pulls well from 3K, but if you are overtaking, you’ll want to buzz the motor to 5K to get things done efficiently.
Peak power (93BHP) is 12,000 RPM, while peak torque (63Nm) is 9,500 RPM, which accounts for my short shifting. I’d get to around 8K and start to feel the motor was ready for another gear. On the occasions I did hold on for peak power, it felt a long time coming, and another cog would have been the easier answer.
Despite asking for and happily accepting, being run at high RPM, the engine still delivers fuel economy north of 55 miles per imperial gallon.
From one perspective, the engine is “old” technology; the numerous P-Twins on the market produce less power but more torque. From the other point of view, the Honda engine is the result of many years of evolution. With these updates, Honda has refined the motor yet again, but finding ways to improve on a masterpiece will have limited returns.
Bottom Line
The Honda CB650R E-Clutch is arguably the start of the next branch of motorcycling evolution. Subtract the E-Clutch from the CB650R, and you have a very well-refined motorcycle—something highly reliable and arguably at the peak of its evolutionary journey.
Honda’s DCT technology is impressive, but opinions remain divided. While those on board sing its praises, perhaps it isn’t the market-dominating technology that Honda had hoped for. With E-Clutch, Honda has removed the primary objection to DCT – I like changing gear – from the equation while keeping every other benefit.
E-clutch is a frictionless technology (terrible pun). It is there if you want it; if not, it invisibly moves out of your way.
Perhaps Honda is judging the market reaction by integrating the E-Clutch with an engine that will soon be phased out, with the 750 P-Twin in the Hornet and the Transalp taking its place.
If the E-Clutch sells well in its segment, then maybe we’ll see more of it in the 2026 model lineup. DCT isn’t going anywhere, but you have to want the technology to accept the 10 kilos it adds to the engine weight and the change in riding experience.
In comparison, an E-Clutch adds just 2.8 kilos (6 lbs) to a traditional gearbox CB650R, and other than a few comments about the “lump” on the right-hand crankcase cover, the naysayers have little to object to.
Love it or not, Honda is once again pushing motorcycle evolution forward. The CB650R’s E-Clutch system adds £100 to the motorcycles price compared to the traditional gearbox version.
I’m sure it costs more than that to manufacture … Am I right in thinking that at its launch, the DCT Africa Twin cost less than the manual version?
