00:00We're here in Georgia for Honda's e-clutch experience. The bike that this e-clutch has
00:04just come out on is the CBR650R and the CB650R. This whole experience is really about just the
00:12clutch here. And you may ask yourself, what is the e-clutch? Well, it's a new clutch that's
00:16automatically controlled with two servo motors, which is very different than DCT. The purpose
00:22here is not to do the same thing as a DCT. This is not an automatic transmission. This is nothing
00:27like it at all. It's really just an evolution of the manual clutch. It does have some of those
00:33benefits that a DCT transmission has, but let's just talk about what this does and what it doesn't.
00:39Unlike a DCT, this thing just basically acts as a quick shifter once you get rolling. But when you
00:44are stopped and you put it in gear for the first time, you can take away just like an automatic
00:48bike and roll away with no clutch at all. From that point on, it just turns into basically a
00:54quick shifter, but you've still got to go through the same process just as if it was a manual
00:58transmission. If you're coming up to a stop and you're in fourth, fifth, sixth gear, you've got
01:02to downshift through the gears just like you normally would. That's one of the big differences
01:06compared to DCT. On a DCT bike, if you're in sixth gear and you're slowing down, the bike's going to
01:12start downshifting for you and going through the gear. So this morning, we spent some time on the
01:16racetrack at Atlanta Motorsport Park, which was a really interesting place to check this out for
01:22the first time because on the racetrack, the bike really just feels like it's got a quick shifter.
01:26Once you leave the pit lane, everything just seems completely conventional. Nothing seems
01:30out of place at all. You're doing up and down shifts just as if you had a quick shifter. And
01:35so you don't really think about it. On the track, everything worked really well. The timing's really
01:40good. You settle into a groove and you just ride the bike and you don't think about it at all. You
01:45just kind of get used to it. And it's very what you're used to, just riding on a track on a sport
01:50bike. Then later on today, we went on a street ride and this is where you've got to make your
01:54brain think properly because you come up to the stoplight and you're so used to grabbing the
01:58clutch or not grabbing the clutch or doing your traditional things that you have to think
02:03it through. So taking off for the first time, just got to make your hand not touch the clutch,
02:08have it in first gear, pull away, and then you start shifting through the gears and everything
02:13seems conventional again. It does do a couple of things that'll remind you that you're on a
02:18manual transmission bike. If you're in too high of a gear and you start coming into a super slow
02:23corner or coming to a stop, it'll start giving you a warning on the dash telling you that you
02:27need to downshift so that it won't stall if you get caught in that taller gear. After 20, 30 minutes,
02:33you really forget about it being different. And the only thing that really stands out is when
02:38you're leaving that first time is just remembering that you can pull away without the clutch. Other
02:44than that, I would say that this bike is going to help people who want to learn to ride for the
02:51first time. I think it's going to give them a little bit of an advantage or a little bit of
02:54confidence to do that and then it's completely conventional. Whereas I think on a DCT, it's such
03:00an automated process that you can use the paddles and shift through the gears like you normally
03:06would in a car with paddle shifts or you can put it in fully automatic mode and just twist and go.
03:12So there are two totally different philosophies on what this is and I think what Honda's trying
03:17to do with this bike, with the e-clutch, is just to develop a bike that is a refined version of
03:23a manual clutch that has some advantages like a DCT has without going that whole step and making
03:30a DCT which weighs about 20 pounds more, costs a lot more, whereas this is maybe four pounds more
03:36than a conventional setup. I think that's where Honda's going with this and it really opens the
03:40door for future things as well because this is such an easy thing to add to any bike that they
03:45could put this on an adventure bike, they could put it on a full-on sport bike, they could put it on
03:49all sorts of things, whereas I think the DCT is really focused on touring bikes and the Africa
03:54Twin and things that you're going to do like that, the Goldwing. It's a very interesting thing and
03:59we had a good day today and I think it functioned really well and I'm curious to to get back home
04:05and test one and live with it on a regular basis and develop the thoughts on it more, so leave it at that.
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