Honda’s NT1100 DCT: The Touring Motorcycle That Finally Gets It

The 2025 Honda NT1100 DCT strips touring back to what matters: comfort, reliability, and pure riding freedom — without the unnecessary bulk.

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Touring motorcycles are supposed to be about freedom — the open road, the endless horizon, the bike that becomes your second home. But somewhere along the way, the industry forgot that freedom doesn’t have to come with 900 pounds of weight, 20+ buttons to memorize, or insurance premiums the size of mortgage payments.

Instead of dialing things back, every new model kept piling it on — more screens, more features, more “just in case you ever decide to ride across Siberia” options — even though most riders barely get a long weekend off. The dream got bloated. The bikes did too.

Leave it to Honda to step back and ask the question nobody else dared: What if a touring bike just gave you exactly what you need — and nothing you don’t?

Meet the 2025 Honda NT1100 DCT. It’s not a spaceship on wheels. It doesn’t promise the moon. What it promises is something rarer: a touring motorcycle that makes sense.

Honda knows how to build extravagance — the Gold Wing is living proof. But practicality has always been part of their DNA, and the NT1100 is a return to that original magic. It offers enough comfort, enough tech, enough power — without dragging a hotel suite behind you. It’s designed not for Instagram brags or hypothetical globe-trotting but for riders who actually put miles down, week after week, year after year.

Powered by the same relaxed 1,084 cc parallel twin from the Africa Twin (and the Rebel 1100), the NT1100 delivers around 100 horsepower and 82 lb-ft of torque — numbers that sound modest until you realize how easy it makes real-world riding. Throttle-by-wire brings cruise control and ride modes, but doesn’t drown you in settings you’ll never use. The engine’s paired with Honda’s familiar Dual Clutch Transmission, and no, you can’t get it with a manual. That’s not a mistake — it’s a commitment to making touring less work and more ride.

The NT1100 also shares its frame roots with the Africa Twin, tweaked for road manners rather than dirt. It’s nimble when it needs to be, steady when it counts, and tough enough to haul a passenger and luggage without feeling like you’re piloting a yacht.

Suspension? Good. Brakes? Better. Weight? A very reasonable 547 pounds wet — manageable even after a long day’s ride.

Inside the cockpit, Honda’s blend of new-school and old-school continues. There’s a 6.5-inch touchscreen for your Android Auto or Apple CarPlay dreams, and right beneath it, a simple LCD for when tech inevitably decides to glitch out. It’s a smart design, born from a company that’s built bikes for people who actually live with them.

Now, could you spend more? Absolutely. The Kawasaki Versys 1100 SE LT and the Suzuki GSX-S1000GX+ are faster and fancier — and way more expensive. You could even look at Yamaha’s Tracer 9, lighter and rowdier in spirit, but not really built for the grind of serious touring anymore.

For $11,899, the NT1100 DCT isn’t trying to win spec-sheet wars. It’s trying to win your heart at 500 miles a day.

Honda understands something the rest of the touring world forgot: Freedom isn’t about having everything. Freedom is about having exactly what you need and nothing holding you back.

In 2025, no touring bike nails that better than the Honda NT1100.