A few months ago, I had my very first-ever taste of Honda's E-Clutch system when I rode the 2026 Rebel 300 E-Clutch for a day spent seeing some of Los Angeles' most famous sights. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect when I showed up that day.
But over the course of the day, I grew to understand and appreciate what the E-Clutch has to offer, particularly for new riders, as well as riders who might have difficulty with operating a traditional clutch for any reason. As someone who's been riding for 20-ish years, one thing I can tell you from my own experience is that your perspective about what motorcycle features can do, as well as who they're for, will change as you spend more time in the saddle.
The more experiences you have (and the more riders you meet), the more your perspective may naturally change over time. While it's true that not every bike is for every rider, it's also equally true that not every bike (or every feature) has to be for you. But at the same time, just because it's not for you doesn't automatically mean that it's not a really great innovation for someone else. If you can place yourself in someone else's shoes for just half a second, I think we'd all understand each other just a bit better than we do. But I digress, once again!
For 2026, American Honda just announced that it's bringing its E-Clutch system to its middleweight ADV bike, the XL750 Transalp. Now, as a rider who has a relatively small amount of off-road experience under their belt, I do have to say that I wonder how that segment is going to feel about this feature.
Sure, you can shift up and down without manually pulling in or letting out the clutch lever; that's the whole point of the E-Clutch. But when I was training at the BMW ADV Academy, and learning how to control a big ol' R 1300 GS at single-digit speeds, you can bet that I was playing in the friction zone of that clutch all day long in order to try to master my low-speed bike control on the trails.
The Honda E-Clutch is a useful tool for plenty of things, but learning how to effectively use a friction zone isn't one of them.
While one of the strengths of this system, according to Honda, is that you can still use it as a regular clutch if the module gets damaged (say, if you bang up your Transalp E-Clutch while you're off-roading, as just one possible example), it still doesn't really have a friction zone for you to play with. Instead, you pull it in, or you let it out. There's not really any modulation or feathering capability; at least, there wasn't when I rode a bike equipped with it.
Will the E-Clutch prove popular with adventure riders? That remains to be seen; it's a bit of a different ask than road riding, so how real-world riders will feel about it is unclear at this point.
E-Clutch Might Be The Headline, But It's Not The Only Newness
In addition to the E-Clutch on the 2026 XL750 Transalp, the bike also gets a new aluminum skid plate, as well as a fully adjustable front and rear suspension. That's definitely not nothing, especially in a time where everyone is looking to get both as much value and as much joy as possible out of whatever it is that we're spending our hard-earned money on these days.
Which brings me to my next point: Just exactly how much hard-earned money are we talking for all this new newness in the Honda camp? There's more good news here, as well. You might suspect a significant price jump when you add something like a fully adjustable suspension to a bike that didn't have it before, to say nothing of that new aluminum skid plate. While it's true that Honda's E-Clutch upgrades have so far not significantly upped motorcycle prices, those two other upgrades almost always tend to do so.
You can rest easy in terms of pricing for the 2026 Honda XL750 Transalp, though. The base MSRP is US $10,199, which is exactly $200 more than the cost of the 2025 XL750 Transalp that had no adjustable suspension, aluminum skid plate, or E-Clutch.
At the same time, if you absolutely hate the idea of the E-Clutch and you want to cling to your standard transmission with every ounce of your strength, you can still pick up a 2025 Transalp through Honda dealerships until they're gone. Just be aware that if you visit the American Honda website, there is no longer a non-E-Clutch version of the Transalp listed for 2026.
