Sport-touring motorcycles are pretty cool as they bridge the gap between sportbikes and long-distance tourers. Like their adventure-touring cousins, sport-tourers are a one-bike solution for folks who, for whatever reason, need to just have one bike—or heck, just like the look and feel of a sporty machine that can gobble up the miles.
And while sport-tourers generally make use of sportbikes as their base platforms—think Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX and Suzuki GSX-S1000GT—there are quite a few that are making use of ADV platforms instead.
Case in point: the Honda NT1100, Honda’s liter-class sport-tourer, which unfortunately up to this day, the US market has yet to receive. Since hitting the global market in 2022, the NT1100’s availability has been restricted mainly to Europe, and quite frankly, it’s a damn shame.
In case you weren’t aware, the NT1100 is powered by the same engine used in Honda’s flagship adventure bike, the Africa Twin. It’s a 1,084cc parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree crank—an engine whose character I’d liken to a beefier CP2, one of my all-time favorite motorcycle engines. And by character, I mean punchy torque, smooth and linear throttle control, and of course, bulletproof reliability.
Now, the NT1100 is due for an update for the 2025 model-year, with minor tweaks being done to the engine, presumably to comply with revised emissions standards. According to Honda, the engine’s compression ratio has been increased to 10.5:1 from 10.1:1, and the intake system, injector angles, and ECU mapping have all been tweaked. The result is around 7 percent more low- and mid-range torque, without any loss of peak power, at least according to Honda.
Of course, no modern-day sport-tourer is complete without all the fancy electronics and gizmos we don’t really need. And so the NT1100 gets multiple ride modes and an IMU-governed ABS and traction control system. Oh, did I mention that the IMU now also controls the transmission, too? At least for the DCT-equipped variants.
That’s right, the NT1100’s IMU is now linked to the DCT, with the auto-shifting feature optimized for cornering. Presumably, this means that the bike will hold gears for longer when taking corners, providing the rider with additional control and leveraging some of that additional torque from the revised engine tuning.
Apart from the updates to the engine and electronics, Honda has also introduced a new upmarket variant of the NT1100 that features electronically adjustable suspension. It makes use of the Showa Electronically Equipped Ride Adjustment (Showa-EERA) system, which optimizes damping depending on riding conditions. It also allows the rider to adjust rear spring preload on the fly—handy for carrying a passenger and some luggage.
As cool as the new NT1100’s updates may be, none of that really matters for folks in the US as this thing doesn’t seem to be making its way stateside anytime soon. Honda’s reasoning for keeping the NT1100 away from the US isn’t certain, but I’m willing to bet that this thing would be quite the hit if ever it were to debut stateside.
There’s been an uptick in the number of people taking up motorcycling as either a hobby or as a primary means of mobility, and quite frankly, the liter-class sport-touring segment could use a bit more variety. The NT1100 seems like the ideal machine for someone looking to ride cross country on the weekends, all while having a bike that’s nimble and tractable enough for moderate city duty.
But don’t just take my word for it, it’s clear that there’s a market for the NT1100 in the US, just check out this Reddit thread with folks longing for this bike to debut stateside. So maybe if we ask them nicely, American Honda will consider bringing the updated NT1100 to the US.
