Honda NT1100 (2025) – Review

Technical Review: Ben Purvis (1/10/24)
Riding Review: Martin Fitz-Gibbons (28/2/25)

Since hitting the market in 2022 Honda’s Africa Twin-derived NT1100 has become Europe’s most popular sports-tourer – topping the charts in 2023 and earning a set of noteworthy upgrades for 2025 including the introduction of a new NT1100 Electronic Suspension variant with Showa’s semi-active forks and shock.

To build a straight-up sports-tourer on the basis of a dedicated adventure model like the Africa Twin might seem an odd direction to take, but the combination of the AT’s compact, lightweight steel chassis, punchy parallel twin and of course the optional dual-clutch transmission that pre-empted the recent rush to semi-autos from rival companies turned out to be ideal for the NT1100. The 2025 upgrades reflect the bike’s popularity and demands from customers: adding more luxury and tech, coming up to date with the latest emissions rules, and tweaking the styling while leaving the foundations of the NT’s successful formula unchanged.

Pros & Cons

Honda NT1100 vs Kawasaki Ninja 1100 vs Suzuki GSX-S1000GT

Join us as we compare the 2025 Honda NT1100 D ES and Kawasaki Ninja 1100 SX SE against the more established Suzuki GSX-S1000GT. We dive into price, performance, engine characteristics, comfort (including pillion), economy, and much more!

2025 Honda NT1100 - Prices

Despite the updates for 2025 the standard NT1100 has no price increase from the 2024 version – remaining at £12,679 in base form, with DCT adding £1000 to that figure.

That puts it slap into the middle of a competitive sports-touring class that includes the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT, the Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX and Yamaha Tracer 9, all with more cylinders and more performance than the Honda. But sales success can’t be argued with, and Honda claims the NT1100 outsold all other sports tourers throughout Europe in 2023, suggesting – probably correctly – that riders in this category are swayed by much more than mere speed.

Part of that appeal is the optional dual-clutch, semi-auto transmission. In the UK, sales are pretty evenly split between the DCT and the manual version, but none of Honda’s rivals have had a semi-auto option. That’s likely to change soon, with the 2025 Tracer 9 about to be offered with the Y-AMT gearbox that’s already debuted on the closely-related MT-09, so Honda can’t afford to rest on its laurels. BMW’s similar semi-auto is also predicted to be adopted across more models in future, including replacements for the R1250RS and R1250RT that might be considered rivals to the NT1100.

New for 2025 is the NT1100 DCT with Electronic Suspension, bringing fully-adjustable semi-active Showa forks and shock to the party. At £14,099 it might be the most expensive of the NT1100s, but it means the suspension upgrade only carries a £420 premium over the non-active DCT bike.

2025 Honda NT1100 - Engine & Performance

The essence of the NT1100’s 1084cc, 270-degree parallel twin is unchanged going into 2025 but the introduction of new Euro5+ emissions regulations – which don’t make limits stricter but do add a requirement for emissions equipment to be monitored and to perform over an extended period of the bike’s lifespan – means upgrades have been made.

While the result for some engines is a reduction in performance, the opposite is true of the NT1100. With just over 100hp from 1084cc, the bike’s Africa Twin-derived engine isn’t highly stressed, making it relatively easy to claw back any losses that emissions rules introduce. Honda has upped the compression ratio from 10.1:1 to 10.5:1, added larger-diameter air intake ducts – 33mm instead of 25mm – and 65mm longer intake trumpets inside the airbox. A new oxygen sensor in the exhaust after the catalyst meets the Euro5+ rules about monitoring its performance, and misfire detection, also a Euro5+ requirement, is added.

The result is no change in the peak power, which remains 100.6bhp (75kW) and still peaks at 7500rpm, but torque rises from 77.7lb·ft (104Nm) to 82.6lb·ft (112Nm). Peak torque also now comes even lower in the revs, at just 5500rpm, so you don’t have to work the engine any harder to access the increased grunt.

Another notable change comes on the electronics side of the powertrain, with the adoption – not before time – of a six-axis IMU that oversees the power output and engine braking as well as the HSTC traction control, wheelie control and ABS. The closely-related Africa Twin has had this kit for a while, so porting it across to the NT1100 is a logical move and adds an extra layer of peace of mind.

The IMU also ties into the DCT transmission, if you opt for the semi-auto version, to help time shifts better than before. The DCT itself has been reengineered to work better at low speed, particularly under 10km/h (6mph), with a revised clutch control system, while the shift points are reprogrammed to suit the updated engine’s increased mid-range. Honda says it holds gears longer while braking and cooperates with the IMU to work out when you’re cornering.

As before, there are six speeds with fully-auto and semi-auto settings, the latter allowing manual shifts via bar-mounted controls. In auto, you can choose between ‘D’ – for best fuel consumption and smoothness – and three levels of the ‘S’ sport mode, which holds gears longer for more revs and performance.

Traditionalists, or buyers who want to save £1000, can still opt for the conventional six-speed manual, with bar-mounted clutch lever and foot-operated shifter, and do all that stuff themselves, of course.

Riding impressions

On the road, the NT’s motor feels much the same as before: easy, flexible and well-mannered, presenting its performance on a silver platter ready for you to access whenever you like. It’s low-effort and low-revving, thrumming away gently with a polite V-twin-ish exhaust note (courtesy of the 270-degree crank), and never threatens to coerce you into doing anything daft. The redline is marked at just 8000rpm, while a midrange-rich delivery means you naturally find yourself riding around in high gears down around 4000rpm. It’s a sensible and useful motor, with a sensible and useful amount of speed, served up in a sensible and useful way.

Honda claim a sizeable increase in peak torque (up almost 8%) for 2025, but you’d need to ride the old and new bikes back-to-back to tell whether it really feels any peppier. Tested in isolation, the new NT1100 doesn’t stand out as suddenly feeling like it’s packing a heap more firepower. The positive spin on this would be to say that Honda has successfully made the NT1100 Euro5+ compliant without sacrificing performance or manners. Same excellent fuelling, same minimal vibration, same refined and mature nature.

Our test bike was the DCT version, complete with the same super-smooth gearshifts the system is well-known for. Automatic modes remain your choice of low-revving, fast-changing default D, which gobbles through gears so eagerly you’re often in fifth by 30mph; or three flavours of a sportier S setting, which holds gears for longer and keeps revs higher, feeling more natural. As ever you can temporarily knock up or down the box using finger triggers on the left handlebar, while control freaks can still opt for a full Manual mode to prevent the bike shifting by itself.

The DCT’s more intelligent shifting logic and IMU input has improved the experience subtly, but some BikeSocial testers still occasionally found it changed gear at unexpected or inconvenient moments. Overall, it’s an iterative improvement, but DCT remains a divisive system. Some riders adore its ease, smoothness and convenience, while others will accept nothing less than a familiar manual transmission. Fair enough – both options are available on the NT1100.

2025 Honda NT1100 - Handling & Suspension (inc. Weight)

The new IMU is again a key element of the upgrades to the handling for 2025 – enabling cornering traction control and ABS for the first time on the NT1100, as well as rear lift control. For the standard bike, that’s the extent of the changes as it retains the same Showa 43mm forks, adjustable only for preload, and similarly-adjustable Showa monoshock at the rear.

When we originally tasted the NT1100 that lack of adjustability was a niggle, but it’s solved for 2025 with the new NT1100 Electronic Suspension model, which doesn’t just bring damping adjustment to the party but does it electronically and semi-actively, responding to bumps and changes in speed on the fly.

It’s the Showa EERA (Electronically Equipped Ride Adjustment) system that, like the IMU, appeared previously on the Africa Twin, and that IMU is one of the keys to its operation, along with a fork stroke sensor and speed sensor. Between them they allow the suspension to react and adjust compression or rebound damping in as little as 15 milliseconds. EERA also lets you adjust the rear preload on the move, with 24 steps to give a granular level of control over the system, and has three pre-defined modes – Urban, Tour and Rain – plus a user-defined mode that lets you set up your own choice of damping and preload settings.

The one proviso is that the NT1100 Electronic Suspension can, currently, only be specified with DCT. You can’t have a manual transmission and the high-end suspension.

Which spec you choose has a significant impact on weight. The base, manual bike comes in at 238kg, while DCT adds a full 10kg to the mass, bringing it to 248kg. The Electronic Suspension model is another kilo heavier, and since it’s on DCT only, weighs in at 249kg ready to ride. Panniers add another 12kg to each machine.

Other than the new cornering ABS electronics, the brakes are unchanged, with the same 310mm discs and four-pot radial calipers at the front, allied to a 256mm disc and one-piston caliper at the back.

While the frame is, like the engine, borrowed from the Africa Twin, the NT1100’s use of 17-inch wheels at each end, plus its own dedicated suspension setup, brings quite different geometry, with a 26.5-degree rake and 108mm of trail.

Riding impressions

Two words that spring to mind when summing up the NT1100’s chassis are ‘relaxed’ and ‘stable’. To be clear, that’s not a snarky euphemism for lazy or heavy-steering, and there’s never any sense of it being cumbersome, wayward or ungainly. It rolls from side to side easily and confidently, with a superb connection to the road through quality Metzeler Roadtec 01 SE tyres. They’re all characteristics that a level-headed rider can appreciate when pootling along at a steady, flowing pace. Handily, they also happen to be useful when you want to turn the wick up – and the NT can definitely be encouraged into boogieing along at a decent lick.

Our test bike featured the new-for-2025 semi-active suspension, which proves to be generally pretty impressive in its action, if slightly faffy in its interaction. What does that mean? While it’s nice to ride on, it’s less nice to fiddle about with the settings. Bump absorption is great – our test route took us along some hideously rough roads through Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, and the NT rode them all impressively. On the same roads at the same speed, other less-sophisticated sports-touring rivals would fire their rider out of the seat.

On smoother, faster roads the chassis control is solid too, with no excessive dive through the fork travel on the brakes, no wallowy pitching backwards when driving hard, and only a hint of bounciness and handlebar jiggle when pushing things along very briskly indeed. The suspension keeps it cool, steering stays nice and precise, and everyone’s happy.

Rear preload can be set to one of four modes: solo; solo with luggage; two-up; two-up with luggage. You can even change this setting while riding, though I’m not sure how useful that is in practice, given you rarely find yourself adding or losing pillions and luggage on the move.

What you can’t do is change the damping while riding, at least not in isolation. For example, on a modern BMW the push of a single button swaps between softer ‘Road’ and firmer ‘Dynamic’ damping. It’s a handy feature: when the road surface changes, you can react by prioritising plushness or poise. On the NT1100, the best you can do is change the overall riding mode – Tour gives Hard damping, Urban has Medium damping and Rain uses Soft damping – but this also changes power delivery and engine braking. You can’t just change suspension damping on its own mid-ride.

Conversely, there’s then a baffling wealth of options when you dig into the menus at a standstill. If anything, there’s too much choice. In the two custom User modes you can alter the preload for each of the four load scenarios through 24 (yes, twenty-four) settings. You can adjust the suspension’s overall damping (three levels), then further alter the front and rear damping rates independently (another three levels for each). If you enjoy this kind of detailed tinkering, this will be brilliant news. If you don’t, it’s very involved. More choice while riding, and less choice while stopped, would be a welcome trade-off.

2025 Honda NT1100 - Comfort & Economy

While the NT1100 Electronic Suspension’s semi-active kit will make the biggest contribution to added comfort in the 2025 model year, there are other upgrades across both the Electronic Suspension and the standard NT1100 that promise improvement over the previous model.

The seat is redesigned, for a start, with 20% more area in the rear part of the rider’s section but remains narrow at the front so it’s no harder to reach the ground. Its height is unchanged at 820mm, which might still be a bit high for shorter riders.

The windscreen is new for 2025, too, with a redesigned adjustment mechanism that allows one-handed control while seated on the bike, where previously it was a two-handed job. There are five steps of movement, changing the height and angle of the screen across a range of 167mm, and it’s aided by upper and lower wind deflectors.

Less obviously, the front mudguard is 150mm longer than before, with a new splash extension to help keep water and mud away from the rider and the fairing.

Economy, at a claimed 56.5mpg, is pretty much as expected, and a fraction better than the results from the similarly-powered but less aerodynamic Africa Twin. Coupled with a 20.4 litre tank, the theoretical range is just whisker under 300 miles.

Riding impressions

The NT1100 is a delightfully relaxed place to spend time. The new seat is wide, deep and plushly padded, while the unchanged riding triangle remains spacious, upright and well balanced between wrists, bum and feet. For a 5ft 9in rider the seat height and stepover feels totally manageable, though shorter riders might want to note that there’s no seat-height adjustment or snazzy suspension lowering system.

The restyled bodywork remains broad, giving good protection, and in general the tall screen works in combination with a pair of wind deflectors to keeps the rider’s head, shoulders and hands pretty well-shielded.

I say ‘in general’ because there is a notable exception. When the adjustable screen is raised to the highest of its five positions, the turbulence it generates is unbearable. This isn’t an isolated case either – multiple riders trying this bike had the same result. Thankfully, the solution is simple: drop the screen down to the middle of its range and the resulting thumping roar instantly vanishes. The screen-height adjustment system is claimed to be ‘one-handed’, but in practice it’s extremely awkward to operate while riding.

Fuel economy over our full day of road testing averaged out to a measured 48mpg, though it’s probably best to think of that as a worst case scenario. Previous evidence of this engine suggests that in more restrained use the NT averages mid-50s per gallon as Honda claims.

The 20.4-litre fuel tank is represented on the dash by a 9-bar fuel gauge, and when the last segment starts flashing that means just three litres are left. That means you should get 180 to 210 miles from brimmed to reserve, leaving a further 30-odd miles up your sleeve.

2025 Honda NT1100 - Equipment

While not a radical change, the fairing is redesigned for the 2025 model year and now incorporates new LED projector headlights with indicators that are built into the DRLs – a feature that Honda has also introduced on the new X-ADV this year, mirroring tech used in cars but a first on two wheels.

Also following on from the X-ADV, parts of the new fairing are made from Durabio, a biodegradable plastic that’s made using plant-derived isosorbide. As well as a slimmer nose, the redesign includes a new tail section that’s sleeker than before.

The panniers – an option, but one that most riders are sure to select – have been given 25mm deeper lids for 2025, resulting in a useful eight-litre increase of capacity with the 37 litres on the left and 36 litres on the right, each four litres larger than before.

A new lithium-ion battery is used, saving 2.5kg compared to the previous lead-acid version, but the overall weight of the bike is unchanged.

Elsewhere, the equipment matches the previous version, with a 6.5in TFT dash and connectivity via Bluetooth including Apple Carplay and Android Auto.

Optional extras include a quickshifter and auto-blipper for the manual model, in case you want some of the convenience of the DCT without going the whole hog, and some new visual options including two decorative sticker kits and aluminium cosmetic panels for the luggage. Buyers can also choose between two options packs to extend the bike’s abilities. The Urban pack adds a 50-litre top case, colour-matched to the bike, and an alarm, while the Voyage pack includes the top case, a 4.5-litre tank bag, ‘comfort’ seats for both rider and pillion, ‘comfort’ pillion footrests, and fog lights.

Riding impressions

Our NT1100 test bike came in flagship spec, complete with DCT and electronic suspension. This version also comes with panniers, centrestand, heated grips and cruise control all included, as well as a 12-volt accessory socket to the left of the dash, and a USB power socket to the right. All in all, it fells a pretty comprehensive spec for its £14,099.

The enlarged panniers are now a decent size, and each side can now contain a full-face flip-front helmet (yes, we checked). It’s easy to pull the bike up on to its centrestand, despite a total weight of over 260kg with the fuel tank brimmed and panniers fitted. The lithium battery is a little awkward to access – it’s not under the seat as you’d expect, but tucked away on the left of the bike, behind a plastic storage box which needs removing. Given the location, it’s probably worth fitting a lead to make plugging it in to a (lithium-compatible) battery charger more convenient.

The TFT display is large and bright, offering multiple different layouts depending on how busy or clean you like it to look. Our main bugbear in use is that the dash isn’t very obvious or intuitive to navigate. There’s a wealth of buttons between the two switchgear clusters, and the dash also offers some touchscreen functionality – and yet it’s still hard work to figure out how to use it all. Perhaps long-term ownership would make things easier, but on first impressions it’s not at all obvious.

Using the heated grips is a perfect example of the convoluted interface. There isn’t a simple ‘heated grips’ button; instead you first press a ‘Function’ button with your right forefinger, then use your left forefinger to toggle the heat level up and down via a separate two-way switch on the opposite cluster. The cruise control buttons are slightly awkwardly placed on the right handlebar, requiring an unusually long thumb to reach without having to release your grip on the throttle.

2025 Honda NT1100 - Rivals

The NT1100 is facing an increasingly strong set of rivals, and the competition got even fiercer in 2025 with updated machines from Kawasaki – in the form of a larger-engined Ninja 1100 SX – and Yamaha, which adopts its new Y-AMT auto transmission as an option on the Tracer 9 GT (though mandatory on the GT+ model).

Kawaski Ninja 1100 SX SE (2025) | Price: £13,999

Read more

Power/Torque

134.1bhp / 83.3lb-ft

Weight

234kg

Yamaha Tracer 9 GT (2025) | Price: £14,350

Read more

Power/Torque

117.4bhp / 69lb-ft

Weight

231kg

Suzuki GSX-S1000GT (2024) | Price: £12,899

Read more

Power/Torque

149.9bhp / 78.2lb-ft

Weight

226kg

2025 Honda NT1100 -Verdict

Honda’s NT1100 is a wise old owl of a bike. It isn’t the jazziest or flashiest, but it’s a solid, trustworthy, versatile, approachable and capable all-rounder. As a sports-tourer it’s very clearly more tourer than sports, but it seems unfair to simply label it a ‘tourer’ given it’s so much lighter and more manageable than a full-blown, big-boned mile-muncher.

All of this was true of the original back in 2022 of course, so how much changed for 2025? To ride, the biggest practical change is the addition of semi-active suspension, which does offer a step up in ride and handling over the fairly basic kit on the standard bike. However, if you want semi-active springs, you have to also have DCT – you can’t have electronic suspension on a manual NT1100. And while DCT is the best it’s ever been, more refined, more intelligent and more natural than ever, it still won’t be to all riders’ tastes.

Dynamically, the NT1100 remains a fantastic tool for covering distance with minimal fuss. It excels at just getting you places minus the drama – in comfort, on time, without having to stop for fuel too often. It’s a bike for all occasions, comfortable and solid on a motorway, nimble through city-centre congestion, spritely and unflustered on a bumpy backroad. The flip-side is that the NT’s relaxed, mature demeanour means it probably won’t laser-engrave spectacular moments on your memory while it’s doing any of it.

Our only real gripe is with some aspects of user interface: the over-complicated switchgear; a slightly cluttered dash layout in Tour mode; the labyrinthine menus and submenus. No doubt it all makes perfect sense to the team of software engineers who designed it, but it could definitely be simplified with more thought given to ease of use for the rider.

Still, much of this was true with the previous bike – and none of that held it back from selling by the bucketload right across Europe. No doubt the 2025 NT1100 will continue to do the same.

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2025 Honda NT1100 - Technical Specification

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