Honda’s City Adventure concept bike made its debut at last year’s EICMA show in Milan and got relatively little attention – but it turns out that far from being a mere concept it’s actually heading for production soon.
These pictures show what the finished version will look like. The City Adventure – which may be called the ‘ADV’ or ‘X-ADV’ when it reaches showrooms – is based on the NC750. It shares the same 40kW parallel twin engine, dual-clutch, semi-automatic transmission and steel frame as the NC range, which already stretches from the adventure-style NC750X to the Integra scooter. The City Adventure is a combination of the two; an adventure-styled scooter with a hefty dose of touring ability.
It’s a strange combination but it actually looks like it could make sense as a practical, do-everything commuter bike.
The bike is set to reach production with relatively few alterations, and far from watering-down the concept the few changes that have been made actually improve its specification. The brakes, for instance, were normal four-pots on the concept, but change to radial-mounted versions for production. The exhaust pipe, which you might have expected to grow larger thanks to the demands of emissions rules, has actually shrunk. There are also new hand guards and slight changes to some parts of the bodywork, made more for ease of production than to alter the appearance.
The wire wheels are more radical-looking than the concept’s, too. The spokes on the final version go right to the edges of the rims. The hand-guards are also new.
The screen is clearly electrically-adjustable and unlike most versions of the NC750, the swingarm is cast aluminium. This is clearly going to be the most expensive model in the NC range, at least for the moment.
