Touring on a motorcycle has always been a popular leisure activity. As with everything else, the more popular something gets, the more people want to be involved in it, and naturally, the more luxury they’ll want out of that experience. So the touring motorcycle has evolved from something with enough comfort for a multi-day ride to a luxury product that can cross continents without breaking a sweat or letting you break into one. There are some obvious challenges that bring, though, including sky-high MSRPs.
The Traditional 500-Mile Tourer Is Big, Heavy, And Expensive
BMW K1600 series motorcycles: K 1600 GT, K 1600 GTL, K 1600 B, and K 1600 Grand AmericaBMW Motorrad
A 500-mile day on a motorcycle is much more difficult than it would be in a car. It is no wonder then that the traditional interstate touring motorcycle has morphed into this car-beater with cruise control, enough torque to make a small car proud, and the ability to run at 80 miles an hour all day long with nothing but stops for fuel. However, the start and the end of each journey will almost always be in some sort of urban area, and here is where these tourers struggle. They are too big and heavy to maneuver easily at city speeds. It is impossible to back them up without assistance in a parking lot or a driveway, and they are priced as much as a compact car. This makes them not attainable for a lot of the public.
Rider and passenger on a red 2026 Honda Gold Wing Tour cruising down the roadHonda Powersports
The Gold Wing is a fine example. This is the default choice for a lot of people who want a touring motorcycle in the garage to keep forever. And it is arguably more usable than any other bike in its class due to tech like a DCT, a very low center of gravity, and a reverse gear. However, the full-dress Gold Wing Tour version with the DCT is a $30,000 motorcycle. It is value for money in the context of the segment, but that is not the kind of money that most people have available for a motorcycle. There’s no getting around its behemoth proportions, too.
2026 BMW R 1300 RT front shotBMW
Another more usable tourer is the BMW R 1300 RT. It is intriguing because it brings logic and luxury together. You have the riding position and comfort of a traditional sport tourer, but it also adds its own unique BMW flavor to it, like the wishbone front suspension and boxer engine. Additionally, you can spec it with an automated manual transmission. Yet again, though, you have to pay handsomely for these privileges. There’s barely any difference between the price of an R 1300 RT Automatic and a Gold Wing Tour or a Multistrada V4 Rally. So what do you do if you want these fancy bits without paying dollops of dollars? That’s where Honda’s new crossover comes in.
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The Honda NT1100 DCT Is Affordable And Suitable For 500-Mile Days
Side profile tracking shot of a 2026 Honda NT1100 DCTHonda Powersports
The NT1100 DCT shows how one can have a full-size tourer for mid-size money, and it even makes a good case for it being the ultimate touring motorcycle. Honda does this by intelligently sharing components with other models in its product portfolio, and the result is greater than the sum of its parts. The NT1100 is a very comfortable tourer for rider and pillion with luggage, and the automatic gearbox coupled with the recent addition of the six-axis IMU, means that you do not feel the lack of features or safety even on 500-mile days.
Value Pricing Is Almost Its USP
2025 Honda NT1100 front 3/4 shot with riderHonda
The NT1100 is priced at $11,999 in 2026, after a slight price hike recently. That brings updates, though, such as the six-axis IMU. And you should remember that the six-speed DCT gearbox is standard, unlike the R 1300 RT. If you look at the competition, the fully loaded variants cost more than the NT and have a mid-size bike’s displacement. Thus, the NT1100 is worth every penny.
This Africa Twin-Sourced Engine Is A Model Of Reliability
Accessorized 2025 Honda NT1100 DCT engine close-up detailHonda
The NT1100 is powered by the same engine from the Africa Twin, and it has the same state of tune, making this a very reliable parallel twin touring bike. You get a 270-degree crank angle, a displacement of 1,084 cc, a compression ratio of 10.5:1, and it generates 100 horsepower at 7,500 RPM and 83 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 RPM. Honda has given it its patented Unicam SOHC head, which means that it has four valves per cylinder, but the head occupies less space than you usually would with a DOHC setup. This helps in reducing the height of the engine. Another aspect that helps with reducing this height is the semi-dry sump design.
Dual-Clutch Gearbox Is A Standard Fitment
2025 Honda NT1100 DCT dual clutch transmission close-up detailHonda
The NT1100 is exclusively available with the automatic gearbox in the US market, which is a big part of what makes it capable of doing it all. This is a six-speed unit with a couple of options that make it quite usable in the real world. Leave it in D, and it will shift seamlessly and change the shift points depending on how fast you’re riding. However, if you are sure you’re going to be riding hard, you can choose from three levels of the sportier ‘S’ mode. These upshift much later in the rev range, downshift earlier, and give you more aggressive engine braking. Finally, you can also select gears manually with paddles on the left handlebar, although it doesn’t have a G switch as the Africa Twin does.
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The Steel Frame Pairs Up With Adjustable Showa Suspension
Tracking shot of a 2026 Honda NT1100 DCT being ridden two-upHonda Powersports
The NT1100 shares its chassis with the Africa Twin, which is why it has a double downtube frame. There is a bit of a weight penalty, but this handles it really well and feels like it was built for weekend getaways. Adding to this, the front suspension consists of 43 mm inverted forks; they are Separate Function Forks from Showa. At the rear, a Showa monoshock is present. Preload adjustment is available at both ends, and the rear is hand-adjustable. Both ends have six inches of travel. As for brakes, two 310 mm brake discs with radial four-piston Nissin calipers do duty at the front, and at the rear is a 256 mm disc with a single-piston caliper. Since this is a sport tourer, there are 17-inch alloy wheels with tubeless radial tires.
The Proportions Are Large
The NT1100’s dimensions validate its potential to carry both rider and pillion in comfort. It has a length of 88.1 inches and a width of 34 inches. The wheelbase stands at a pretty long 60.4 inches. The seat is 32.3 inches high, but the astounding figure is the tall 6.9-inch ground clearance. It weighs 547 pounds, ready to ride with the 5.4-gallon fuel tank filled up. This is where the weight penalty of the chassis shows up; the competition is over 60 pounds lighter, but still, this might be the smartest Honda touring bike yet.
A Full Feature Set Confirms Great Value
2025 Honda NT1100 DCT TFT cockpit close-up detailHonda
The NT offers a premium feel without premium problems. What you get is a large 6.5-inch TFT touchscreen display that has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Since it shares this display with the Africa Twin, it has a small LCD screen below for showing speed, the gear selected, and the warning lamps. You also get a manually height-adjustable windscreen, a USB charging socket, heated grips, self-canceling indicators, hard luggage, and the center stand.
2025 Honda NT1100 DCT TFT display close-up detail of the TFTHonda
Coming to rider aids, there is HSTC traction control, wheelie control, rear-wheel lift mitigation, and cornering ABS. Of course, being a tourer, Honda has equipped it with cruise control, too. This was the one place where Honda fell behind the competition a little bit at the price, but the NT1100’s price has not crept up by much even after the addition of the six-axis IMU, meaning there are almost no chinks in its armor anymore.
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No Other Automatic Competition For The NT
Yamaha Motorsports
The usual choice in this price bracket is the Yamaha Tracer 9 because it is the ultimate all-rounder; however, Yamaha has chosen to drop the top-spec variant from the US lineup. That means there is no Y-AMT automatic gearbox, no radar-guided cruise control, or blind-spot monitoring, but you do get a very exciting sport tourer that might be a little too aggressive for calm touring.
Static shot of red BMW F 900 XR with sun setting in backgroundBMW
If you prefer things more European, there is the BMW F 900 XR. It might be overlooked, but it still deserves your money. This sits at the premium end of the middleweight segment, and it will have a lot of the same characteristics as the NT1100 because it shares the same engine layout and firing order as the Honda. However, you do need to dip into the options list to spec it up to the Honda’s level.
Triumph Tiger Spor 800Triumph
There is also the Triumph Tiger Sport 800, which has a very unique feel to it with its inline three-cylinder engine with a traditional firing order, unlike the Yamaha. However, it has a strange instrument cluster with the reverse LCD on top and the tiny TFT display at the bottom for Bluetooth notifications and navigation, so it doesn’t come across quite as premium as the others here. However, one cannot deny that it’s a great motorcycle to ride, as it stays light on its feet at any speed.
Sources: Honda PowerSports
