I only rode the CB500X, and the NC 700X, which has the same drive train as my CTX 700. Suspension and seat were my only nit picks with both bikes. I was impressed with the power and agility of the little 500, but it's got a one hour seat. The rebound damping sucks, and I'll bet it will beat you to death. So, you'll spend more on those two items, if you plan to be satisfied with this bike. The NC700X was also disappointing to me for exactly the same reasons. Honda is hurting themselves, especially with experienced riders, by using such bargain basement components. I have put longer spacers in the forks of my CTX, both to stiffen and to raise the front end a little. The new dog bones I made for the rear raised it up to match the front. I don't know how my suspension differs from the NC 700, but it is superior in every way, offering better feed back, and a more compliant ride. The CTX averaged 60 to 65 mpg with everything but the kitchen sink in the bags and top case. That improved to 68 to 70 with just the top case. I had no problem cruising Int. 64 at 80 when fully loaded on the way home. Huge horsepower is somewhat overrated, in my humble opinion. Syd
I test rode the NC700X, a CB500X, the Africa Twin, and the VFR1200X. Part of my personal definition of performance is good fuel economy, so I was watching the mpg indicator on the dash of each bike along with everything else. I tend to accelerate pretty gently although I eventually get up to a decent speed.
The 500 started my ride indicating 66.7 mpg, but was over 67 by the end of my ride. I'd venture a guess that you could average 75 mpg pretty easily with a reasonable throttle hand. You might have to do a little tap dancing on the shifter of this bike, but its torque surprised me. It would pull away in a fairly high gear from pretty low rpms. It's a lightweight bike and has the fit and finish of one commiserate of a bike in this price range.
The 700 was the DCT version. I guess if you had one of these and rode it along with shifting bikes you'd get better at making the adjustments, but I was still reaching for the clutch and pressing the non-existent shift lever at the end of my test ride. There is plenty of torque in this low rpm engine. The DCT always shifted well below the rev limiter. One of the guys I know back home had a non-DCT NC700, and he said he was always banging into the red line.
The Africa Twin was really nice and I liked it a lot. The 3-level-plus-off traction control switch was on the left handgrip and could be changed on the fly. Easy peasy. My ride included a few miles on dirt/gravel roads, and I could easily feel the traction control kicking in when set on the most intrusive level. But even on the loose stuff, I never noticed any big change when on a less intrusive setting. ABS to the rear wheel can be disabled on the fly, but not the front wheel (seems reasonable to me, but some more aggressive riders might wish otherwise). Did I say I liked it? I did.
Oh, the VFR1200X was a big heavy tall thing with a beyond touchy throttle. Massive grunt from the engine, but overall, this bike just isn't for me. I'm not the target demographic, but I can't imagine much of anyone shelling out the bucks for this bike.
