The amount of negativity towards Honda’s latest E-Clutch technologyfueled by misinformation, is shocking. It’s surrounded by the energy of the South Park episode “They Took Our Jobs!”, but instead of “Jobs,” it says “Clutch.”
I’ll admit it: There is a worldwide constitution for motorcyclists, and one of its amendments states that we are entitled to a clutch lever in front of our left hand and to use it however and whenever we damn well please.
Fortunately, Honda’s e-clutch lets you keep your own. In fact, I felt a little freer with the e-clutch system than I do with most modern bikes that come with quickshifters and auto-blippers. But ever since electronic aids came along, there has been a certain reluctance in the motorcycle community to embrace them – just think back to when ABS and TC came along.
To be clear, the E-Clutch system will not shift gears for you under any circumstances. This system does not turn the bike into an automatic, which seems to be a common misconception. What you can do is shift up and down, come to a complete stop and start moving without touching the clutch lever. So on the open road, you can essentially think of this as a quickshifter – only a little better.
Riders just need to get familiar with E-Clutch to get the most out of it.
On the way
Selecting a gear is smoother than most quickshifters, regardless of the rev limit, because the E-Clutch system uses the clutch to assist in engaging each gear. Put more simply, anyone who has ever used a quickshifter at a less than optimal point of the rev limit or acceleration rate will have felt the judder of a malfunctioning machine.
But the E-Clutch system smooths out these jerky movements by engaging the clutch, keeping everything smooth as butter.
Christopher Jonnum
Christopher Jonnum
Christopher Jonnum
And so, on the open road, I shook off the normal gearshift points that I knew worked well and let myself drift, or rather, go with the flow.
Short-shifting from first to sixth and chugging along wasn’t a problem, nor was the oh-so-rewarding task of revving Honda’s 649cc inline-four and engaging the next gear as you approach the rev limit. But what stood out was how well the e-clutch handled shifting when going high into the rev range but slowly ramping up—a situation where I often get a jerky, disconcerting response when using a quickshifter.
I could feel the clutch working its magic and everything ran smoothly no matter which way I moved forward. You could consider this system the most pleasant quickshifter you have ever seen. It even allows you to downshift when accelerating and upshift when decelerating.
Christopher Jonnum
When it comes to smooth overtaking at relatively high speeds, it cannot be stressed enough how much easier it is to accelerate, downshift at the same time and complete the maneuver without thinking. Then, when you upshift, ease off the throttle and resume your cruising speed. But good roads have an end, and that’s when the E-Clutch comes into its own.
Once it’s time to stop, the e-clutch is activated without any input from the driver, regardless of what gear is engaged. I admit it takes some muscle memory to unlearn, but my god, it made my life easier once I got used to it. Driving through small towns with stop-and-go traffic on the way back, I was physically and mentally exhausted.
It is important to mention here that I could have used the clutch at any time. Pulling the lever disengages the E-Clutch system and gives the driver full control, just like a traditional manual transmission (MT). But I chose not to, and that speaks volumes about the usefulness of this system in my eyes.
On course
I wouldn’t say that the E-Clutch system isn’t suitable for track driving – quite the opposite – but I can say that it gave me the opportunity to experience its limits, albeit not very easily. Before I noticed something I wanted to talk to Honda’s engineers about, I discovered an unexpected benefit – the rewarding rev matching.
Rev-matching when downshifting is one of the simple pleasures of motorcycling that can put a grin on the rider’s face almost unexpectedly. So satisfying, so smooth, and such a feeling of oneness with the machine. Unfortunately, with the advent of bi-directional quickshifters and auto-blippers, I find myself using manual rev-matching less and less.
Of course, on the track I opt for the bike with the auto-blipper so I can focus more on braking marks, body position and all the things that lead to better lap times. But when the day at the track is over and it’s time to head home, I prefer the feeling of flow over that of go. But you can’t have everything… unless you buy a bike equipped with Honda’s E-Clutch.
Christopher Jonnum
Christopher Jonnum
Christopher Jonnum
Although the system doesn’t blip the throttle when downshifting, it has no problem if you do, with or without the clutch lever. And if you don’t manually blip the throttle when downshifting aggressively, the rear tire won’t lock up and you won’t end up skidding because the E-Clutch system uses the clutch to smooth everything out when downshifting. The CBR650R and CB650R already come with slipper clutches, but the way the slipper clutch works with the E-Clutch feels like a next-generation slipper clutch, or as I called it, “a slipper clutch on steroids.”
The only time I noticed it was when I was going too fast when changing gears at the limit.
Christopher Jonnum
I wasn’t trying to break any lap records, but I did want to see how this system handled short gear shifts. After a few attempts to practically skip third gear and go straight into fourth, I realized that the system couldn’t quite keep up. It was similar if I downshifted too quickly. After speaking to one of the Honda engineers, he told me that I needed to wait about 0.4 seconds between my gear shifts.
In detail, counting to tenths of a second is quite difficult, so I simply extended my gear shifts by a hair and that solved the problem.
So is it as good on the track as the latest generation of bi-directional quickshifters? Probably not. Did I notice this when I stopped intentionally making it heavier? No.
You set the conditions
It’s pretty hard to argue against the e-clutch as it doesn’t take anything away, it just adds more. The CBR650R and CB650R cost exactly the same as last year, even with the e-clutch, and the whole system weighs just 2kg more.
When you weigh up what you get and what you give up (nothing), it very quickly becomes a win-win situation. The only area where I could really criticise the system is that it does jerk a little when engaging first gear, but even that almost completely fixed itself as the engine and gearbox warmed up. And if you find this a problem on a cold winter morning, you can operate the clutch manually.
The system will only override your driving if it detects that you are turning off the engine. If you really want the system to turn off your engine itself, turn the system off. However, I don’t see why anyone would want that.
Christopher Jonnum
Christopher Jonnum
Christopher Jonnum
You can use the E-Clutch as you wish and personalize the transmission feel even more to your taste, as you can adjust the pressure sensitivity for upshifting and downshifting as you wish.
Would I trade my bike’s bi-directional quickshifter for this system? Possibly. The only problem is that I tend to ride aggressively and you’re just as likely to find me on the racetrack as on a mountain road. I think the riders who will benefit most from this system are those who commute on their bikes as much or more than they ride through the canyons, and that is perfectly represented by the bikes that have seen the introduction of the E-Clutch.
I am convinced that like the driver assistance systems mentioned in the introduction, the E-Clutch will catch on and be widely accepted by the community, because having an MT on a motorcycle increases the feeling of freedom when riding – you are the controller. But when you combine this MT with the E-Clutch system, you have more freedom, not less.
Luckily, I’ve never had to live in a place where riding between lanes is prohibited, but if that were the case and I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic on a daily basis, I would definitely try a bike with this system. If that’s you, it might be time to give the e-clutch a try.
PS: I can confirm that this is the easiest burnout you will ever do on a motorcycle with a clutch lever.
