New ride

[cbfan_imp]

Being the old fart that I am a little arthritis is starting to show up in my left hand, so using a clutch can be a bit uncomfortable. For this reason I decided a clutchless bike would be wise (not that I'm giving up other bikes). I have owned 2 Burgman's (400&650) and was going to get a third but my dealer had none in stock...............so the NM4 came to mind. I won't give you technical details as that info can be found on Honda website. First, its expensive but the dealer did give me a Black Friday deal. Accessories are expensive but I bought tall windshield, luggage rack and panel(aft panel must be cutout for rack mounting) from Webike in Japan and got a good deal. Its a very comfy bike the back rest can be moved fore and aft several inches and lean angle has several angles. The seat sits you very low on the bike and with floorboards gives your legs several options. I'm 5'8" and reach to handlebars good, I only have about 350 miles on the bike and I'm still messing with seat positions and angles for best comfort. Storage suxs! The panniers can't even hold a decent six pack. The storage compartments in the forward fairing aren't any better, left side has accessory socket and a cell phone can barely fit, right side is bigger and deeper gloves and ball cap fit nicely. For this reason I mounted Top Box. Starting and getting on the move is easy, after engine start (there is a neutral mode and its best to shut down in neutral, they say if not the battery takes a hit on start) select drive mode, Drive or Sport and Auto or Manual. In Drive tranny shifts at very low RPM's and kinda feels like the engine is loading up (but not), 6th gear in D comes in about 40 mph and S doesn't shift to 6th until 60 mph. I have gone through 2 tanks of gas and average MPG is 65-67. I haven't messed with Manual tranny, see no need with the peppy Sports mode. The tall windshield is a big improvement over stock, keeps air noise down in helmet (I shimmed it a more vertical position for better coverage). The last 2 days weather was great in Texas Hill country and did about 300 miles of riding..............the ride is fun! It handles nicely in the Twisties. Not to crazy about mirror position, in the bottom quarter I see my knuckles. Brakes are good but need abit more pressure than I am used to. Like I mentioned earlier I'm still messing with seat position not too sure comfort level on the long ones, its abit hard may need airhawk. Fuel management suxs, the tank holds abit more than 3 gallons but with more than 1 gallon remaining it goes into Reserve mode with flashing E light and your trip meter disappears, it reads 0.0. First ride E flashed at 116 miles stopped for gas and it took 2 gallons, second time it flashed at 103 miles.............anyway for my planning I'm using 190 mile range. All lights on the bike are LED, the LED headlight is nice and white which gets your attention. When you change drive modes back lights on instrument panel change colors.
There you have it. Its a nice little bike................traditional biker are not too crazy about it but if you have an open mind you will enjoy.