Just bought a NT700

[Scientialex]

Dear all,
I am new and writing to you for some advice. Today I took my new Deauville.. well new from 2008
I had already sent a prepayment and today at the Honda dealer I confirmed the purchase and took the bike.
It runs really good, low mileage (12000).
But a big disappointment came.. when I noticed that the windscreen is not movable .
It has only 2 positions and you need to work at it with some tools to change the position.
I decided to take the bike anyway.

Now, do you know if it would be possible to install the movable one? Or is there some other solution?


I have always ridden with large windscreen.. and today I really disliked the wind, the noise and the flies on my visor.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

Thank you to all
Max, London, UK

 

[Warren]

I can't answer your question. In the U.S. we did not start getting the NT700V until 2010 and it had a 5 position windscreen Someone from Europe might be able to answer your question as they would have gotten both versions

 

[Hondafan]

I was looking at a picture of a 2008 on Bikez. The windshield tracks looked the same as the 2010. Maybe remove the windshield and brackets, and see if the tracks are binding. I had a problem with mine when I got it, and had to disassemble the mechanism and clean and lube it. The bracket the windshield attaches to, attaches to the slider through U shaped holes.....I think the is so the windshield would break free in an accident. Make sure they are fully seated.

 

[Warren]

The early Honda NT700V Deauville's only had a two position windscreen. I think the question is can the hardware from the newer 5 position models retrofit over to the early models.

 

[Hondafan]

This is a 2008. As you say, there may have been an early model with a different Windshield set up.

 

[Warren]

The NT650V Deauville was released to the European market in 1998. It was not sold in the U.S. It was based on the NT650 Revere which was a naked bike but had the same core platform as what became the NT650V Deauville in that is was shaft drive and had the same metal frame. Many will reference the Hawk as the predecessor to the Deauville but while it had basically the same engine it was chain drive and had an aluminum frame.

In 2006 the Deauville was redesigned into the NT700V. It lasted until 2013. In the U.S. it was only available in 2010 and 2011. During its life it did have a few changes and one of them was going from the two position to a five position windscreen.

 

[Steeplechasing]

From a UK based Deauville 'fan' site ...

 

[Phil Tarman]

Steeplechasing, Welcome to our Forum and thanks for the information about the whole NT700V line, including the transition from the NT650. I had seen this before but couldn't find it and didn't think about loggin back on to the UK site. I was on it for a few years after i bought my NT in 2010. Again, thanks and welcome!

 

[Steeplechasing]

Thanks Phil. Apologies, I should have introduced myself. I've joined so many forums lately (trying to get info about a major problem with my Africa Twin) that I've lost track. I'm in Scotland, on the Isle of Bute. On Thursday I collect my 'new' NT700, 2009 red. I've had a 650 Deauville in 2005 just after I passed my test. I'm glad to be coming back full circle.

I'll post some pictures soon.

Best wishes
Joe

 

[Phil Tarman]

Joe, I didn't start riding till I was 55 and bought an oldie but goodie, an '83 Honda Silverwing GL650i. I rode it a year and then bought a brand-new '99 Kawasaki Concours (a GTR to all of you on that side of the Pond). I rode that till I totaled it in '06 and bought another one just like it. In '08, I flew to Europe to attend the GCE Rally in Tiefencastel, Switzerland. I had been ready to reserve a Deauville 700 from a rental outfit in Frankfurt. I had been aware of the 650 Deauville since the early "00s and always thought it looked like a neat bike. But just before I made my reservation, I got an email from an Irishman who ran a tour country in Germany. Sean offered me his '89 GTR to ride during the Rally and for my personal pre- and post-Rally ride around Europe. He picked me up in Frankfurt and on our way back to his home, we stopped at multi-make dealership in Mannheim. They had a new '08 Deauville on the floor and I sat on it and looked it over pretty closely and liked what I saw.

By '10, I was 67-yrs-old and had had five knee replacements. That made the Concours/GTR with its 7.5 gallon gas tank pretty heavy for me. When I saw that Honda was going to import the NT700V, I figured I'd probably get one toward the end of the first year. Now I know that all of the ones imported to the US that year were the first '10s off the assembly line in Spain. By March of '10, I was needing tires for the Concours and decided that it didn't make sense to wait on trading it in. I've got 136K on it now and it's probably the last bike I'll buy.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Joe, I just looked at the Isle of Bute on Google Maps' satellite view. Looks like a beautiful place -- when the weather's decent. How often do you leave the island and are you close to one of the ferry landings?

 

[Steeplechasing]

 

[Steeplechasing]

Hmmm, sorry. This text was meant to be with that photo!

Phil, I don't envy you those five knee replacements. It must have taken considerable resolve on your part to go back for each one. I hope the fifth one is giving you no discomfort.

After the 650 in 2005 I got rather too big for my boots and sold it to buy a GS1200. Great bike but its power kind of took away the relaxed riding I'd enjoyed on the Deauville. I sold it a year later. I'd been bikeless since (life events) until last year when I fancied a DCT Africa Twin. I'm 66 now and bought a Honda CBF 500 first to make sure I still enjoyed riding and to brush up on skills. Traded that in a couple of months later to get the AT. Again, a powerful bike, but good fun until it took off from underneath me when I was riding up the path at my home to put it away for the winter. Broke my pelvis and right wrist, but thankfully making good progress and recovering well in general. On searching around the web there seems to be mounting evidence the AT has a throttle or injection problem. There's speculation too that the Ride by Wire system might be involved in these incidents.

Anyway, that's the main reason I'm returning to the sanity of the Deauville, although, after collection tomorrow all I can do is polish it and farkle it until this awful covid 19 is gone. Bute is a beautiful island and only about an hour from Glasgow to Wemyss Bay ferry port. The crossing takes 35 minutes to Rothesay Bay, a two-minute drive from my home. The roads here are invariably quiet, although the farmers would do well to clean up behind them when emerging from field gates. One picture attached, taken a couple of weeks ago. I'll upload more in the coming weeks.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

All the best.
Joe

 

[Phil Tarman]

Joe, what a beautiful picture! Thanks for sharing it. A 35-minute ferry ride ever so often would be kind of a nice thing to enjoy. How many miles can you ride on Bute itself?

Actually, I've now had six knee replacements. After the first two in '03, I developed an infection about six months post-op and had #3 put in 9 months after the first two. #4 came three months after that. I made it all the way to '08 before getting my 3rd right knee. The 3rd left knee came in the winter of '16. My current right knee doesn't bend as far as I wish it did. To ride a pushbike, I had to get shorter crank arms with the pedal hole drilled at about 85mm from the crank spindle (rather than the 170mm that is typical). My 3rd left knee had two negative side effects: 1) the left leg doesn't have a a great deal of strength. My doctor says it's probably because he's cut through those muscles three time and I'm older; and 2) my latest left knee made my left leg longer when I would have preferred it to be shorter. My right leg is close to an inch shorter than my left now. I've got a built-up sole on my walking shoes, but haven't bothered to do that to my riding boots.

I did get the bike lowered and that got complicated because the dealer who did the lowering wouldn't shorten the sidestand. A friend shortened it for me, but we didn't shorten it enough and when I'd get on or off the bike, I had issues with dropping it. I got so paranoid about dropping it while getting on and off that I was dreading every ride. My friend finally shortened the sidestand some more and now that's no longer an issue. Joy has returned to my riding!

I hope you heal up quickly! Gettin' old ain't for sissies!

 

[Steeplechasing]

Yep, getting old is for tough guys like us! (I hope). You've been though the mill and deserve a few peaceful years, Phil. I hope you get them. On riding the roads here, the choice is slim but the scenery and deserted asphalt go a long way to making up for it. The island is 15 miles north to south and 4 miles across.

I'll leave you for now with another picture. On Friday I hope to get a couple of pictures of the Deauville to post.

Pic shows the northern hills on the Isle of Arran - about 9 miles from Bute. The standpoint was at St Blane's, and 12th century church (still in pretty good shape), which lies on the southwest coast of Bute. (I've chosen thumbnail this time in the hope you can enlarge it with a click)

All the best.
Joe

 

[Phil Tarman]

Another "Wow!" Joe. Great picture!

 

[Steeplechasing]

Took a wee run to Kilchattan Bay today then to St Blanes (Arran Hills in background). In the early part of last century, potato pickers from Ireland used to come ashore at Kichattan Bay for the season's harvest here on The Isle of Bute.

St Blane's monastery existed peacefully until the late 700s, when the sudden deaths of two abbots, in 776 and 790, are thought to have been the result of Viking raids. Bute became part of the Norse empire and it seems likely that the monastery was abandoned some time around the year 800. Little remains of the original monastery except, possibly, the shape of the upper churchyard, whose wall probably follows the line of the wall encircling St Blane's original abbey church.

 

[Phil Tarman]

More great pix of a beautiful place to live and ride!

 

[Brillot2000]

I was looking at a picture of a 2008 on Bikez. The windshield tracks looked the same as the 2010. Maybe remove the windshield and brackets, and see if the tracks are binding. I had a problem with mine when I got it, and had to disassemble the mechanism and clean and lube it. The bracket the windshield attaches to, attaches to the slider through U shaped holes.....I think the is so the windshield would break free in an accident. Make sure they are fully seated.

I had nothing but trouble with mine due to neglect from the last several owners. The channel bodies are made of plastic and prone to pitting once the dust covers rot and have fallen off. No amount of cleaning and lubing will get them to work as they are intended. Replacement is the only option to restore the operation when they reach this level of decay and neglect.

 

[Hondafan]

I had nothing but trouble with mine due to neglect from the last several owners. The channel bodies are made of plastic and prone to pitting once the dust covers rot and have fallen off. No amount of cleaning and lubing will get them to work as they are intended. Replacement is the only option to restore the operation when they reach this level of decay and neglect.

My NT came with a 4+ Cee Bailey tinted screen. Nice product, but even in the lowest setting it was a bit too high. I will use it in the fall. So I bought a stock windshield, and noticed it was much smoother to operate. The CB shield seems to put stress on the brackets and make them bind.