NT cheap but CTX 700 Cheaper

[Miairhead]

Ebay has a low mileage NT and a CTX. The buy it now on NT is more then the buy it now on the CTX700. Of course the CTX is naked, no bags or any accessories.
I will venture to guess Honda is looking for a replacement for the 700 CTX as it not selling well. Maybe in the USA a smaller displacement tourer is not going to sell at all.
American riders think they need a big cc's I guess, and don't seem to care about mileage. I guess with the GoldWing Honda has a tourer, heavy yes, but a great long touring machine.

I am a little old fashion, as I still own and ride a 84 R100RT (one of the best touring bikes ever made). The air head BMW has to enemies traffic in very hot weather, and if very cold it is a little hard to start. Of course the 84 is very easy to work on too.

 

[mikesim]

I think the NT would have sold better if Honda would have marketed it correctly (at all?). Yes the US mentality is that it must be at least a liter or it doesn't have enough oomph to tour. As we NT owners know, that simply is not true. When I was in the market for a bike, I cannot recall any advertisement (save Honda's webpage) for the NT. Zip, zilch, nada! Based on the newest introductions, Yammy and Kawasaki are going to be eating Honda's lunch before long if they don't get on the ball.

Mike

 

[SuperDave]

It wasn't just where the NT was parked on the showroom. The NT was overpriced at $11,200. Granted, I bought my Subaru used, but I recently bought an Outback with a new engine and turbo in virtually new shape...for $12,500. And I got a whole lot more, at least in the quantity of metal and upholstery...and arguably in the technology too.

Chris

I suspect that you are right. A local dealer reported that the NT had a higher price that a CBR 600. Once the NTs were discontinued, he marked 'em down to $8-$8,500 and sold ten in only one month.

I just turned 30,000 miles on mine today. Nice motorcycle!

Super Dave

 

[DirtFlier]

It all boils down to what you really want.

I fully agree that the MSRP on the NT700V was too high but at the time it offered a lot of benefits not available on any other middleweight bike. Some of those, such as fully integrated saddlebags and final drive are still absent from middleweight sport tourers. I strongly suspect the market for middleweight sport tourers in America is tiny at best so the NT's lackluster sales came as no surprise. Would the NT have done better with a real national advertising campaign? I doubt it because most men want to buy a bike with the largest engine for their buck, mostly for bragging rights.

It's going to be interesting to see how Harley's new 500 & 750 V-twins do in the American market. Obviously, Harley is "the 900 pound gorilla in the room," in regards to name recognition & panache so will that entice newbies or even some veteran riders into buying one of these V-twins?

 

[vzshadow]

I think it was doomed from the start in the US. As most Americans say "There's no replacement for displacement".

Pricing wasn't good. It the bike has been closer to a liter and priced about the same, maybe.

 

[Warren]

Remember the NT was not developed for the US market. It is a utilitarian motorcycle designed for Europe where it sold successfully. I don't think any amount of advertising or pricing management were going to change the eventual outcome.

 

[Comanche]

. . . My wife and I are getting ready to do our first, longer, 2-up trip together. We are going to do 700 - 800 mile round trip to northern Florida. This will be the test to see how she fairs. . .

Exactly what I am doing with my daughter. She loves to ride - no problem with that - but she doesn't know what its like to ride longer distances. When classes are over in December, I'll pick her up for a two-day jaunt through Cajun country. If she likes it, maybe there will be more and longer trips in our future. However, she is so terribly busy with classes, its hard for her to break away for more than a few days.

Nice to be retired and have the time to ride, eh?

 

[JeffR]

I have had the CTX700 DCT for about 7 months and have about 4,000 miles and it is a nice bike. They are less expensive new than the NT's when new but the NT does have storage and shaft drive. I have never had the chance to ride the NT but I was really interested in the bike. When I was looking for a new bike I checked around for used NT's but just didn't seem to find what I wanted. So I went with the CTX and have had to add a top case and one day maybe some side cases. Chris (Daboo) is right about the 2 bikes costing about the same when you try to fit it with what the NT has. But it is a nice smooth bike and gets mid 60's mpg's and is really fun to ride. I was hoping Honda would have kept making the NT for a couple of more years when I was finally wanting to buy though. I used to go to the Honda shop to just sit on the NT and found it very comfortable.

 

[Comanche]

. . . I will venture to guess Honda is looking for a replacement for the 700 CTX as it not selling well. . .

Just curious - where did you learn that the CTX 700 is not selling well? The only sales numbers I've ever seen Honda release are the total number of machines sold, but the data is not broken by model number.