A way to ride for those who probably shouldn't

Written by Eric Peters

April 06, 2009

Have you seen Honda's new DN-01?  It's a mid-way point between a motorcycle and a scooter, with the looks (sort of) of the former and the function (including a fully automatic transmission) of the latter.  I've never had anything against scooters, per se. But this bike - if it can be called a bike - bothers me. Maybe it should bother you, too.  Motorcycling has always been merrily elitist in that not just anyone can do it (very much unlike driving a car). You had to have coordination and balance.And you had to have the ability to do what a great many car drivers cannot: operate a manual transmission.  I am convinced that one of the reasons why we have so many truly inept "drivers" out there is the baneful omnipresence of the automatic transmission. It takes next to no skill and virtually no training to get behind the wheel, turn the ignition key and slide the lever from "Park" into "Drive."  Viola - 3,500 pounds of steel hurtling down the road with a gum-snapping Chatty Kathy on her cell at the helm. Or past-it oldster who, had the car required him to have the ability to operate a clutch and shift gears, would not have been able to get out of the driveway - let alone run that red light and T-bone you into the Slumber Room of the local funeral home.  The automakers do everything conceivable to idiot proof cars because they want more idiots to be driving - or more precisely, buying - cars. The motorcycle manufacturers have up until now been frustrated by a self-limiting market that kept away many of the worst types who you'll routinely find behind the wheels of cars.  The forbidding presence of the clutch lever saw to that.  But the DN-01 stands poised to change everything, perhaps forever. It may be the end of motorcycling as we know it. At the least, it will almost certainly lead to a general dumbing-down of our sport - and with it, an increase in laws and regulations geared down to the two-wheeled least common denominator.  Because now, all you have to do is be able to stand upright - which includes virtually everyone. The DN-01's fully automated transmission has no clutch to engage/disengage at stoplights or in between shifts. Just twist the throttle. A child could do it.  And will.  People who really have no business on bikes will now be able to ride them. And because they are bikes in terms of such things as power (he DN-01 has a 680 cc DOHC V-twin engine and a top speed close to 120 mph) these marginals are going to get into trouble on them. They will wreck more often - and probably more spectacularly - because they will get in over their heads more readily due to their lower skill set. A 25 year-old on a CBR may suffer from immaturity and even recklessness, it's true. But it takes a high order of coordination and reflexes to pilot a modern sport bike - indeed, any large motorcycle. Your brain has to be able to multi-task and do so without thinking about it. Turn, shift, brake steer - often all a once.  In the DN-01, you can zone. Look at the pretty view! Followed by.... BAM!  Bet your bippie Honda has plans to graft its new automatic transmission - a trick piece of technology, no doubt - onto other bikes, too. In particular, cruising and touring bikes - which already appeal to the laid-back set. Now we'll get the low-skilled set, too - at the controls (such as they are) of 700 pound faux motorcycles that look just like the real deal but which are anything but.  More people will ride. Which will almost certainly mean more accidents, simply by dint of more bikes on the road. Even if the percentages don't go up, the total numbers surely will - and in the land of the innumerate, where percentages might as well be ancient Greek, it's Big Numbers that get the press. And which end up becoming the raison d' etre for the "safety" mavens to sing their siren song for more (and more intrusive) regulations.  Consider:  There has already been quite an uproar over scooters - which often don't require the operator to have a motorcycle endorsement or even a driver's license. These outdated laws were based on the former reality that most scooters were not capable of exceeding 40 mph. But that hasn't been true for some time and the law is routinely abused.  What happens when near 700 cc "scooters" like the DN-01 become commonplace? Does anyone think the law will sit still? Or that its effects will not be felt by us - that is, by people who know how to ride?  In my worst nightmares, I see speed restrictors - and hiked-up insurance premiums. Just for openers.  For the moment, the DN-01's appeal is constrained by its cost - $14,999 or about $4k more the cost of a current top-of-the-line Japanese liter bike. But the price will come down as Honda (and others) mass produce the technology. The world of motorcycling will be opened to almost everyone. And very possibly, much degraded as a result. Comment?

 

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