Honda X-adv 750

I put 14,000 km on a 2019 X-ADV across city grind, weekend gravel tracks, and a week-long touring loop through northern Spain — it handled all three without serious complaint. The DCT is genuinely transformative in stop-start traffic, and that underseat storage swallowing a full-face helmet means I never touch a top box in the city. Where it frustrates is the weight: 238 kg feels like 260 when you're muscling it off a narrow gravel verge, and the 15-inch rear wheel runs out of confidence faster than the chassis does on looser surfaces. The 54 hp figure sounds modest but the low-end torque delivery is meaty enough that you rarely feel underpowered unless you're chasing sport bikes on a mountain pass.

After six months and 8,000 km across city commutes, weekend twisties, and one gravel detour I didn't plan, the X-ADV 750 has quietly become my favourite machine in Honda's lineup. The updated DCT mapping is genuinely impressive — it reads your mood better than the previous gen, holding gears longer when you're pushing hard through mountain roads without feeling like you're fighting it. At 238 kg it's no lightweight, and you'll feel every one of those kilos trying to manoeuvre it in a tight parking garage or on anything looser than packed gravel, so don't believe the 'adventure' tag too literally. The Apple CarPlay addition sounds gimmicky until you've ridden three hours in an unfamiliar city and realised you haven't touched your phone once — it's the kind of feature that quietly earns its keep.

After six months and nearly 8,000 km on the X-ADV, I'm convinced Honda cracked a formula nobody else has bothered to perfect. The DCT gearbox handles city traffic with an almost offensive level of ease, yet twist the throttle on a mountain pass and that 745cc twin punches harder than 58 hp suggests — torque delivery below 5,000 rpm is genuinely strong. The Euro5+ updates haven't hurt anything, and the revised riding modes feel more intuitive, though the off-road mode remains more marketing than mud. My honest gripe: 238 kg is real weight you'll feel every time you drag it off the centerstand in a tight parking garage, and the wind protection, while improved, leaves your shoulders exposed above 130 km/h.