Honda NT700 Deauville

Story and Photos: Rob Carmichael & Peter Nikolic

DOES ‘DEAUVILLE’ STAND FOR ‘DULLVILLE’ AS SOME CRITICS SAY? OR DOES IT MEAN ‘DOUGH-VALUE’ AS WE ASK ON THE COMING PAGES?

Back in 2016, in VJMC Magazine 139, I wrote about an article I found in a British bike magazine entitled “Emerging Classic – Honda’s Deauville”. I was interested in what the author (Steve Cooper, UK VJMC) had to say about the Deauville because I had just bought one. Now flash forward to 2021 - that bike has a new owner, so it’s time to revisit the Deauville and see what’s happened to it since 2016. But first let’s recap what Steve had to say

Basically Steve argued that when the Honda Deauville was released it had been unfairly maligned in the motorcycling press and dubbed with the negative epithet “Dull-ville”, because of the modest performance resulting from a mediocre power-to-weight ratio (48.3kw:236kg) – a high-performance sports bike it certainly isn’t! It looks like a full tourer, but with only a 680 cc V-twin engine, a capacity of about half that of its stablemate, the Honda ST 1300, but it’s about 80kg lighter than a ST1300.

Steve’s conclusion was “Even previously dismissive publications have begun to wake up to the charms of this overlooked machine. Adjectives such as unflappable, agile, well-balanced, frugal and torquey are all used to describe the V-twin. It’s a genuine quality Honda product so reliability comes as standard.”

I agreed with Steve Cooper’s characterisation of the Deauville. The bike is extremely comfortable for both

rider and pillion, and though heavy and relatively low-powered, it handles well and has decent torque from low down and so it’s easy to ride. It has a linked braking system (but no ABS) and final drive is by shaft and hence is low-maintenance. Fuel economy is good (up to 22km per litre). The V-twin exhaust beat is nice and mellow but not intrusive. The fairing protects the rider from wind and rain pretty well and the screen is (manually) adjustable for height. The Deauville is a very rider-friendly bike, but if outright performance is your thing, you will be disappointed.

The only reservation I had with the bike was the locking mechanism on the integrated pannier system. On occasions a pannier lid would come down without warning.

In 2015 I was diagnosed as having Parkinson’s and in 2019 I decided to put the Deauville on the market as it had become too heavy for riding in the city and I wasn’t doing much touring. It sold to the only person who rang to enquire about it, Peter Nikolic, an experienced rider who has worked in the motorcycle trade for years and owns several other bikes. The story now passes over to Peter. ($490). Fantastic tyres – I can now keep pace with the boys on sports bikes on the twisties. I fitted 40mm convex mirrors to the existing mirrors and offset risers to bring the handlebars back a little ($85). The seat was tall so I lowered it 25mm. I can now flat-foot the ground and long rides are comfortable.

I acquired the Deauville in July 2019 and have had it for 20 months. The first thing done was to swap the 10 year old Bridgestones for Pirelli Gran Turismos The integrated panniers used to pop open so I made ‘L’ shaped metal brackets to attach the mechanism to - works perfectly now. No External latches for me; Cold hands in winter spelt ‘Heated grips’ for me. I invested in Whites heated grips. Easy to fit and work great with 4 settings on the hand grip (about $140); Wind deflector - that was next to stop the cold air blowing up my legs. I couldn’t find what I wanted so I made some from Fibreglass and shaped them, then finished in colour matched paint, total cost of about $130 they work; I fitted a self-cancelling turn signal system next (about $189). Wiring diagram was ok, but

I soon had issues with it. One wiring joiner is crap and the rubber pads for inside the switch are also crappy. Lucky I had good bits to replace them with so no problem now, works well; Front and rear cameras came next and are a ‘must have’. I fitted them myself - only 2 wires, a Positive and a Negative, the rest are self-explanatory and clip together ($189).

I do a lot of recreational riding and covered about 25-000 Ks in 20 months. I also found the GPS I fitted the same time as the cameras was a good addition. Works fine but sometimes it’s good to know the way. Not expensive, just under $200; Finally, I fitted an aftermarket Delkevic exhaust kit ($310). I found it too noisy for me and fuel economy was poor. I made and fitted a baffle and the exhaust is now much quieter and I get about 24 Km to the litre. The Delkevic system is also much lighter than the OEM system.

Everything I have done so far I am very pleased with. I found it a great bike when I bought it and even better now. If Honda brought out another bike the same with a motor larger or equivalent power to my Yamaha MT09 (see in background in first picture), I would buy it today. It’s so comfortable I have done three day rides of 600km each day. Now it’s back to Rob for the conclusion.

Peter purchased the Deauville for $6,000 which included the following accessories: a genuine Honda Top Box; a Rad-Gard radiator guard; a Fender-Extender on the front mudguard, and a Lithium Ion battery. Peter estimates that he then spent around $1,740 on the modifications and accessories he fitted. Admittedly, Peter being in the trade meant that he could do a lot of the work himself, but for an outlay of around $7,740 he is now the owner of an extremely competent and comfortable long distance touring bike. Compared to the outlay for a similarly fitted-out, albeit more powerful and faster tourer (such as say a 2016 BMW R1200 RT with 22,000 Km on the clock advertised for $21,800), Peter’s customised Honda NT700 Deauville is great value for money.

So, when it comes to pronouncing the name of the French town Deauville, it sounds to us much more like ‘Doughvalue’ than ‘Dull-ville’. By the time Peter’s bike will qualify to be put on club plates, we expect that the NT700 Deauville will be recognised as one of the best value-formoney classic touring bikes money can buy…….if you can find one that is!