Honda Made One of Its Standout Naked Bikes Bolder, Smarter and Easier to Ride

The Big Red continues its E-Clutch onslaught with a new middleweight naked twin that pairs performance and approachability.

Close-up of a black and yellow Honda motorcycle front and engine area against a red background.

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By Gray Van Dyke

Published November 24, 2025

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After first rolling out its revolutionary E-Clutch technology on the CB650R and CBR650R last year, Honda hasn’t wasted any time implementing the feature across more models throughout its motorcycle lineup.

As such, between the Rebel 300, the Transalp and the CBR500R, we’ve already clocked several other bikes to have benefited from the Big Red’s automated clutch wizardry.

Yellow and black Honda Hornet motorcycle ridden on a curved road with rocky and forested surroundings. — The CB750 Hornet is the latest in Honda’s efforts to expand its automated E-Clutch tech.

However, Honda’s latest E-Clutch release is arguably one of the most impactful, as it brings the technology to the CB750 Hornet. In doing so, the brand is making it clear that automation isn’t just a beginner’s tool.

The Hornet’s sting

While it’s easy to appreciate the many beginner-friendly aspects of Honda’s E-Clutch assistance, its performance benefits don’t receive nearly as much praise.

Close-up of a yellow Honda Hornet motorcycle engine and frame with visible exhaust pipes and footpeg. — Were it not for the small motor drive unit (and accompanying logo) affixed to the outside of the engine, you wouldn’t even know that this is an E-Clutch bike.

Which is unfortunate, because if you’re able to look past the new rider associations, it’s effectively a bi-directional quickshifter much like those you’d find on high-performance sport bikes.

When the rider taps on the shifter pedal, Honda’s E-Clutch fully disengages the clutch to release the current gear. From that point, the MCU then employs half-clutch control to ease the transition to the next gear.

As with a quickshifter, then, in practice, this allows for lightning-fast (and multiple successive) gear changes — regardless of throttle position and without the need to operate the clutch lever.

Yellow and black Honda motorcycle ridden on a curved road with green trees in the background. — Honda’s E-Clutch system works much like a bidirectional quickshifter.

While these sound like minor inconveniences, they’re changes that result in faster lap times due to the improvements achieved through automated efficiency. Moreover, avoiding the use of a clutch helps minimize rider hand (and mental) fatigue.

Sharpening the experience

Based on the above similarities, adding E-Clutch to the CB750 Hornet was a natural move. After all, Honda already equips the bike with a bi-directional quickshifter allowing for efficient up-and-down gear changes.

Close-up of a yellow motorcycle front with a black tinted windshield and illuminated headlights. — Honda also added throttle-by-wire for 2026.

Accordingly, removing the need to use a clutch lever has only expanded the model’s pool of potential buyers. Honda’s E-Clutch facilitates an option for riders who want to enjoy more control rather than becoming an inherent barrier because of it.

Especially when you consider everything else that the CB750 Hornet brings to the table. For 2026, Honda also ditched the bike’s cables in favor of a new throttle-by-wire system.

What’s more, like its Transalp stablemate, the bike comes powered by a 755cc parallel twin. However, for its street application it’s been tuned to make 90.5 horsepower and 55 lb-ft of torque.

Gray and yellow Honda motorcycle with black wheels parked on a tiled surface against a dark wall. — A bright “Goldfinch Yellow” livery adds a high-visibility option to the Hornet’s available color schemes.

As such, even if it still rides on the same Showa suspension and stopping power still comes courtesy of some Nissin brakes, the changes to the rider input are nevertheless significant.

Pricing and availability

At this stage, Honda has only added the 2026 CB750 Hornet E-Clutch to its UK website. However, based on previous release patterns, it’s very likely that this motorcycle will be making its way stateside before too long.

It’ll be available with or without E-Clutch — and in a range of four new colors, from Graphite Black and Matt Ballistic Black Metallic to high-viz Goldfinch Yellow and Wolf Silver Metallic — though prices are still to be announced. In the meantime, you can learn more on Honda’s website.

Yellow and black Honda Hornet motorcycle parked on asphalt in front of a building with garage doors.

2026 Honda CB750 Hornet E-Clutch

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About the Author: Gray is an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covering cars, motorcycles and anything else with wheels. When he’s not chasing the latest industry news, he’s probably wrenching on one of many projects. For better or worse, he believes classics make perfectly practical daily drivers.

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