Auto macho?

Susan Carpenter reckons that with few exceptions, in the two-wheeled world - manual transmission equals (macho) motorcycle and automatic transmission equals (sissy) scooter.

In the last year, the most macho of two-wheeled categories has begun to evolve - motorcycles are beginning to incorporate automatic transmissions.

Already in New Zealand, the Honda DN-01, which is rolling into United States dealerships this month, lets riders do away with hand-squeezing a clutch and foot-shifting through gears when they're also trying to stay balanced, navigate traffic and co-ordinate accelerating and braking.

The DN, which stands for "Dream New", is angling for two seemingly opposite ends of the market - new riders who want to feel the wind in their hair without a clutch in their hands and seasoned riders who want to be the Jones with whom everyone else aspires to keep pace.

It's an experiment, however. And priced at US$14,599 (NZ$23,950) in a down economy, it's probably more of an experiment than Honda intended.

"I applaud Honda for doing the DN-01 because in recent years there's been some criticism of the motorcycle industry that it's kind of stuck in a rut," said Paul Dean, senior editor of Cycle World magazine.

"There are markets and demographics into which motorcycling could and very well may expand, and I think having an automatic transmission technology will help that happen."

Four-wheeled vehicles have made the transition almost completely. According to WardsAuto.com, an industry data website, 93 percent of the 2008 model year cars and light trucks sold in the United States used automatic transmissions, compared with just 79 percent in 1990.

Two-wheelers are starting to head in that direction to attract a broader audience.

Sales of scooters, all of which use automatic transmissions, were higher than they had ever been in 2008 - one in four on-road two-wheelers sold last year was a scooter.

"Five years from now, you'd be amazed how many automatic and semi-automatics you're going to see in the two-wheeled world," said Jon Seidel, assistant manager of motorcycle media for American Honda in Torrance, California.

Honda isn't the first to try innovative transmissions that involve riders less. Oklahoma City start-up Ridley Motorcycles has sold 4000 of its V-twin "Auto-glide" automatic motorcycles in the last 10 years.

Yamaha - the first major motorcycle manufacturer to introduce a clutchless motorcycle for the street - saw a 13 percent increase in sales of its FJR1300AE from March 2008 to February, a time during which total motorcycle sales, on and off-road, were down 9 percent.

On the market since 2006, the semi-manual version of Yamaha's popular sport-touring model allows riders to press a button or a lever to shift gears rather than co-ordinate their left extremities to squeeze a clutch with one hand and press a shifter with a foot.

The clutchless AE, available for an $1800 premium over the manual transmission version, now accounts for 25 percent of FJR1300 sales.

Yamaha is now "patiently watching" to see if the smaller displacement, fully and semi- automatic models that have come on the market in the last year "make any inroads," said Kevin Foley, Yamaha's media relations manager for street motorcycles.

So far, they appear to be.

The Aprilia Mana, on the market since last July, now accounts for 14 percent of the company's sales.

Since the stylish Italian model came on the market with autodrive, a transmission that allows riders to speed through town in automatic mode (using only their wits and a throttle instead of a clutch) or semi-automatic mode (moving through the bike's seven gears with the touch of a button), the $US9899, 850cc V-twin has become one of Aprilia's best sellers out of 19 available models.

With the introduction of its DN- 01, Honda is poised to build on other manufacturers' success with a bike that takes the automatic motorcycle concept and introduces new design and engineering.

The Mana's Autodrive transmission is a direct descendant of the pulley-driven CVT, or continuously variable transmissions, in use on most scooters. Yamaha's FJR1300AE is a manual transmission with a computer-controlled clutch.

But the Honda DN-01 employs an entirely new technology. Its hydromechanical transmission, or HFT, uses fluids to push a series of swash plates back and forth for seamless and buttery movement between the gears.

Like the Aprilia Mana, the DN-01 can be operated in fully automatic and semi-automatic modes. Unlike the Mana, the DN-01 lacks a proven design corollary.

The DN-01 looks like a sportbike, cruiser or scooter, depending on the vantage point. It was first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2005 and has been on the market in Japan and Europe for about a year.

In some ways, the Dream New is a modern take on an old Japanese reverie - the automatic CB750A and CM400A "Hondamatics" that came on the market just as the craze for motorcycles was declining.

Introduced in 1976 and 1979, respectively, each model lived for three years before being pulled from the company's lineup. Whether anything will be different 30 years later remains to be seen.

Seidel declined to say how many DN-01s were being imported to the US except to say that "dealer orders were much stronger than we anticipated". "We're excited about this product, but will it be successful in the market? It's hard to say," he said.

"We know it's going to be a niche product. Would we love to sell 10,000? Well, sure, but that's not going to be the reality."

- By SUSAN CARPENTER - The Press