5 Best Automatic Motorcycles 2022

From DCT to CVT, here’s the DL on the best clutchless motorcycles for 2022.

You might never swing a leg over an automatic motorcycle. But in a few years, you might never shift again, thanks to electric motorcycles. If this makes the bile rise in your throat, get over it; rowing through the gears won’t happen forever. Hell, MotoGP teams would run DCT if rules allowed.

“Automatic” is a lazy term, but it’s easier than saying “Dual Clutch Transmission,” “Continuously Variable Transmission,” or “Electric Direct Drive.” And that’s the point. Modern-day America was built on saving time and making things easier. Wish you still had to remember to manually inject oil directly into your bike’s single-cylinder side-valve pushrod engine every few minutes while motorcycling? No you don’t.

Despite past comments to the contrary, this isn’t paid content for Honda Powersports. When other manufacturers start making quality bikes with quality alternatives to traditional gearboxes, we’ll write about them. Until then, it’s largely Big Red’s show, though it seems that other red-centric motorcycles with DCT-like simplified shifting might be coming.

Two simple rules: One, if it doesn’t have a clutch lever, it’s fair game for the list. Two, 2022 is basically 2021. If it’s on a manufacturer site with an MSRP, also fair game. Got better criteria? Hit the comment section. Check out The Best Automatic Motorcycles 2020 for added insight.

The Africa Twin’s DCT gets high marks in the dirt.

2022 Honda Africa Twin
It’s one thing to swap cogs on a lazy asphalt turn. It’s quite another to replant torque and traction in the middle of a dirt whoop. The Africa Twin concept is trial-by-fire for any DCT. But smoother shifts and minimal drive disruption mean knobbies grab better and rider attention stays on lines and throttle control. Three modes, Manual, Automatic Drive, and Automatic Sport, are at the disposal of Honda’s venerable 1,084cc liquid-cooled twin.

The Honda Gold Wing Automatic DCT has been largely perfected over the last 12 years.

2022 Honda Gold Wing DCT
Some eyes will roll at the mention of the Gold Wing DCT, for the umpteenth year in a row. But that’s nothing compared to what would happen if the Gold Wing were left off the list. Seven speeds (don’t forget reverse) of DCT and 12 years of refinement speak for themselves. Honda claims half or more new Gold Wing orders are for the automatic variant. Odds are, a new Gold Wing owner has already put in a lifetime of shifting clinics. They’ve earned the right to give that left hand a break.

The second Honda to get DCT, the NC750X has personified practicality for 10 years.

2022 Honda NC750X ABS
2012 saw the introduction of the NC700, Honda’s second foray into DCT after the 2010 VFR1200. Only the second Honda motorcycle to go clutchless, it was part of the “New Concept” of ultimate practicality and user-friendly design. With each passing year, the NC750X gets lonelier and maybe more exclusive. Practical midsize commuters aren’t unusual, but no one’s stepped up with a DCT model. It’s a lonely class of one. But it’s becoming an enduring classic.

The Honda Rebel 1100 might just be the thinking man’s or woman’s cruiser.

2022 Honda Rebel 1100
Speaking of 1,084cc twins, here’s the Rebel 1100. A large sub-$10K cruiser with DCT? It seems like a masterstroke now. Three riding modes and the option to shift with your thumb; what’s more relaxed and cruiser-y than that? And given the conservative traditionalism of this category, what’s more radical than automatic shifting in a trellis frame and giving zero (if any) f’s? Rebel, indeed.

Scooter-like in its user-friendliness, the Honda Navi puts all the speed in your right hand.

Honda Navi
There’s no evidence to prove this, but the Honda Navi seems designed to be the perfect pitbike. No clutch means one arm is free (three arms with passenger) to carry tires, engine parts, or any of the countless emergency stuff that gets schlepped around tracks on any weekend. One could even hold a cold beverage in one hand while (carefully) riding responsibly in the controlled environs of a private track.

Obviously, Motorcyclist does not support the practice of riding with anything less than both hands on the bar and/or the enjoyment of cold beverages while riding.

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