2026 Honda CB750 Hornet Review: E-Clutch, Specs and South African Price
The Honda CB750 Hornet has been one of Europe’s best-selling naked bikes since it arrived in 2023, with more than 40,000 sold. It is also one of the few middleweights that Honda South Africa actually brings in, at R198,799. For 2026 the big news is the E-Clutch, a version with no need to pull the clutch lever, which costs only about R2,300 more in Britain. Below is what the bike is, what the first tests of the E-Clutch found, and what it means for a buyer here.
This is a research based review. Scooter125 has not ridden the 2026 CB750 Hornet and the bike was not supplied by Honda or a dealer. Specifications come from Honda South Africa, Honda’s American model page and Honda’s press release. Riding impressions come from first ride tests of the E-Clutch version by Visordown and Dancing the Polka, both ridden in Portugal. The running cost sums are our own, at the October 2026 fuel price. Honda South Africa lists the standard Hornet but not the E-Clutch version, so every rand figure for the E-Clutch is an estimate.
What you need to know first
The CB750 Hornet is a 755cc parallel twin naked bike making 67.5 kW (90.5 hp) at 9,500 rpm and 75 Nm at 7,250 rpm. It weighs 190 kg with a full tank in standard form and about 196 kg as an E-Clutch. The seat is 795 mm high, the tank holds 15.2 litres and the top speed is a little over 200 km/h.
Honda South Africa lists it from R198,799 in two colours, Pearl Glare White and Mat Goldfinch Yellow. The E-Clutch version is sold in Britain for £7,549, £100 more than the standard bike, and in the United States for $7,999. It is not yet on Honda South Africa’s website.
Both tests rated it highly. The handling, the brakes, the build quality and the price were praised. The E-Clutch was found to work well and to make the bike easier without making it duller. The complaints are small: close-set mirrors, an air filter that is hard to reach, and styling that one tester found forgettable.
What is new for 2026
The Hornet was updated in Europe last year, and that bike is what South Africa and America now get as the 2026 model. The changes are modest:
- E-Clutch as an option. The first Honda E-Clutch model with throttle-by-wire, which Honda says gives smoother gear changes.
- A revised headlight housing, slimmer and more pointed, and a small cowl under the engine.
- Suspension settings and ergonomics tweaked, according to the tests. The hardware is unchanged.
- New colours, including the Mat Goldfinch Yellow that Honda South Africa offers.
Everything else, from the engine to the frame and the brakes, carries over from the bike launched in 2023. That is no criticism. It is the bike that outsold every rival in its class in Europe.
Honda South Africa’s launch film for the Hornet is below.
The 755cc twin
The engine is the same 755cc unit Honda uses in the XL750 Transalp. It is a parallel twin with a 270 degree crankshaft, which gives it the uneven beat and the feel of a V-twin, and a single overhead camshaft working eight valves. Bore and stroke are 87 mm by 63.5 mm, the compression ratio is 11.0:1 and the throttle bodies are 46 mm.
The output is 67.5 kW at 9,500 rpm and 75 Nm at 7,250 rpm. That is more than the Yamaha MT-07, Kawasaki Z650 and Triumph Trident 660 it competes with, and about the same as a Suzuki GSX-8S.
Visordown called the delivery smooth and linear, with enough in the middle of the rev range that the bike feels stronger than the numbers suggest. The power is not frightening, but Honda has spread it well. Dancing the Polka said the same: it feels torquier than the specification suggests, and the 270 degree crank gives it a V-twin character. Neither tester had a complaint about the engine.
At Highveld altitude a naturally aspirated engine loses roughly 15 percent of its power, so in Gauteng this is a 57 kW bike. In a 190 kg naked that is still brisk, and the midrange hides the loss well.
The E-Clutch explained
E-Clutch is Honda’s answer to the question of what to do with your left hand. The bike keeps a normal six-speed gearbox and a normal clutch lever. Two small electric motors inside the right-hand engine cover operate the clutch for you, so you can pull away, change up and down and stop without touching the lever. The gear changes are still made with your foot.
It is not an automatic. You still choose the gear. What it removes is the clutch work, and it does it better than a quickshifter because it also handles the pull-away and the stop. Honda says it cannot be stalled.
The lever still works. Pull it and you have a conventional clutch, for a wheelie, a slow U-turn or just because you want to. Let go and the system takes over again by itself. There are three settings for shift feel, hard, medium and soft, for up and down changes separately.
Visordown summed it up as a really fancy up and down quickshifter, and found it smooth and reliable. It smooths out a clumsy downshift and makes pulling away at traffic lights effortless. The tester’s one reservation was that two-up, an experienced hand on the lever might have made a slightly smoother change. Dancing the Polka found it best when changing down into corners and pulling away in traffic, and described it as removing one job so you can concentrate on the others.
Both raised the same worry about long-term servicing: the clutch now sits behind the E-Clutch motors, and nobody knows yet what a clutch replacement will cost. The system adds about 4 kg.
We covered how Honda is rolling the system out across its range in our E-Clutch explainer.
Chassis, suspension and brakes
The frame is a steel diamond type that weighs under 17 kg, with the engine as a stressed part. The wheelbase is 1,420 mm, the rake is 25 degrees and the trail 99 mm. Those are sporty numbers, and the reviews say the bike rides like them.
The fork is a 41 mm Showa SFF-BP upside-down unit with 130 mm of travel and no adjustment. The rear shock, on Honda’s Pro-Link linkage, has 150 mm of travel and seven-step preload adjustment. Visordown found the front gives confidence without any pretence of sophistication.
The brakes are Nissin: twin 296 mm front discs with radial-mount four-piston calipers and a 240 mm rear disc, with ABS. Visordown described the braking as excellent and nuanced, and said only a very aggressive rider would want more bite.
Wheels are 17 inch cast aluminium with 120/70 and 160/60 tyres, the standard sizes for the class, so there is a wide choice of rubber.
How it rides
Both tests were run in wet weather in the hills of southern Portugal, which is a hard place to judge a naked bike and a good place to judge how friendly one is.
Visordown called the handling brilliant: flickable and responsive without being aggressive, and stable enough in the wet to build confidence. Dancing the Polka found it encouraged harder cornering than the conditions deserved. Honda has sold this bike in large numbers for three years, and the reason is in these reports. It is quick enough to be fun and easy enough that it never feels like work.
The riding position is upright, with the footpegs set a little back. Visordown said it is relaxed enough for a long day without being so roomy that it loses its sporting feel.
Electronics and equipment
The electronics are built around throttle-by-wire. There are three preset riding modes, Sport, Standard and Rain, and two User modes you set up yourself. Each mode combines three levels of engine power, three of engine braking and three of traction control, with wheelie control that can be switched on or off.
The dash is a 5 inch colour TFT with six layouts. Honda’s RoadSync app connects a phone for navigation, calls and music, and Honda South Africa has offered the app locally since 2024. Lighting is all LED. There is no cruise control and no quickshifter on the standard bike; on the E-Clutch, the clutch system does the quickshifter’s job.
Visordown rated the build quality as top tier and noted, approvingly, that Honda still includes a tool roll.
Seat height and comfort
The 795 mm seat is low for a bike with this much power, and the bike is narrow at the front of the seat, so most riders will get both feet down. That, with the light weight and the forgiving power delivery, is what makes it a sensible first big bike.
Comfort over a full day was good in both tests. The criticisms were small: the mirrors are set too close together and show more of your arms than the road behind, and changing the air filter means lifting the tank and removing several panels.
Price and availability in South Africa
Honda South Africa lists the CB750 Hornet from R198,799, in Pearl Glare White or Mat Goldfinch Yellow, the colours of the updated bike. Honda’s dealers also throw in free rider training with any new Honda, which is worth asking about if you are new to bigger bikes.
The E-Clutch version is not on Honda South Africa’s site yet. In Britain it costs £100 more than the standard bike, so if it comes here expect a premium in the low thousands rather than tens of thousands. Honda already fits the system to other models, so ask a Honda Wing dealer about timing.
At under R200,000 the Hornet is one of the better value new middleweights on the local market. The nearest Hondas above it are the retro CB1000F and the CB1000 Hornet, both four-cylinder bikes at a much higher price.
There are no Hornets on Scooter125 at the moment. See the naked bikes for sale and the Honda motorbikes for sale to compare.
What it costs to run
Petrol is at a record. The October 2026 adjustment, effective 7 October, took inland 95 unleaded to about R30 a litre.
Honda’s European consumption figure for the Hornet is about 4.3 litres per 100 km. Ridden the way a naked bike invites, expect closer to 5.
- A full 15.2 litre tank costs about R456.
- Range is roughly 300 km ridden hard, about 350 km ridden gently.
- Fuel costs about R1.30 a kilometre.
- A 40 km round-trip commute costs about R52 a day, or roughly R1,140 over 22 working days.
The engine is shared with the Transalp, so parts are common and dealers know it well. Tyres in 120/70 and 160/60 sizes are among the cheapest you can buy for a bike this size.
Licence requirements in South Africa
South Africa has two motorcycle licence codes. Code A1 covers bikes up to 125cc from age 16. Code A covers everything else from age 18. The Hornet needs a full Code A, and a car licence does not cover it.
In Europe Honda sells a 35 kW version for the A2 licence class. South Africa has no such class, so the local bike is the full 67.5 kW. For a rider moving up from a 125 or a 300, the low seat, light weight and Rain mode make it one of the more forgiving choices, and the E-Clutch removes the stalling that catches out new riders. Our guide to what a motorbike licence costs in South Africa covers the fees and the tests.
Hornet versus the alternatives
Visordown lined the E-Clutch up against its British rivals: the Yamaha MT-07 with Y-AMT at £7,854, the Suzuki GSX-8S at £7,999, the Triumph Trident 660 at £8,095, the Kawasaki Z650 S at £7,199 and the KTM 790 Duke at £7,999. The Hornet undercut all but the Kawasaki and had more power than any of them. South African prices below are what we could confirm, and they change often.
Suzuki GSX-8S
The closest match: a 776cc twin with 61 kW, about 202 kg, listed by Suzuki South Africa at R179,950. The Suzuki has a quickshifter as standard and a softer, more comfortable set-up. The Honda is lighter, has 6 kW more and better brakes, and costs about R19,000 more.
KTM 790 Duke
Listed by KTM South Africa at R169,999. It makes 77 kW, weighs less than the Honda and has fully adjustable WP suspension. It is the sharper bike and the Honda is the easier one to live with. Read our KTM 790 Duke review.
BMW F 900 R
An 895cc twin with 77 kW, listed new on Scooter125 from around R200,000. It is heavier and more of a sports tourer than a naked, with BMW’s dealer network and optional electronics behind it. See the BMW naked bikes for sale.
Yamaha MT-07
The Hornet’s traditional rival, with a 689cc twin making about 54 kW. It now offers Yamaha’s Y-AMT automated gearbox, which goes further than E-Clutch by shifting for you too. It has noticeably less power than the Honda. Check current pricing with Yamaha South Africa.
Honda CB1000F
If the Hornet’s twin feels too small, Honda’s own retro four-cylinder CB1000F makes 91 kW at a much higher price. We covered it in our CB1000F review.
Full specifications
| Engine | 755cc parallel twin, liquid-cooled, Unicam SOHC, eight valves, 270 degree crank |
| Bore and stroke | 87 mm x 63.5 mm |
| Compression ratio | 11.0:1 |
| Fuelling | PGM-FI, 46 mm throttle bodies, throttle-by-wire |
| Power | 67.5 kW (90.5 hp) at 9,500 rpm |
| Torque | 75 Nm at 7,250 rpm |
| Gearbox | Six-speed; Honda E-Clutch on the E-Clutch version |
| Clutch | Wet multi-plate, assist and slipper |
| Final drive | Chain, 16/45 sprockets |
| Frame | Steel diamond |
| Front suspension | Showa 41 mm SFF-BP upside-down fork, 130 mm travel |
| Rear suspension | Pro-Link monoshock, seven-step preload, 150 mm travel |
| Front brakes | Twin 296 mm discs, Nissin radial four-piston calipers, ABS |
| Rear brake | 240 mm disc, single-piston caliper, ABS |
| Wheels and tyres | 17 inch cast; 120/70 ZR17 and 160/60 ZR17 |
| Rake and trail | 25 degrees, 99 mm |
| Wheelbase | 1,420 mm |
| Seat height | 795 mm |
| Kerb weight | 190 kg; about 196 kg with E-Clutch |
| Fuel tank | 15.2 litres |
| Instruments | 5 inch TFT, Honda RoadSync |
| Riding modes | Sport, Standard, Rain and two User modes |
| Colours (South Africa) | Pearl Glare White, Mat Goldfinch Yellow |
| South African price | From R198,799 (standard); E-Clutch not yet listed |
| United Kingdom price | £7,449 standard, £7,549 E-Clutch |
| United States price | $7,999 E-Clutch plus destination charge |
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Honda CB750 Hornet in South Africa?
Honda South Africa lists it from R198,799. The E-Clutch version is not yet listed locally. In Britain it costs £100 more than the standard bike.
What is the Honda E-Clutch?
An electronically controlled clutch that handles pulling away, gear changes and stopping without the rider touching the lever. You still change gear with your foot, and the lever still works as a normal clutch if you use it.
Is the E-Clutch an automatic gearbox?
No. It is a normal six-speed gearbox with a clutch that is operated for you. Yamaha’s Y-AMT on the MT-07 goes further and changes gear as well.
How much power does the CB750 Hornet make?
67.5 kW, which is 90.5 hp, at 9,500 rpm, with 75 Nm of torque. That is more than the MT-07, Z650 and Trident 660.
Is the CB750 Hornet good for a beginner?
As a first big bike after a 125 or a 300, yes. The seat is low, the weight is modest, Rain mode softens the power and the E-Clutch removes stalling. It is too powerful to be a first bike for a complete beginner.
What is the seat height of the CB750 Hornet?
795 mm, which is low for a bike of this size.
How far will the CB750 Hornet go on a tank?
About 350 km from the 15.2 litre tank at Honda’s figure, and about 300 km ridden hard.
What is the difference between the CB750 Hornet and the CB1000 Hornet?
The CB750 is a 755cc twin with 67.5 kW. The CB1000 Hornet is a 1,000cc four-cylinder bike with far more power and a much higher price.
The verdict
The CB750 Hornet earned its sales the straightforward way: it is quick enough, light enough, cheap enough and so easy to ride that the tests struggled to find anything wrong with it. The 2026 update changes little, and the little it changes is for the better.
The E-Clutch is the interesting part. It is not an automatic and it does not need to be. It takes one job away from the rider, makes the bike impossible to stall and still lets you use the lever when you want to. For R2,000 or so, if the British premium carries over, it is the easiest option to tick on any bike this year. The only open question is what a clutch service will cost in ten years, and nobody knows yet.
For South Africa the standard bike at R198,799 is the one you can buy today, and it is one of the best-value new middleweights on the market. Ask your Honda Wing dealer when the E-Clutch arrives, and ride the Suzuki GSX-8S and KTM 790 Duke on the same day. Then compare all three with the naked bikes for sale on Scooter125.
Sources referenced
- Honda South Africa, CB750 Hornet model page: local price, colours and specification
- Honda (United States), 2026 CB750 Hornet E-Clutch model page: specification and price
- Honda News, “2026 Honda CB750 Hornet E-Clutch Features & Benefits”: engine, chassis and electronics detail
- Visordown, Chris Cope, “2026 Honda CB750 Hornet E-Clutch full review and specs”
- Dancing the Polka, “2026 Honda CB750 Hornet E-Clutch Review”, 1 April 2026
- Suzuki South Africa and KTM South Africa price lists; BMW F 900 R listings on Scooter125
- Honda Motor Southern Africa, “Shake Up The Hive with the All-New Hornet CB750!” (video)
- Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, October 2026 fuel price adjustment
