Type approval documents appear to confirm long-held assumptions that the much rumoured upcoming 1100cc sports tourer from Honda will indeed be known as the Honda NT 1100.
Talk of the new model has been rife for around 18 months, ever since the 1100cc parallel-twin emerged in the latest generation CRF Africa adventure motorcycle, but there has been a drip-drip feed of information ever since.
Indeed, talk of the model being referred to as the NT 1100 actually dates back to February 2021 after the nameplate was registered by Honda, but type approval documents seemingly confirm development has ramped up ahead of what we assume will be a reveal around the EICMA show in Milan in November 2021.
The new model will mark the return of the NT nameplate debuted in 1998 on the NT650V and last seen on the Deauville. This alone gives us a nice big clue as to what to expect, with the NT 1100 also representing a return to the Sports Tourer category, one that would see Honda plumped right in the middle of its most likely competitors, the BMW R 1250 RT and Kawasaki Ninja 1000 SX.
Several renders have done the rounds in the last few months with the one pictured above seemingly a fairly accurate indication of what it will look like. It borrows heavily from the CBX concept revealed at EICMA in 2019, though that model was a four-cylinder 650cc mid-range tourer with sights set on the Yamaha Tracer 7.
That model is still expected to be in the pipeline, but it is known Honda is keen to expand the use of the new 1100cc platform, which has since given us the CMX 1100 Rebel cruiser.
As we say, the timing does appear to be neatly in line for EICMA, which will take place on November 25-28, where the NT 1100 won’t be the only model Honda is expected to reveal.
Indeed, if the NT 1100 is borrowing the platform from the Africa Twin, then the same bike will be inspiration for a planned rival for the Yamaha Tenere 700 and Aprilia Tuareg 650, known colloquially as the Honda Transalp.
