This nameplate arrived in Honda’s new NC series for the 2012 model year, introduced as a practical crossover motorcycle aimed at riders who wanted approachable performance, strong everyday usability, and lower running costs than many larger displacement bikes. Honda positioned it around a fresh 670cc parallel-twin platform with a low center of gravity and the brand’s unconventional storage compartment where a conventional fuel tank would normally sit, which helped define the model’s identity from the start. The bike also helped expand Honda’s motorcycle Dual Clutch Transmission offering, making the automatic-style gearbox available on an adventure-styled platform early in its life.
For North America, Honda continued to market the nameplate through the 2015 model year, even after the same underlying machine had been updated as the NC750X in some other regions. That makes the 700-badged version an early chapter in Honda’s modern NC family rather than a separate long-running line. Enthusiasts tend to remember it as one of Honda’s more original mainstream motorcycles: a commuter-friendly adventure crossover that emphasized function, simplicity, and real-world usefulness over traditional spec-sheet bragging rights.