What is Honda’s E-Clutch? Here’s what it is, how it works and how you should use it as a Malaysian rider

With the launch of the 2025 Honda CB650R naked sports and CBR650R sportsbike, the E-Clutch makes its appearance in the Malaysian motorcycle market. But what is an E-Clutch, how do you use it and is it answering a question nobody asked?

In a media ride event at the Boon Siew Honda headquarters in Batu Kawan, Penang, assembled Malaysia motoring media were given a ride experience with the CB650R and CBR650R. While a full ride review of both Honda’s middleweight motorcycles is forthcoming from paultan.org, the event, called “Ride and Connect”, served to demonstrate what the E-Clutch is like.

There are many who wonder what the E-Clutch actually is. Some have likened it to being the same as a kapchai’s rotary gearbox, with centrifugal clutch. Which it is not.

There are some who have said it is a Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) gearbox. Which it is not. The DCT gearbox is a measure of engineering and electronic wizardry well above that of the E-Clutch.

There are those who say it is an automatic gearbox. Which it is not. There is no torque convertor for a start, and the E-Clutch gearbox shares the same oil sump as the rest of the engine internal.

It is not a quickshifter either, though in practice and on the road, it functions very much like a very well adjusted up-and-down quickshifter but does not require any measure of rev matching or attention to engine and road speed.

What the E-Clutch is, which was over a decade in development, is a servo actuated clutch mechanism, mated to a conventional gearbox and standard multi-plate motorcycle clutch. A robotically activated clutch, if you will. If this sounds a little familiar, you might have encountered such a system in vehicles, notably prime movers and other such heavy machinery.

This means you can operate the motorcycle with the E-Clutch completely disengaged, using the clutch lever on the handlebar and gear shift as you would normally. In fact, should the E-Clutch system fail, it will automatically default to manual mode, thereby not stranding the rider.

In operation, the CB650R and CBR650R, the only Honda motorcycles in Malaysia thus equipped, will start by default in E-Clutch mode. Moving off is simply a matter of stepping on the gear shift into first then twisting the throttle.

No need to balance throttle opening and clutch engagement. Of course, many riders have honed the skill of proportioning throttle and clutch, sometimes a skill learned the hard way with unintentional wheelies and dropped bikes.

But if you’re a brand new rider, or a rider coming back to the sport, or are just intimidated by riding a full-size motorcycle, there is much to commend in the E-Clutch system. You no longer have to worry about stalling the bike, or fumbling a gear change.

Just tap dance on the gear shift as you normally would, and the E-Clutch takes care of it all for you. The system works by using a Motor Control Unit (MCU) to operate two small electric motors driving a set of gears.

Movement of the gears mimics the movement of the clutch actuation lever at the gearbox, as it would if the rider was pulling the clutch lever at the handlebar. Except the MCU does it a lot smoother and quicker than the rider.

No doubt, riders with sensitive throttle and clutch control could do it a lot better. In fact, we did notice a slight ‘jerk’ when taking off in first and opening the throttle.

This unwanted movement disappeared when we opened the throttle a little more quickly. During the technical briefing, it was explained there are three levels of adjustment for the E-Clutch engagement and disengagement – Hard, Medium and Soft.

In operation a rider can select exactly how they want the clutch to engage or disengage, with the corresponding movement at the wheel. You can even select any permutation between the six levels of adjustment offered, thus giving the option of, for example, a ‘soft’ clutch engagement and ‘hard’ disengage.

As was explained during the brief, this allows the rider to select how E-Clutch behaves, based on specific riding styles. In any case, pulling the hand clutch lever in when the engine is running automatically disengages the E-Clutch.

What do you do when this happens. And we can tell you it does happen as habits honed over decades of riding compel you to instinctively pull the clutch in, especially when coasting to a stop.

No, you don’t have to go hunting through a menu to reactivate the E-CLutch. All you need to do is put the engine in neutral, let the engine idle below 1,600 rpm for five seconds and the E-Clutch comes back on.

That is not to say the E-Clutch is perfect, because it isn’t. We found this out riding the CB650R in gravel and on an uphill with riding instinct wanting us to half clutch the gearbox and blip the throttle to find available traction.

In this particular instance, we held the front brake and goosed throttle slightly. As the bike gained traction and the clutch fully engaged, we opened the throttle and rode up the hill as per normal.

So, not perfect, but not bad. The E-Clutch system takes a little getting used to but most riders would fall into the habit of not using the clutch after about an hour or so and if the clutch lever is inadvertently pressed, reactivating the system is a matter of sitting still for a moment with the engine idling in neutral.

For the wheelie merchants, take note the E-Clutch will not allow wheelies or rear wheel slides. You need to switch to full manual mode for that, plus we can tell you the traction control on the CB650R and CBR650R is quite aggressive, discouraging any two-wheel hooliganism.

We did find riding the 650 Hondas in traffic with the E-CLutch on a convenience. Not having to think about clutch timing and engine rpm allowed us to just focus on the riding part of things.

Can you use it like a quickshifter? Yes, you can and you never have to worry about engine speed or accidentally selecting the wrong gear as the MCU, together with the ECU, will prevent engine over speed and the rear tyre breaking traction.

In fact, with E-Clutch activated, the system can half-clutch to reduce shock while down shifting, making gear changes quicker and smoother. The “half-clutching” also avoids aggressive clutch operation avoiding stalling or tipping over the motorcycle when starting or stopping.

The question we were asked is, would we buy one? The answer we gave was, the E-Clutch system would suit a certain kind of rider, e.g. the new rider or one coming back to riding after a very long break away, the rider who is making the transition to their first “real” big bike, even the shorter rider who has reach problems and can focus on just the shifting and braking, without having to worry about control of the clutch.