2025 Honda X-ADV Review: The Maxi Scoot Brits Shouldn’t Ignore

‘Adventure maxi scooter’ sounds like the biggest niche in the two-wheeled world, but believe it or not, the Honda X-ADV is one of the most popular bikes the Japanese manufacturer makes. You’ll rarely see one of them in the UK though, as while Honda flogs loads of them in continental Europe, especially France, Spain and Italy, they’re slow sellers on our shores.

To bolster those already strong sales (but probably not move the needle in the maxi scooter-averse in the UK), there’s an updated version for 2025, along with a refreshed 2025 Honda Forza 750, which shares much in common with the X-ADV.

To find out how all the tweaks work out, I headed to the international launch in Sicily for riding on a mix of roads including urban, twisty country roads and some light dirt tracks.

2025 Honda X-ADV: pricing and availability

At the time of writing, orders hadn’t yet opened for the 2025 X-ADV and we weren’t sure of the price. Judging by how much was charged for the outgoing version, it’ll be somewhere around £11,000. It can be specced in either Graphite Black, Pearl Glare White or Matte Deep Mud Grey.

What’s different about the 2025 X-ADV?

The styling has been overhauled, with no single body panel carried over from the last bike. It’s a smarter-looking thing, but still has plenty of aggressive details to set it apart from the Forza 750, with which it shares a tubular steel frame, its 58bhp, 748cc parallel twin and a whole load of the tech.

That includes the new TFT and switchgear, and a tweaked six-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT). The latter now uses an estimated reading for the oil pressure in the clutch piston chamber rather than using a sensor, using a complicated algorithm. If you don’t understand any of that, don’t worry - all you need to know is that it’s supposed to improve the low-speed sensitivity of the system.

Also on the tech front, the front light is now twice as bright, and the gravel mode has been revised.

Unlike the Forza 750, which gets an electronically adjustable screen, the X-ADV’s has to be adjusted by hand, but the design is new, meaning it can now be done one-handed on the move.

A new comfort seat has been added to the accessories catalogue, but your bum should be happier even with the standard seat, which has been redesigned to offer more thickness at the sides while making it easier to touch the floor. Speaking of, the seat height is a very accessible 820mm.

Further differentiating the bike from the Forza, there are wire wheels instead of cast (albeit with the same sizing), swapping the more road-oriented machine’s Pirelli Diablo Rosso Scooter tyres for light trail-friendly Bridgestone Battlax Adventure Touring hoops. The front brakes are marginally smaller but are still worked on by four-piston callipers, and the dual-channel ABS setup remains.

There’s 153mm more suspension travel from the upside-down fork (30mm more than the Forza), while the 10-stage preload-adjustable rear monoshock delivers 150mm. Finally, the bars are a little wider and have a slightly higher rise.

What’s it like to ride?

Initially, the riding experience is very similar to the Forza’s, but soon, the extra squish becomes apparent. It makes rough roads in town a little bit more comfortable, while away from urban areas on the twisty stuff, it’s slightly less keen to change direction.

Be a little more aggressive with the steering, which is easy enough thanks to the extra leverage of the wider bar, and there’s not much between the two. It has a proper ‘big bike’ feel to it, and even with the legs forward seating position, you start to forget you’re on a scooter.

It’s an absolute riot to chuck around, just as the Forza 750 is, and feels plenty stable when lent over, albeit marginally less reassuring thanks to the switch in tyres. You also wouldn’t guess it weighs 235kg.

The parallel-twin, which feels a bit dull in the NC750X, feels ideal here. You appreciate its gutsiness much more, and the dual-clutch gearbox does a great job of making the most of the power and torque bands. It’s far from revvy, topping out at only 7,000rpm, but in a maxi scooter, you’re not exactly hankering after high-revving heroics, are you? It even sounds pretty decent, thanks to a 270-degree crankshaft giving an offset firing order.

A short go on a pre-update X-ADV wasn’t quite long enough to truly suss out whether the low-speed operation of the DCT is any smoother, but it remains a very well sorted ‘box overall. Shifts are smooth and usually seamless, and in the normal mode, it always feels as though it’s picking the right ratios, making the manual mode and the up/down shifters on the left-hand switch cube feel a bit redundant. The system is maybe a little too keen to hold onto gears in Sport mode, though.

The new screen can indeed be easily adjusted on the move, although it does rattle slightly when riding over rough surfaces. Also, the coverage isn’t anywhere near as good as the Forza’s, so things get noticeably noisier in the saddle. Something worth bearing in mind if you’re going to be clocking a lot of miles.

Despite my assertion that ‘adventure maxi scooter’ sounds like a bit of a niche, in many parts of Europe, something like the X-ADV actually makes a lot of sense. There’ll often come a point where the road carries on, but the surface doesn’t. The unpaved road that follows is unlikely to be hugely gnarly, but it’ll be choppy enough to make taking a regular scooter down there a bit sketchy. Enter stage left, possibly slightly sideways, the X-ADV.

Although the section of unpaved road on our route was short, the X-ADV was able to quickly impress with how confidently it handled the chunk. Yes, a 17-inch front wheel and 15-inch rear means you are hooked into ruts a little more aggressively than on a proper adventure bike with bigger hoops, but you’re still encouraged to twist the throttle enthusiastically and light up the rear wheel.

It helped that the test bikes all had the optional flip-out rally pegs. What’s a little disappointing though is when stood up on them, the bodywork cuts into your legs, unless you adopt a weird, squatting riding stance. Granted, people aren’t likely to be doing all-day gravel epics on these bikes, but even after only a few minutes of off-road riding, it started to get a bit uncomfortable.

When sat back down and on solid ground, though, comfort definitely isn’t an issue. The ride is sumptuously soft, and the comfort seat is friendly to your bum. It also feels nicely premium from behind the bars, too, with the updated, easy-to-navigate TFT and the fresh switch cubes smartening things up accordingly. As mentioned in our Forza 750 review, though, the tiny new mode button feels like a backward step - I preferred the bigger, easier-to-locate switch on the old bike. 

Should you buy a 2025 Honda X-ADV?

Given the expected pricing, the X-ADV is, much like the Forza 750, going to be a tough sell in the UK, albeit the slightly more popular of the two, expecting to take about 250 sales next year versus the biggest Forza’s 200. Many will be swayed by ‘proper’ bikes from the lower end of the ADV market costing similar money. They won’t be as practical, though, and definitely not as good at filtering.

The X-ADV might just be the most versatile thing on two wheels you can buy new, and the tweaks for 2025, while not massive, work together to make it a better bike than ever. It seems a shame, then, that so many will overlook it.