The first Honda DN01 to come through the shop. These really are a unique bike. The looks alone are a head turner. I purposely parked the DN01 in the shop window and people who normally wouldn’t look in would stop and stare. But it’s not only the looks that are different. The DN01 is fully automatic and has no clutch. Honda have taken the hydrostatic drive unit found in some of there ATV and transplanted it into the DN01. The hydrostatic unit is bullet proof and in all the time I worked at Honda I can only ever recall 1 or 2 units having to be replaced. Not a bad record for the amount of ATV’s Honda churn out in to the market each year and the fact most ATV users aren’t the best people in the world for sticking to maintenance schedules either. Doing the first service on the DN01 requires the valve clearances to be checked and that was when I found something else unique about the bike. The spark plugs are NGK SIMR8A9. I’ve never seen this spark plug before and according to the manual you don’t set the gap on the electrode like normal plugs you just put them in and wait until the electrode burns away. Once you can get a 1mm feeler gauge in between the electrode and the tip of the plug it’s time to fit some new ones. The only thing I didn’t like about the DN01 was the two stage fuel tank. To get the rocker cover off the rear cylinder requires the first tank to be moved out the way. This wouldn’t have been so bad to do if the owner hadn’t decided to fill the bike up before bringing it in for the service. Note to owners of DN01’s – when you take them for a service let the fuel level run low. Once the service was done it was time for a test ride. This thing really impressed me. The auto transmission was super smooth, and I mean super smooth. The combination of the hydrostatic unit and shaft final drive really works well. I was very impressed. The handling was nice too. Seeing it’s a weighty bike it carried it very well and the seating position was nice for cruising along. In all honesty I think I could see myself owning one of these. There was just something about it that I really liked.