Adventure bikes are freedom in the truest sense of the world – they are not limited by tarmac, highway speeds, a pillion… none of it. All you need to do is make sure there’s gas in the tank and air in the tires, and you’re pretty much good to go. These days, however, the full-size ADVs have bloated to technological tour de forces, and with great tech comes great maintenance bills.
That’s not always the case, though. There are some brands that don’t give in to the temptation of excess, choosing instead to refine the recipe they have until it is near-perfect. Honda is one such brand with products that don’t have numbers that jump out at you from the spec sheet, but they certainly are extremely effective in the real world. And, it has in its range the adventure bike that marries stress-free ownership with cross-country comfort.
The Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports Strikes A Perfect Balance
The Africa Twin often gets overlooked because it lies in a no man’s land between the premium middleweight ADVs and the full-size ones. That refers to both its price and its specs. It’s very easy to overlook because it hasn’t had big changes for a while now – but that’s exactly why it is perfect. It was always a very comfortable bike, and especially as the Africa Twin Adventure Sports with the electronic suspension, it adds a new dimension of comfort to things. Being a Honda, it is a given that it will be reliable, and that is backed up with the maturing of the platform, which has had no significant changes since it launched the CRF1100L in 2020.
Premium Middleweight ADV Pricing
The Africa Twin Adventure Sports costs $17,799, putting it below pretty much every full-size ADV in the market. It is also available with a six speed automatic dual clutch gearbox, and that retails for an extra $800, at $18,399. This makes it an extremely good value-for-money proposition. Again, the power and torque figures might not excite you, but it definitely has the pace for whatever you might need in the real world, and the ownership costs are among the lowest in its segment.
Engine Puts Needs Over Wants
The Africa Twin Adventure Sports’ 1,084 cc engine is a 270-degree parallel twin with a Unicam SOHC head that helps make the engine compact. It generates 100 horsepower at 7,500 RPM and 82.6 pound-feet at 5,500 RPM. It has a by-wire throttle and six-axis IMU, so there are ride modes, cornering traction control, wheelie control, and cruise control.
Only True Automatic Transmission As An Option
The Africa Twin was one of the first Hondas to make the dual-clutch transmission popular. Today, you can have manual control over the shifts via paddles on the handlebar, or you can select different shift modes – the ‘D’ mode is an all-purpose mode, while ‘S’ has sporty intent and three levels of increasingly aggressive shift patterns depending on your mood. There is even a foot-operated shifter available as an accessory.
The Africa Twin is also the only Honda to get a ‘G Switch’. This enables a mode that slips the clutch a little more for technical off-road work at really slow speeds. If you don’t like the automatic, however, there is a six-speed manual with an assist and slipper clutch and a two-way quickshifter available as standard fitment.
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Off-Road Frame, On-Road Focus
The Africa Twin Adventure Sports is the tourer from the two Africa Twin variants, and is geared toward being a better tourer on paved roads rather than pursuing ability in the dirt. Still, it has a semi-double cradle frame, which means it will be good off-road as well. It has a steel subframe and an aluminum swingarm as well. The electronic suspension is provided by Showa (there is no standard variant for the Adventure Sports). The front is a 45 mm SFF-BP inverted fork, while the rear has electronic preload adjustment in addition to the electronic damping adjustment. Suspension travel is 9.1 inches at the front and 7.9 inches at the rear.
The brakes are the usual 310 mm twin discs at the front paired with four piston radial fixed calipers, and a 256 mm rear disc with a two-piston floating caliper. The petal discs are a nice touch, and the standard cornering ABS is switchable at the rear. The wheel sizes are 19-inch front and 18-inch rear, which are a combination present only on two adventure bikes: this, and the Triumph Tiger 1200 GT. The spoked rims support tubeless tires.
A Full-Size ADV
This is a full-size ADV with a 61.8-inch wheelbase, but it is a little easier than the regular Africa Twin because Honda hasn’t changed anything in the chassis with the Africa Twin Adventure Sports. Thus, with the 19-inch front wheel (as opposed to the 21-inch one), the front of the bike drops a little, improving the weight distribution for tarmac touring, and lowering the seat height a little, to 33.7 inches. It weighs 535 pounds wet, which is helped by how narrow it feels. Its touring credentials are backed up by a massive 6.6-gallon fuel tank.
Borderline Luxury
A decently sized 6.5-inch TFT touchscreen sits front and center of the Africa Twin. This display has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so it has Bluetooth and navigation as well. There is a small LCD screen below it that shows critical information like fuel level and speed. Standard features include a manually adjustable windshield, heated grips, and cornering headlamps. The options list is filled with useful accessories like a center stand, luggage, and crash guards on it.
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Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports Competition
There is no shortage of competitors for the Africa Twin Adventure Sports. At a similar price, there is the Moto Guzzi Stelvio, which can be specified with a radar-guided adaptive cruise control system for $17,390. Put in a little more money, and you can have the KTM 1390 Super Adventure R, which can go further off-road than any of the other ADVs here with ease, but won’t be as comfortable anywhere else. You’ll need just $21,649 to get one. At a similar price is the Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Pro ($23,195), which has a reputation for being able to handle off-road situations just as well as touring. Finally, the Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally has a very steep price of admission – $31,995 –, but it is well worth the money if you have that kind of cash for a bike.
Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports vs. BMW R 1300 GS Adventure
|
Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES |
BMW R 1300 GS Adventure |
|
|
Price |
$17,799 |
$23,795 |
|
Engine |
270° I2 |
Longitudinal boxer twin |
|
Displacement |
1,084 cc |
1,300 cc |
|
Power |
100.5 HP @ 7,500 RPM |
145 HP @ 7,750 RPM |
|
Torque |
82.6 LB-FT @ 5,500 RPM |
110 LB-FT @ 6,500 RPM |
|
Gearbox |
6-speed manual/DCT |
6-speed manual/AMT |
|
Electronic Suspension |
Yes |
Optional |
|
Curb Weight |
535 LBs (wet) |
593 LBs (wet) |
The only real competition, however, is the king of the segment, the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure. It costs a fair bit more, but it is similar in a lot of ways to the Honda. It has a twin-cylinder engine, the option of electronic suspension, and a massive fuel tank. There are some differences as well – the engine is longitudinally mounted, has shaft drive, the suspension consists of double wishbones at the front and a single-sided swingarm at the rear, and it relies on a TFT display exclusively for instrumentation. However, you can specify it with an automatic gearbox as well, just like the Honda – but speccing it with the electronic suspension and auto ‘box will drive the price right up against the Ducati’s figure.
Source: Honda Powersports