AFRICA TWIN IS MY DREAM COME TRUE
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, living in a beautiful house by a lake in Kyoto with an exquisite, funny, charming violinist who owns a vineyard and cooks like Gordon Ramsay but without the tantrums. And is a woman. I always like that in funny, charming violinists.
Oh, no, wait, that was the dream I had last night. I was actually about to go out riding on the Africa Twin that Honda has rather foolishly given me to play with. The last version of this was launched in 2016, since when Honda’s sold a whopping 87,000. It was hardly surprising – the only gizmos may have been toggle switches to control the threestage traction control and
ABS, but I loved its visceral snarl, relentless acceleration, unflustered suspension and precise handling.
What hasn’t changed with the latest version are the excellent mirrors and the Master of the Universe riding position, but what has is the big, bright TFT screen.
Most bike rider modes these days are something like Rain, Road and Sport, aka Wuss, Mr Average and
Maniac, but rather weirdly, Honda’s gone for Tour, Urban, Gravel, Off-road and two User modes for tweaking of power, engine braking, ABS, traction control and anti-wheelie.
Power is up from 94 to 101bhp and torque from 72 to 77 lb ft, plus there are 80 engine and exhaust tweaks for higher performance, all making for very satisfying progress towards the horizon. The big difference, however, is that on the previous bike the nose genuflected under heavy front braking as eagerly as a nun meeting the Pope – a standard problem with adventure bike long-travel suspension. Now, though, the Showa’s semi-active suspension on the flagship Adventure Sport model catches it faster than Clark Kent grabbing a plummeting Lois Lane.
Which brings me to handling, for it was time to adjust the electronic suspension from one rider to rider plus luggage, since at 6ft 7ins I’m slightly heavier than the average Honda test rider.
Which means I overload the back of the bike, which makes the front end light and the steering floaty.
Well, what a difference – from tidy cornering to precision carving at the press of a button.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better stop enjoying myself and head home, since Yuko finishes violin practice at seven and I’m on cooking duty tonight!