The others
ATAS, Ninja 1000SX, KTM 790 Adventure R and CRF250L
MOSTLY GARAGED DURING lockdown, on a trickle charger to prevent Honda’s vampiric tracker sucking the life from the battery, the Africa Twin has been — like, I guess, many of our bikes — fairly idle over the last few months. Shopping expeditions made good use of the Honda’s voluminous panniers and topbox — at 112 litres all-in, that’s a lot of toilet roll – and confirmed my admiration for the bike; it’s big, has presence, but isn’t so bulky you feel anything less than 500 miles is a waste of effort getting it out.
And it’s rapid too — back-to-back with Suzuki’s new V-strom 1050, I’d say the Honda parallel twin has the legs. It certainly beats it on fuel consumption; even riding pretty much flat out, I can’t get the Africa Twin below 40mpg; it’s averaging 41.6. The Suzuki, on the other hand, is down in the 30s; with a 20-litre tank against the Honda’s 25 litres, that’s over 100 miles plus difference between fill-ups.
Honda offers Pack options for the Africa Twins; ours is nearest the Aluminium Travel Pack (minus a few items), which is: ally panniers and topbox (with inner bags, ignition key locks and rails), centrestand and tank bag (all fitted to our bike) — plus engine bars, air deflectors and tinted screen (not fitted). The total add-on cost is £2315, which brings the price of our bike (if it had the complete Pack) to £16,964.
Other Pack options include the Aluminium Super Pack — everything above plus fog lights and a rad guard for £3400 — or the Plastic Super Pack which is everything mentioned thus far, but plastic panniers and (larger) topbox, for £2900. If you want the up/down quickshifter (and I do), that’s a separate extra not included in a Pack.
All the above is available in a complete upgrade called the Africa Twin Adventure Sports Plus at £15,849, which is probably the cheapest option but now I’m confused by it all. So enough of all that: here’s what our bike actually has:
Honda aluminium pannier pack and top-box
£1200 (panniers and rails) £680 (topbox and plate) Well finished and spacious (33 and 37-litre panniers; 42-litre topbox), the panniers don’t significantly alter the Honda’s handling even loaded and are slim enough to keep inside the bike’s profile. Worth it? They aren’t cheap, so see if you can do a deal on them when buying the bike.
Honda centrestand
£195
Why isn’t it fitted as standard? Being required to pay extra for something you need to maintain the bike on a weekly basis is outrageous.
Worth it? Yes but it should be standard.
Honda tank bag
£110
Natty little waterproof (claimed, untested) 4.5-litre tank bag with clear phone pouch on top. Clips to the tank but also has magnets which, predictably, scratched the tank instantly.
Worth it? The jury’s out on that.
Michelin Anakee Adventures
£230 After 3600 miles, the OE Bridgestone AX41T rear squared-off enough to be binned. The mileage isn’t a fair reflection — I’d say 6000-8000 miles is more likely but it depends en-tyre-ly on use.
The Bridgestones are vanilla; uninspiring but predictable. In the dry, they’re confident and steer naturally; in the wet, grip gets sketchy. I swapped them for Michelin Anakee Adventures. They stick well on the road; the rear has more grip than the Bridgestone but there’s more movement from the tread blocks on the front as it turns. But the overall feel is slightly better ride quality and much more cornering feedback. Worth it? Yes, they’re a good replacement.
SIMON HARGREAVES