Honda’s Africa Twin is about to be reborn
HONDA has confirmed that the venerable Africa Twin motorcycle will be brought back to life this year after a 12-year hibernation.
Based on the Honda True Adventure prototype shown at Italy’s EICMA motorcycle show in November, the CRF1000L Africa Twin will go on sale here early next year to again give the Japanese firm a direct rival to dual-purpose machines like the BMW GS and Triumph Tiger 800 XCx.
The previous Africa Twin was a rugged adventure bike with longtravel suspension that forged its reputation on the Dakar Rally. The original XRV650 Africa Twin, which debuted in 1988 based on the NXR-750 which won the ParisDakar Rally four times in the late eighties, was a go-anywhere machine that took no prisoners offroad. Its successor, the more powerful XRV750, continued that legacy until it was discontinued in 2003 and later replaced by the more road-based Honda XL 700V Transalp.
The new Africa Twin remains true to all the attributes and abilities of its predecessors, while adding the benefits of everything Honda has learnt on and off-road over the last decade, including Team HRC’s return to the Dakar in 2013.
Furthermore, in a first for the category, the Africa Twin will offer the option of an automatic Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). Offering clutch-free gearshifts, the system’s already employed in Honda road bikes such as the VFR 1200 and NC 750, but is specifically adapted for off-road use in the Africa Twin.
Honda is for now cagey about output details of the parallel-twin 1000cc engine, but it’s safe to say it will comfortably out-power the old XRV750 which produced 45kW of power and 62.7Nm of torque from its V-twin 742cc engine. It’s also likely that, like its rivals, the Honda will feature rider-assistance gizmos like traction control and ABS. There are only these two teaser pictures for now, but we’ll share more info as we get it.