Africa Twin Adventure Sport and H2 SX SE do big miles
Easy-going Africa Twin takes it all in its stride when the going gets rough
I have to admit I was a little bit apprehensive before embarking on a ten-day trip to Spain on the Africa Twin Adventure Sport. I knew it would eat up the road miles, but it was the six days off-road on the Trans Euro Trail that left me a little bit twitchy.
Because of the nature of the trip I was also carrying a lot of kit. So, in addition to the 242kg bike and 70kg rider, there was another 30kg of camping and cooking gear plus water, tools and spares to factor in; all of which were carried in panniers and a tail pack which added to the size, weight and width of the bike. To start with, it all felt a bit unwieldy; even pulling off my own drive was a worry. The extra suspension travel of the Adventure Sport model was soon soaked up and that, combined with the off-road focused Mitas E-09 tyres, didn’t inspire confidence on my wet ride down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Santander in Northern Spain.
Fast forward five days and I’m navigating my way down a technical single-track trail before blasting up a steep rocky climb. The rear wheel is spinning up, the back is snaking, the luggage is bouncing but I get to the top feet-up, without drama. It’s amazing what back-to-back 12-hour days on your bike do to your confidence. Now, instead of feeling slightly overwhelmed by its mass, I’m in tune, fully bonded and loving every mile that I ride. The Africa Twin may not be the sharpest, most powerful or technologically advanced offering in the adventure bike class, but what it lacks in specification it more than makes up for in its usability. The soft, long-travel suspension absorbs all but the biggest bumps as long as you’re not going too fast, while the linear power and low-down grunt enable you to find grip and keep forward momentum. It’s actually reasonably highly geared, with a marked gap between first and second, but if you’re able to get the bike into second and rely on its low-down torque from anywhere around 2000rpm it’s incredibly capable and a lot easier than being further up the rev range in first.
By the end of the trip I had covered close to 600 miles off-road, the Mitas E-09s have inspired confidence, so much so that the nobbles were decimated by my overzealous throttle hand.
There’s a proportion of off-road riders who dismiss riding big adventure bikes in the dirt. It’s true, you have to re-calibrate your brain compared to riding a lightweight enduro. But I like it, I like being able to carry everything you need, I like being able to be out in the wilderness for days without the need to look for fuel. I guess I like the adventure, just as much as I like riding off-road and isn’t that just what these bikes are all about?