2015 Honda Africa Twin

Honda is getting serious about many things these days, and one of those things is developing a platform to dominate the Adventure Rally segment, and the latest offering from Honda to stamp it's presence is the CRF 1000 Africa Twin

The seriousness behind Honda's take can be gauged by the fact that it has a 1000cc Parallel Twin motor, Factory Setup to take any soil underneath and Honda DCT as optional.

Look and Feel

The concepts shown at the Milan motor show last year, looked pretty much production ready and now we know, they actually were.

The new Honda Africa Twin is an amalgamation of two existing platforms in the Honda Adventure Sports segment, i.e, even though the new 1000cc is based on the proven XRV 750, the styling cues are heavily drawn from the CRF540 Rally.

The purposefully built wide and fat high handle bar with hand-guard as standard, the bear claw foot pegs with removable rubber padding, spoked wheels with heavy block rubber and petal discs front and rear, are all aimed towards making the new Africa Twin an all terrain commander and then more.

Engine

Even though departing from the V configuration might come as a let down to many, but this has allowed Honda to cut down on the production cost, making the bike within the reach of many and has also allowed the company to throw in optional goodies like the DTC. Another tangible benefit of having a parallel twin configuration is that, now there's additional space behind the cylinders making way for shoving in additional electronics and rider aids, which is becoming a norm these days.

The DCT for Africa Twin has been re-configured for Off-Roading and Adventure Riding, allowing the rider to just concentrate on braking and steering while the electronically controlled gearbox provides optimum riding feedback. The entire system is flexible enough to provide the rider with options of switching the gears using buttons on the switch gear, or using the foot lever for transmission or going full-monty automatic transmission.

Overall

No official figures have been publish yet, but we reckon that it would be something in the range of 100-110bhp mark.

With the wet weight tipping the scale at 218kg, this should be the next big thing in the Adventure Sports segment.

Image Courtesy - Honda Power Sports