The Africa Twin is one of the best adventure motorcycles out there, on which there’s little doubt about. Since its launch, it’s been competing with the likes of the Tiger 800, as well as the BMW R1200/1250GS. While the smaller Tiger is a direct competitor, the Twin has clearly been at a power-disadvantage against the larger adventure-tourers out there.
Now, Honda appears to be taking care of that part as well, and it’s doing it in a way which reminds us why Honda is one of the greatest motorcycle manufacturers ever. The Japanese giant has come out with the all-new Africa Twin for 2020, sporting a bigger, more powerful 1084cc parallel twin engine. What’s even better is, it is lighter and smaller than before.
There’s also the new for 2020 Africa Twin Adventure Sports. In addition to all the features that the standard Africa Twin has, the Adventure Sports further gets an ES variant (which means electronic suspension). There is also a larger fuel tank (24.8 liters compared to the 18.8 liters on the standard) and tubeless spoke wheels, designed to enhance comfort and convenience especially over long hauls.
One of the highlight features is the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) which makes way for cornering ABS and Traction Control. There’s a new TFT screen as well so now you get more information on it, which looks better than before. Better mobile connectivity is now provided with the implementation of Apple CarPlay.
Technicalities aside, we need to realize what a marvelous job Honda has pulled off here. Of course, at 101 PS of power and 105 NM of torque it is still quite a lot behind the BMW, the Triumph and the KTM, but the Africa Twin definitely appears to be the most playful of the lot. It is like a big dirt-bike that can tour with a pillion and luggage while being great fun in the entire adventure bike lineup.
The Africa Twin was always meant to take care of the two prominent adventure-bike segments, and the new one is destined to do that job better than ever before.
All images courtesy Honda.co.uk
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