HMSI has launched the much awaited Honda Africa Twin in India at INR 13.6 lakhs, on-road, Delhi.  Bookings for this bike are now open, only for the first 50 customers. The bike will be assembled in India and comes through the CKD route. India has a list of adventure bikes that are selling surprisingly well. As of now the best selling is the Triumph Tiger 800, next would be the Kawasaki Versys 650, then the Ducati Multistrada followed by the Tiger 1200 explorer, Versys 1000 and last but not least Suzuki V-strom. Even Royal Enfield entered the market to be the Micromax of the adventure world with the Himalayan.

How many riders actually take these bikes for a true adventure may be 50% of the users. But these bikes are a bit more simpler to ride than your supersports or sports tourers. With all this noise why would Honda stay behind. The Honda Africa Twin is here. This bike is a 998 cc twin cylinder adventure bike with the heritage of the bikes Honda has made for the rigorous Dakar Rally. Honda says this is one of the true adventure bikes. If I am not mistaken this is the only Adventure bike that comes with a DCT gear box. According to Honda this is the variant that India will receive and not the one with the manual gearbox. Let’s have a look of what can head to India.

Honda Africa Twin Price

 Model On-road, Delhi Price
Honda CRF 1000L Africa Twin INR 13.6 lakhs

The Honda Africa Twin is priced at INR 13.6 lakhs (on-road, Delhi). The pricing is aggressive at competitive as well. The reason for the attractive price is that this bike comes as a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kit. The Honda Africa Twin will mainly compete with the Triumph Tiger and Suzuki V-Strom.

Also Read: Honda CBR1000RR Review

Honda Africa Twin Top Speed

The Honda Africa Twin is said to have a top speed of 187 km/h. A bit low for a 998 cc bike but the Honda Africa Twin is more capable of an adventure than most adventure bike out there. Honda has delivered a versatile bike to go any where literally.

Honda Africa Twin Dimensions

Length 2335 mm
Width 930 mm
Height 1475 mm
WheelBase 1575 mm
Ground Clearance 250 mm
Kerb Weight 242 kgs
Seat Height 850-870 mm

 

Honda Africa Twin 2

Honda Africa Twin Specifications

Engine 998 cc
Power 94 bhp @ 75 rpm
Torque 98 Nm @ 6000 rpm
Transmission Constant 6-Speed DCT
Bore 92 mm
Stroke 75 mm
Starter Electronic Ignition
Cylinders 2
Top Speed 187 km/h
0-100 3.3 sec

 

Also Read: Kawasaki Versys 1000 Review

Honda Africa Twin Design

Some Adventure bikes are basic, Some are drop dead gorgeous, some are engineers for a purpose and then there is the Africa Twin. Looks like a ninja to assassinate the trails. The front twin headlamps look like goggles on a diver that is surrounded by loads of facial hair(fairing). The windscreen is straight up high like a mohawk. The fairing is mostly front focused and the engine is exposed.

Honda Africa Twin_4

Honda has tried to keep it minimalistic to reduce damage in case of a fall. The tank has a sudden dip and a nice flow to the seat at tit continues. This is a typical design also seen in Honda’s enduro bikes. The pillion seat is long with a thick grabrail that also houses a mount for the top box. The exhaust is so beefy that it looks like a futuristic Bazooka. Probably Drax could use it in Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

The Africa Twin comes with spoked wheels. We are yet to find out if they are tubeless or with tube. We get to know how hardcore Honda has focused on the off the road aspect when a bike receives spoke wheels as they can take much more beating. Honda has kept the tail lamp pretty simple looks like one of those from their enduro bikes again.

2016-honda-africa-twin-crf1000l-gauges-speedo-handlebar-controls-traction-control

The fully digital instrument cluster is simple and easy to read. The switchgears a big and of high qualityThe downward sloping tank integrated well into the seat. The seat is long and broad to offer comfort during touring. The seat is split too and even the pillion has generous room. There is a large grab rail at the rear that also has lugs to help tie luggage. The exhaust pipe is a sharply raked one to allow better water wading ability. It comes in black and silver finish. Dual purpose tyres look good and also do the job of providing a balance between on and off road riding. A steel semi-double cradle frame is engineered to provide rigidity as well as provide a high ground clearance.

Also Read: Triumph Tiger XR Review

Honda Africa Twin Colours

There is only one colour option available as of now in the Honda Africa Twin, which is a combination of Red, White and Black.

  • New Victory Red

Honda Africa Twin Engine

The engine of the Honda Africa Twin is a liquid-cooled, 998cc, parallel-twin motor which has a power of 94bhp and 98Nm of torque. The torque spread is said to be even to help the rider in different riding circumstances. Internationally the Africa Twin gets a manual as well as an automatic transmission, however in India it will come only the manual six-speed transmission.

Honda Africa Twin_2

The suspension is a 45mm Showa inverted fork with 228mm of travel, at the front and it has a  pro-link monoshock with hydraulic preload at the rear. This has a 220mm of travel. The front wheel is a 21-inch and the rear wheel is 18-inch. Both wheels have spokes to provide more flexibility. Braking is carried out by dual 310mm discs at the front and a single 256mm disc at the rear. ABS comes as standard and is switchable, but only on the rear wheel. There’s a four-level switchable traction control too.

Now for a 1000cc bike the power may not seem much but leave it up to Honda to extract performance when the figure are not that great. The Honda Africa Twin generates an enormous 98 Nm torque and that helps propel the Africa Twin from 0-100 in just 3.3 sec. That is supersport bike type of performance. The being the DCT gear box makes it even more easy. The top speed of 187 may not be much but it reached there pretty quickly. This is the only bike in this competition to have a parallel twin engine and Honda has done well to extract on and off-road performance.

Honda Africa Twin_3

Honda Africa Twin Mileage

Mileage (ARAI)
City 17 km/l
Highway 22 km/l
Overall 20 km/l
Tank 18 litres
Distance 340 km

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