Thread: Honda Africa Twin

They are lovely to ride!

I have a R1200GSA.. my local mechanic is a Honda dealer and they had an Africa Twin for demo. Its a lovely bike, very light and well balanced power to weight.

yes the BMW has more power, but also a lot more weight and bulk. I would have bought the AT on the spot but they wanted to low-ball me on the trade-in value of the BMW.. so I didn't.

A very very nice bike and super easy to ride. Typically Honda - almost annoying in their perfection.

The suspension of the GS is still the king, though.

As the title says - spent a good hour on one today.
If Honda does not sell a bucket load of these I do not know what they would have done wrong.
A very easy bike to ride, and as mentioned before very light and well balanced with plenty of grunt. It actually felt slow at 100km/hr. Very easy to manoeuvre at slow speed, and felt very composed at highway speeds on long sweepers. I felt quite confident on it on the highway and hitting the curves.
I also took it down some gravel roads - again nothing unsettled it, even washboards did not bother it. I even switched the TC off on a back road - had some wheel spin taking off but tracked dead straight. TC can be a bit strange and the way it retards the engine - first time it happens it makes a few strange noises and you wonder what the? then all of a sudden it takes off on you.
Took it over some small rough dirt burns, rode over them without any problems - very stable.
The small wind screen (which is adjustable) does a good job, and directs the wind over you.
The rear suspension is easy to adjust with an accessible adjustment knob that you could almost reach and adjust as you are riding. I did not play with it. I also did not play with the 3 different engine maps - left it as set.
Around town and stopping at traffic lights - I would sit for a few seconds before having to put my feet down - as said before very balanced.
As I was riding I could see myself touring 2 up on it. There would not be too many places where it could not take you. You would only be limited by your capability.
I would like to take a competitors bike for a ride for comparison, but I think it could be hard to beat.
If you get a chance take one for a test ride.