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they must have known it was going to be a<br />
winner, but there is no way they could have<br />
known just what an impact it would have. The<br />
directors of Honda in Japan should have a<br />
picture of the men who conceived that bike<br />
and at the door when they come to work<br />
every day, and they should doff their corporate<br />
hats and thank them every morning. And<br />
thank them again when they go home.<br />
Then there was the original Africa Twin.<br />
First produced in 1988 as a 650 V twin<br />
“Adventure Bike” the Africa Twin used the<br />
basic looks and configuration to tackle a<br />
market that was beginning to emerge, mainly<br />
in Europe, for a nimble touring bike that<br />
could tackle unpaved back roads as well as<br />
the paved highways and byways. We can<br />
only guess, but the Honda engineers and<br />
marketing men probably thought that the<br />
very successful XR/XL range was a good<br />
starting point for a bike capable of some<br />
long distance touring, and based the bike<br />
roughly on that range. The original Africa<br />
Twin had spoke wheels, 21” in front, 18’<br />
in the back, long travel suspension and a<br />
fairing copied from the Honda Dakar racers<br />
of the time. The Dakar race was a big thing<br />
already, and Honda used the image of a<br />
cross continental racer to market their new<br />
baby. It was an immediate success, and by<br />
1989 had grown to a 750, still with the V twin<br />
motor. For the next 14 years the Honda Africa<br />
Twin was a strong seller around the world,<br />
and successfully pounded its’ way along<br />
dirt, sand and paved roads across every<br />
continent. It was also just as successful being<br />
used as a commuter in cities everywhere.<br />
Then Honda seemed to get sidetracked.<br />
They stopped production in 2003, and<br />
concentrated on their new adventure bike<br />
offering, the 1000cc Varadero, no doubt<br />
seeing it as the successor to the now ageing<br />
Africa Twin and in line with the more modern<br />
offerings like the V Strom from Suzuki and<br />
the BMW line up. The Varadero however, was<br />
quite a lot different to the Africa Twin, and was<br />
discontinued in 2013.<br />
In the meantime the reputation of the<br />
Africa Twin soared, and even 15 years after<br />
the last one rolled off the production line used<br />
examples change hands for much more than<br />
they sold for when new!<br />
The motorcycling World has also moved<br />
on, and over the past ten years the biggest<br />
sector in motorcycle sales has become the<br />
Adventure Bike market. For many reasons,<br />
not the least being that the baby-boomer<br />
generation that drove the sales of race<br />
replica superbikes like the Fireblade to the<br />
top of the charts were now getting bored<br />
with Superbike culture, not to mention<br />
that their older bones no longer fit into<br />
racer-style riding positions. They happily<br />
embraced the Adventure bike culture and<br />
all the opportunities for a more relaxed<br />
and widespread riding experience it offers.<br />
Honda-men around the world obviously spent<br />
many long hours trying to figure out how one<br />
of the most innovative motorcycle companies<br />
in the world could become a bigger part of<br />
this fast growing market. Somewhere a light<br />
flashed and the answer was obvious.<br />
ALL-TERRAIN<br />
PERFORMANCE<br />
With 98Nm of torque, the Africa Twin is built<br />
to take you all the way from tarmac touring to<br />
off-road rally.<br />
The roaring dual exhaust pipes run from<br />
underneath the bike to the rear.<br />
The new Africa Twin packs an all-new 4-stroke<br />
1000cc parallel twin engine. It has the muscle to<br />
take on extreme off-road environments, offers<br />
smooth comfort for long distance touring, and<br />
sprightly agility for the everyday commute.<br />
Up and down the gears<br />
The standard manual version of the Africa Twin<br />
has a lightweight six-speed manual gearbox that<br />
uses the same shift-cam design found on the<br />
trusty CRF250R/450R – and is equipped with an<br />
assist slipper clutch. Coupled with a large 18.8<br />
litre fuel tank and top fuel efficiency, it has a<br />
range of up to 400km. Enough to get where you<br />
wanted (or weren’t expecting) to go.<br />
44 DIRT & TRAIL MAGAZINE JANUARY 2016<br />
<strong>1601</strong> <strong>DT</strong> Africa Twin.indd 44 2015/12/16 9:41 AM<br />
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