1601 DT final

of South African journalists naturally
sorted themselves into groups who were
comfortable riding together.
At speed on the open road, fitted with
Dunlop adventure type tyres the new Africa
Twin proved to be a fabulously capable
tourer. It is so comfortable, and so capable.
The 270 degree crank angle makes the
parallel twin engine sound and feel like a
V-twin, and is very pleasant. There has
been serious attention paid to the build
quality of this bike. It is so smooth, rattle
free and effortless. In fact there isn’t
another bike on the road that comes
close in these areas’. Unlike some of the
competition there are no strange engine
noises, no gear box clunks, and no rattling
plastic. It does make a fabulous induction
roar when pressed hard, and this makes it
very tempting to keep the revs up as much
as possible. Another nice feature is that the
one piece saddle does have a fashionable
dip in the front, but unlike several others
allows the rider to move around freely
during a long ride. The density and the
texture of the saddle cover is also just right.
An entire team must have been tasked
to make sure a rider could comfortably
ride from Cape to Cairo in one shot if they
chose to.
After lunch time we swopped bikes,
and moving on to the fully manual version
which, was not as different as one would
expect. It just goes to show how well
Honda have done their homework in
“Unlike some of the
competition there are no
strange engine noises,
no gear box clunks, and
no rattling plastic. It does
make a fabulous induction
roar when pressed hard,
and this makes it very
tempting to keep the revs
up as much as possible.”
making riding the DCT bike as natural and
effortless as possible.
The manual Africa Twin is just as capable
as its’ twin (ha ha, funny!). The ergonomics
and geometry and in fact everything except
the electronic wizardry is exactly the same.
As the day went by we were in riding
heaven. As we got more used to the bike
one thing became very clear. The underlying
geometry, the choice of suspension, the
riding position and even the texture of
the handgrips has been honed by a team
of people who really know what they are
doing. There are no compromises on
this bike. The initial goal was to make the
successor of the original Africa Twin the
best Adventure bike on the road.
At the end of day one we certainly
thought they had pretty much succeeded
as a touring or “Adventure” road bike.
After a day in the saddle we got home full
of enthusiasm and ready for the next day
which was to be on the dirt.
A very interesting thing had happened
during the day. Almost to a man everyone
of the Honda team, many who have been
directly involved in the original conception
and subsequent development of the bike
eagerly approached each of the journalists.
This was the first time the bike had really
been ridden by anyone not directly linked
to Honda in some way. All of the journalists
there have had lots of experience on
every other adventure bike currently on
the market. The questions were always
the same “What do you think?” They were
so enthusiastic and so passionate - and
apprehensive as well. It would have been
devastating if something had been wrong,
or if there was anything we didn’t like.
When we got back to the game lodge
we had a very pleasant dinner out in the
bush after a great game drive where a
teenaged bull elephant threatened us
and a lioness decided someone on the
game viewing vehicle might be a nice
snack. Once again the Honda staff split up
amongst the riders. The wonderful thing
was how informal everyone was, and how
willing they were to answer even the most
difficult of questions. This was not what
we have come to expect from the normally
54 DIRT & TRAIL MAGAZINE JANUARY 2016
1601 DT Africa Twin.indd 54 2015/12/16 9:41 AM