The story of Honda's Africa Twin

 By Réhann Coetzee

Almost three years after Honda launched the reborn African Twin, it is due for an update. But it still offers a lot of smiles per mile.

 Still a relevant bike, three years later

I was fortunate enough to attend the international launch of the new Africa Twin in the Western Cape in December 2015. I remember how I was preparing myself not to be too impressed – and how silly that was.

The rebirth of the legendary Africa Twin had been anticipated for quite some time and even the international journalists were all giddy when the team from Honda Japan unveiled the bike to us.

I have just gotten the DCT version of the Africa Twin and will give a test report on it next week. In the meantime, here is some history on the legendary bike.

History

In 1986 the Honda NXR750 achieved first and second place in the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally. That was when the Dakar actually still ended in Dakar.

With a race distance of around 15 000km, it was also the longest Dakar at that time. The longest section was 1 656km long and only 100 of the original 486 participants completed the race. The NXR750 also won the three next Dakar races.

In 1988 Honda introduced the XRV650 Africa Twin, in celebration of Honda’s success in the Paris-Dakar. This was a water-cooled four-stroke V-twin delivering 42,5kW (57hp) and it had proper ground clearance and suspension for real off-road ability. In 1990 the engine was redesigned and the XVR750 delivered 45,5kW (61hp) and was built until 2003.

The successor

To build a successor 12 years later was quite a task. Honda hadn’t done much in the adventure bike segment, although the Transalp probably didn’t get enough recognition. But since 2003, BMW started playing a bigger role in the segment, as did KTM. Triumph also entered and launched what was arguably the best mid-sized adventure bike – the Tiger 800XCx. So it was a very difficult time for Honda to re-enter the market.

Honda’s motto with the new Africa Twin is “Go anywhere”, and it would be safe to say they managed that. Beyond my expectations, as a matter of fact.

The “Twin” isn’t a V anymore, but a parallel twin. The firing order is around the 270° crankshaft and it actually makes it sound like V-twin. And, like other bikes with a 270° firing order, it actually gives the same power delivery as a V-twin, but with slightly better grunt at lower engine speeds.

The engine has four valves per cylinder, but with a single overhead camshaft – just like on Honda’s CRF450R and CRF250R plastick bikes. Each cylinder also has two sparkplugs.

Although KTM’s new 790 motor more recently followed this design trend, at the time the Africa Twin’s engine caused quite a bit of interest because it was so short. This gave an unlikely combination of decent ground clearance and relatively low seat height. The oil sump is shallowet than what you would expect and this is why the engine is shorter than expected. The water pump is located in the clutch case and is driven by the balancing shafts – as is the oil pump. The balancing shafts smooth out vibrations caused by the 270° firing order. The engine is also mounted to the frame with six mounts, istead of the traditional four.. Honda says this makes the frame sturdier.

To keep the centre of gravity of the bike as low as possible, heavier components such as the battery and ABS control unit were located lower and further to the back in the frame. This also made the bike narrower between the rider’s legs.

Next week we will give a ride report as we get reacquainted with the dual-clutch transmission version of the bike.

Photos by Anèl “Tjoppie” Fourie.