Honda declare the brand-new CRF1000L Africa Twin uses real adventure with the comfort of a tourer and also the agility of a commuter as well as the capability to make dirt roadways a joy. All we understand is the legendary Africa Twin name is back, as well as we’ve ridden it in South Africa. Here’s our complete Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin testimonial.

Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin Review

 

2020 Honda Africa Twin variations, cost and accessibility

There are, successfully, 6 new Africa Twins for 2020– but 3 are hands-on gearbox versions and the various other three have Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission (more of which later on), so actually there are three new versions.

Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin:

the most inexpensive, lightest, most sprightly and also most off-road as well as urban-traffic biased motorbike.
the Adventure Sports version with a larger storage tank, for even more significant touring as well as longer range road-based riding, but still with off-road ability.

Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin

OTR: ₤ 13,049 (DCT ₤ 13,949).

Shades: Grand Prix red (red/black), matte ballistic black (black).

PCP example.

ModelPrice otrDepositCredit36 xFinal PaymentTotalAPR.
CRF1100L ₤ 13,049 ₤ 2729.22 ₤ 10,319.78 ₤ 159 ₤ 6332.24 ₤ 14,785.466.9%.
CRF1100L DCT ₤ 13,949 ₤ 3164.56 ₤ 10,784.44 ₤ 169 ₤ 6503.26 ₤ 15,751.826.9%.

Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin Adventure Sports.

OTR: ₤ 14,649 (DCT ₤ 15,849).

Shades: Pearl glow white tricolour (red/blue/white), darkness black metal (black).

PCP example.

ModelPrice otrDepositCredit36 xFinal PaymentTotalAPR.
CRF1100L AS ₤ 14,649 ₤ 2948.38 ₤ 11,700.62 ₤ 189 ₤ 6819.11 ₤ 16,581.496.9%.
CRF1100L AS DCT ₤ 15,849 ₤ 3245.74 ₤ 12,603.26 ₤ 199 ₤ 7528.28 ₤ 17,948.026.9%.

Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin Adventure Sports Semi-Active.

OTR: ₤ 16,049 (DCT ₤ 17,349).

Tones: Pearl glare white tricolour (red/blue/white), darkness black metal (black).

PCP example.

ModelPrice otrDepositCredit36 xFinal PaymentTotalAPR.
CRF1100L AS ES ₤ 16,049 ₤ 2841.97 ₤ 13,207.03 ₤ 219 ₤ 7470.81 ₤ 18,206.786.9%.
CRF1100L AS ES DCT ₤ 17,349 ₤ 3189.71 ₤ 14,159.29 ₤ 229 ₤ 8240.78 ₤ 19,684.496.9%

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All designs in dealerships from late November 2019.

Under the Hoods.

Both the $14,399 (base) and also $17,199 (non-DCT) Adventure Sports have come in for rather significant overhauls for 2020. At the heart of both machines is a brand-new 1084cc (previously 998cc) parallel-twin engine. The raised variation gets here via a 6.5 mm longer stroke with a declared six-percent boost in power (although Honda won’t state how much that power really is). Inside there are new pistons, crank as well as webcams with longer consumption and exhaust-valve lifts (the consumption is up from 9.2 mm to 10.1 mm while the exhaust is increased from 8.6 mm to 9.3 mm).

Up top, the throttle body has actually grown 2 millimeters in size to 46mm, the consumption has actually been cleaned for a smoother air system and also the ECU obtains new fuel-injector setups to assist smooth out the first throttle response.

You can experiment with the specification of your brand-new Africa Twin at the dealer, where you can have the conventional guidebook or the DCT semi-automatic gearbox on either model. Nonetheless, you can just have the Showa digital suspension on the Adventure Sports version. A lot more on that particular later on.

The hand-operated transmission comes in for an all-new, stronger gearset and a new, smaller sized diameter slip-and-assist clutch for a lighter lever pull.

On the DCT side, this is where Honda has put the majority of its cookies. They’ve been trying to excellent this design because the Honda VFR1200 of a decade back, as well as a lot of the Africa Twin’s general R&D spending plan will certainly have entered into making the DCT an actual off-road alternative.

The 2020 Africa Twins come with a six-axis IMU for the very first time and this works hand-in-hand with the DCT’s efficiency. Collaring discovery is now built into the system, where the ECU recognizes the bike is cranked over and won’t all of a sudden change equipment on you, which brings about the unpreventable chassis unbalancing. As previously, you get 3 transmission modes– AT D (Drive), AT S (Sport) and MT (Manual, operated by change bars on the left handlebar)– with new shift timing for each. There’s additionally the G switch, which essentially allows the clutch engage quicker (think of it as a brief versus a longer bar pull on a traditional clutch lever). The outcome you’ll really feel is a quicker throttle reaction, almost like a much more direct throttle map.

The Motor – Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin review.

If a solitary standout renovation on the 2020 Africa Twin had to be selected, it would likely be the redesigned electric motor. Even more power, even more torque, yet all at once both smaller and also lighter. Where the 2016 with 2019 models had little distinction in regards to performance, the 2020 model retreats from its predecessors– actually and figuratively. Quickly, the electric motor leapt out as something extremely different than previously. 86 added cc’s of variation are housed in revamped heads with a 6.5 mm much longer stroke. These enhancements, combined with revised ECU mapping, new shutoff timing, and bigger throttle bodies give a declared 6% power boost and also greater torque. The 270 ° phased crank remains for 2020, giving the parallel-twin that v-twin audio and also really feel.

Six percent seems a small number compared to the powerful feeling when driving or route nevertheless– the brand-new redesigned twin is a monster by comparison to the previous design. This power increase comes with the additional benefit of the engine being both smaller in overall size and also lighter weight by a number of extra pounds; the six-speed handbook version has actually shed 5.5 pounds of engine weight, while the DCT version is lighter by virtually as much with a loss of 4.9 pounds.

While the CRF1100L’s horse power numbers still inhabit the reduced end of the Liter+ group, the increase in power and performance over the 2019 design feels far greater than the published numbers would certainly indicate. The fly-by-wire throttle is smooth, although has some peculiarities in just how power both rolls on as well as off. These “quirks” change as you overcome the myriad of options in the brand-new operating system.

All-time Low Line – Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin evaluation.

The 2020 Africa Twin straddles a line in between an upgrade and a full overhaul. Cosmetically, the bike may seem simply a simple alteration. Behind the bars, the riding experience discloses the many aspects of a total redesign that is a considerable improvement over the previous Africa Twin. All these changes came with a cost increase of just $800 over in 2015’s version, as well as at $14,399, it remains to be an outstanding worth in its class.

With style elements that obtain greatly from both enduro and also street bikes, the 2020 Africa Twin is nearly schizophrenic in exactly how its feature set skips around blending the worlds of dust as well as tarmac. The bike has an MX-inspired frame and also swingarm design, yet it consists of cruise control, can send text messages, and adjust throttle or stopping inputs based upon your lean angle. It has a squat enduro-style windshield, but before a big TFT touchscreen screen with Bluetooth connectivity.

Offered its flexibility and also well-rounded versatility, placing the 2020 Africa Twin amongst its competition in the liter course comes to be a concern of where in the spectrum of off-road and also on-road extremes the bike fits. In general, the bike doesn’t have the long-haul “touring” feel of something like a BMW R1250GS, nor does it have fairly the hostile off-road “race” feel of something like a KTM 1090 Adventure R. What it does have are strong tips of both of those attributes sprinkled throughout its design. With its highly-configurable electronic devices package and progressed biker aids, its temperament can be made to suit a wide variety of motorcyclists of various ability degrees and also riding designs.

For the rider who likes to have fun with devices, you’ll find a practically unlimited variety of setups that allow you to readjust the bike’s performance to fit various trips. For those much less interested in tech, the bike’s on and off-road performance attributes are most likely worth the requisite button pushing. After tailoring it to your preference, the Africa Twin’s mix of performance and touring-oriented functions offer it the ability to deal with pretty much anything you could encounter on a long-distance experience.