Honda Africa Twin Test Ride Review

Performance – The Honda Africa Twin, as the name suggests, is powered by a parallel-twin, litre-class engine which belts out 87 BHP and 91.9 Nm. This motor lacks low-end punch which is surprising as it redlines very early at just 8000 RPM, so the powerplay is in a very short RPM band. Once past 4000 RPM, the powertrain wakes up, changes its character and gets going ahead with gusto, It screams past the mid-range and redlines in an instant, 0-100 km/hr coming up in 3.8 seconds in second gear itself while top speed is just 190 km/hr. This powerplant is refined, as expected from a Honda but has the tradition twin-cylinder rumble and an adventure motorcycle feel one would expect.

The parallel-twin motor has quite a short power band and one has to ring it hard

Mated to this mill is a 6-speed, dual-clutch automatic gearbox which does seamless shifts when you ride in D mode and you can switch to sports mode (on the fly) which has three levels (S1, S2 and S3) and the difference can be felt in every level as the rev shifts vary accordingly. You can also manually take control of the gearbox with the A/M switch while even in automatic mode, you can up or downshift using the gearshift buttons. The Africa Twin rides like a normal motorcycle in manual mode while there is a Gravel mode (G button on the right side ahead of the brake lever) to get an extra tap of power on the rear wheel when going on inclines, declines and off-roads.

The feel of the throttle is very sharp after a certain point but lower down, it misses out on an initial push which the automatic gearbox does mask to a certain extent when riding in the city. The experience of riding an automatic motorcycle is quite unique and although there is a handbrake lever on the left, Honda has positioned it far ahead so you don’t misjudge it for a clutch, you can’t use it on the go, even if you try. Honda claims a mileage of 21 km/l on the Africa Twin, we got around 16 km/l. Honda has designed the fairing in such a way that no heat comes to the rider’s leg and is dissipated away right at the instance.

Riding Dynamics – The Honda Africa Twin is a heavy bike on paper and feels so at slow speeds, more so when taking a u-turn. However, when you start riding it, it feels light and nimble, offering good handling by adventure motorcycle standards. Although the suspension is on the stiffer side, ride quality is very compliant thanks to the long suspension travel. This Honda gets slim tube tyres and grip levels are just adequate, it could have done better with wider tyres.

The Africa Twin has a load of electronics and they all enrich the ride experience

The Africa Twin feels confident enough to be pushed till 140 km/hr but post that the loss in stability can be felt a little. However, where it excels is off the road with the traction off (there are three levels) as it brings out the full potential of this bike, coupled with the adventure set-up. The traction control system is quite intrusive and when you give it the beans, the light is constantly blinking as the electronics cut power. The difference in the various traction modes can be felt only in the first two gears. The motorcycle gets switchable ABS (the button is right next to G mode) which turns off ABS on the rear wheel for some off-road sliding fun. While braking performance is decent, on hard braking, the rear tends to step out.