New African Twin Maybe 1200cc

[nhbubba]

I'm a DL650 fan. Also own a DRZ400. Before this I had a Bandit 1200 and have raced an SV650. Clearly I have a long track record of non "wood" inducing motorcycles. I seem to value reliability and all-roundedness over what gets the oohs and ahhs.

If my 'strom were to implode today I'd have a hard time between going for a new DL650, a new DL1000 or this CRF1000. The DL1k's are being advertised at like $9k otd. I've seen barely used ones on CL for $8k. None will get any attention at bike night. I think I'm okay with this.

Gimmie a competent bike that handles pretty good, has decent power, gets good mileage (read: range), is affordable, and starts 98% of the time when you thumb the starter.
Quality inverted forks, mult-pot radial brakes, and a fancy-pants slipper clutch as well as usable electronics sweeten the pot.

[Chippertheripper]

You know how I feel about the SV: it's perfectly vanilla.

In my mind a bike in this segment should be a giant dirtbike you could ride to Alaska from here. In not convinced that this is one, and not another street bike with a couple extra inches of travel and a 21" front wheel.

[nhbubba]

...another street bike with a couple extra inches of travel and a 21" front wheel.

Duh. That's why it's great.

It seems painfully obvious that we are not going to get the world spec WR450 dual-sport or a CRF450L anytime soon. Not that I think I'd want to distance tour on any of those anyway. Sounds like you want this to be a Japanese 690 ADV. It's not. Maybe they push the marketing too hard like it is. But it's not.

It's not another multi wannabe either. (Although the VFR1200x is.)

[Paul_E_D]

Agreed, and it might hit a pretty sweet spot right in between there for non woods racer types. I actually think my Hyper with aggressive tires would hit an even sweeter spot due to it's light weight. I have a hard time subjecting such beauty to abuse though... Maybe when I wear out the stock tires I will try it out.

[Chippertheripper]

Duh. That's why it's great.

It seems painfully obvious that we are not going to get the world spec WR450 dual-sport or a CRF450L anytime soon. Not that I think I'd want to distance tour on any of those anyway. Sounds like you want this to be a Japanese 690 ADV. It's not. Maybe they push the marketing too hard like it is. But it's not.

It's not another multi wannabe either. (Although the VFR1200x is.)

I don't want that at all. What I want are fork springs for my current bike. And time to ride it.

[nhbubba]

Yeah. The Hyper didn't seem that drop-friendly. And from what I've seen, NOBODY builds ADV type bits for it. (Skid plates, guards, wheel adapters, etc.) Seems like the best option for touring bags for it are the relatively small (yet quite stylish) OE Ducati bags. Sweet as that engine is, it's definitely tuned for street use.

It seems that Ducati actually positions the Scrambler more towards real adventure touring than the Hyper. Which seems odd to me.

There are a bunch of half reasonable semi off-road tires available in 17" sizes these days. Although I imagine they float in anything soft and 17's aren't exactly optimal for rolling obstacles.

Another appeal of this AT is that Tourtech has already blown their wad all over it. Other tour/adv vendors are no doubt going to follow suit. I expect the 3rd party support for this bike to be huge.

[nhbubba]

I don't want that at all. What I want are fork springs for my current bike. And time to ride it.

I can't help you with any of that. Pretty sure Honda can't either.

You got a bike you like, I get it. Doesn't make this one a stinker.

[Chippertheripper]

I didn't mean to sound like I was rooting my own horn or calling this thing a stinker.
What I want to say is: I think a bike in this segment should be a bike you CAN actually ride like a giant dirtbike AND be able to go comfortably cross country with.
That's pretty much my stance. Anything less than that is a glorified street bike (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it should be marketed as such)

[TheIglu]

With the amount of suspension travel this thing has, and how narrow it is, I think it fits your wish list pretty well. Or at least that is the theory, we'll have to wait to see if it carries over into reality.

I'd also be concerned about range though. Perhaps that's why they didn't go 150hp on it. Cause man, that GS1200Adv is a frickin BARGE up top. With nearly half the fuel, my Wee can do the same, if not more, miles on a tank.

Not having to stop until 260 miles for fuel is pretty amazing.

[nt650hawk]

42 mpg with a gs (not adventure)for 1000 miles. 38 mpg with a St1300 in 1400 miles. Mostly pushing 75 mph of wind.

[nhbubba]

Not having to stop until 260 300 miles for fuel is pretty amazing.

Agreed.

I think this is where the 8,000 RPM rev-limit comes from. Reports say one should expect to nip at 50 MPG out of this thing touring. That ain't bad. Honda's own press-release is saying "up to" 400km (250 mile) range. That's probably good 'nuf for me.

Reports say the newest, redone Tiger 800's are finally getting in this ballpark too. Crossed paths with a guy with a brand new 800 XCX this summer that was getting that kind of MPGes 2-up. So there is prescient. Although the earlier ones are thirstier.

I think I'm resigned to giving up some of that incredible range in exchange for moar power. I don't need the power, but I do want it. For better or worse.

I love how narrow the Suzi 650's are. The 990 ADV is right there too. Interested to see in person how Honda managed the same feel with a parallel twin. My experience with the Gold Wing lets me believe they are capable of engineering such a thing. Honda is really good at packaging. Reports indicate they done it.


One obstacle is I want to kill two birds with one stone and part ways with both my DL650 and DRZ400. The problem with that is the DRZ is expendable. I have no qualms about dropping it anywhere. It owes me nothing. That aspect does not transfer to a new, $1x,000 bit of hardware, regardless who makes it. I'm half likely to buy this and keep the damned DRZ. Which is so not the point.


Also. The more I ride dirt, the more capable I realize my porky DL650 is. Riding with Chip & co on their liter sized KTM and BMW hardware was eye opening. I think this Honda will be more than capable for what I actually want to do with it. A real dirt bike? No. Unmaintained road worthy? Yes, absolutely.

[TheIglu]

I rode my Wee out on some rough rocks once when I first got it.

At that point I realized how not good it is on the rough stuff. Rock solid on the dirt roads at speed. Not good in first gear stuff. Really feels the weight.


Now the KLR? That was MUCH easier, even though it was taller and nearly weighed as much. I think the skinny 21" up front and the taller suspension helped.

If this thing ends up being like a KLR off road with the road manners of a Vstrom, it'll do great.

Compete with a DRZ off road? Nah. I wouldn't expect any 1k cc bike to do that. I have different expectations I guess.

[nt650hawk]

Don't know what anyone is complaining about...

[nhbubba]

If this thing ends up being like a KLR off road with the road manners of a Vstrom, it'll do great.

That's actually exactly what I want : An updated, non-thumper KLR650.

[nt650hawk]

Hmmm
is set at $12,999 for the base model, and $13,699 for the DCT version

[Paul_E_D]

Did he really ride off that cliff to his death in the opening scene!?? lol

[jasnmar]

I hate every one of you...

[nhbubba]

I hate every one of you...

I know it's a Honda. But this isn't a 900 lbs shaftie with central heating. What are you doing here?!

[markbvt]

Wow! Can I ask how many times in 90k it's been dumped and how it fared? I think this Honda is kinda neat but I couldn't see myself really having fun off-road without the occasional dump, especially with the weight. Doesn't bother me in the least on an MX bike but it would suck to pay $$$ for one of these and scar it all up, even worse if shit broke.

Well, that's the thing, I love the Tiger too much to take it anywhere really gnarly and risk significant damage in a spill. It's been down twice, and both were low-speed tipovers. No damage.

The whole point of the Africa Twin is that it's a rugged go-anywhere bike that will actually look better a little beat up (kind of like a Jeep), so I won't feel as squeamish about taking it places it might incur some scratches. Then the main thing that will determine where I'm willing to ride it is how much of a bitch it will be to pick up, but apparently the CoG is low so the AT feels a lot lighter than it actually is.

--mark

[jasnmar]

I know it's a Honda. But this isn't a 900 lbs shaftie with central heating. What are you doing here?!

You guys keep effing posting!!!

[nhbubba]

You guys keep effing posting!!!

You keep reading.

[markbvt]

What I want to say is: I think a bike in this segment should be a bike you CAN actually ride like a giant dirtbike AND be able to go comfortably cross country with.

The reviews I've been reading suggest that that's exactly what this bike is. Apparently it rides very much like a KTM 990 Adventure R, except that it will be a whole lot easier to live with in the long run.

--mark

[Chippertheripper]

The reviews I've been reading suggest that that's exactly what this bike is. Apparently it rides very much like a KTM 990 Adventure R, except that it will be a whole lot easier to live with in the long run.

--mark

Lol, tell me again how it's difficult to live with a 990...

And you can't tell me this thing won't have its own quirks.

[nhbubba]

Chip, you have to actually ride it to claim its easy to live with.

[SVRACER01]

nothing breaks if you dont ride it