More Sport Than Adventure
Honda has made changes to the newest Africa Twin Adventure Sports to enhance its cornering prowess
Honda’s Africa Twin has always been the most committed of big-bore Japanese adventure bikes. Blessed from its beginning in 2016 with a true dirt bike-like 21-inch front wheel and a vast suspension travel — not to mention almost comically soft springing — Honda’s big soft-roader focussed mostly on the adventure part of the ADV equation and a little less on the touring.
And bona fide were its off-road credentials. I can remember jumping logs and busting berms on the first-gen AT and thinking that such silliness really shouldn’t be possible with something that — back in the day — boasted 998-cc.
Absent, however, was the sporty on-road handling so many expect from the adventure tourers these days. Its ultra-skinny 21-inch tire, so blessed off-road, really screws with the big Honda’s steering. Trail-braking into a corner, for instance, was a no-no. Its super-soft front suspension — again, so good off road — caused the front end to dive like a German U-boat spotting Johnny Walker (no, not the drink, but the most successful anti-submarine commander in the Battle of the Atlantic).
And if that wasn’t enough, the big wheels and abundant travel raised the seat to BMW R-Series Adventure levels. A 2018 version of the Adventure Sports, then still running on the extended suspension and the 21-inch front wheel, stretched anywhere from 900 to 920-mm — depending on which seating option you chose — from tarmac to your gluteus medius. If your legs were not Daddy Long, you were on some serious tippy toes.

Brought Down Closer to Earth
No more. Or at least no more if you opt for the revised-for-2024 Adventure Sports version of the Africa Twin. For one thing, the AS’s suspension travel has been reduced. What was once totally berm-busting — 230-mm up front and a nearly-as-substantial 220-mm in the back — has been reduced by 20-mm at both ends. Both reductions bring the seat — not to mention the centre of gravity — closer to terra firma.
And, for the first time, the AT, again in Adventure Sports guise, rides on more conventional rubber. Oh, the rear rim is a still a dirt-bike friendly 18-inches, but up front, there’s now a more street-oriented 19 incher.
And, if that isn’t a big enough clue as to the new Africa Twin’s intent, Bridgestone’s latest Battlax tires — Adventure A41s — look like they’ll be a lot happier clipping an apex than berm. The Africa Twin, now approaching the ripe old age of 10, has finally gone mainstream. There have been lots of other “improvements” for 2024 — a little more torque in its mid-range and an even slicker-shifting DCT dual clutch transmission are just a few of the notable upgrades — but that simple wheel change is, by far, the most significant.
Immediately conspicuous is that the reach from the saddle to the ground is now much more manageable, the AT having gone from the tallest of large Japanese adventurers to one smack dab in the mainstream. What was once 850 mm is now just 835 mm.
That seemingly miniscule difference means my 5-foot-11-inch frame — and its accompanying 32-inch inseam — had both feet planted on the floor at stoplights with even a confidence-
inspiring knee bend. And that’s with a 5-mm thicker seat (more on that in a minute). The difference, for anyone who’s familiar with Honda’s top-of-the-line adventure tourer, is striking. And with Honda’s low seat option, you can get the AT’s seat down to 810 mm — positively accessible by Africa Twin standards.
Improved Handling
Almost as immediately apparent is that its comportment is markedly different. You don’t need to clip your first apex to understand that the new Adventure Sports is no longer the big ol’ slow-steering dirt bike it once was. The handling is lighter, the centre of gravity not so skyscraper-like and the turning definitely sharpish.
When you do find that first apex, the new AT has even more surprises in store. For one thing, as I found diving into the seemingly endless switchbacks that are Switzerland’s Bernina Pass, you can already be well healed over and still lever in a whole whack of trail braking. If you tried that with the
previous 90/90-21 front tire, it would end up pushing you wide. Way wide, as in perhaps enough to push you off the road, which, on that aforementioned Bernina Pass, would mean a tumble down a thousand or two feet of craggy mountainside. Instead, the new Adventure Sports — and its 110/80-19 sporty front tire — actually encourages you to hang off a little in corners for a little extra lean angle, something that would have sent the previous gen bike into total conniptions.

Tires and Suspension at Work
Indeed, the main limitation is the grip offered by those new Battlaxes. These are most excellent tires, blessed with a nice, rounded profile for linear steering, and they have a sufficient silica content that they warm up quickly and are phenomenally grippy in the wet. But throw them into repeated hairpins and they’ll heat up sufficiently to start sliding. For 95 per cent of new AT owners, these will be magnificent tires — I have some on an old Suzuki DL650 Wee-Strom and they are nothing short of wonderful — but a few may want to take advantage of Adventure Sports’ new cornering theatrics and lever on some sportier rubber.
Nonetheless, that ability to pretend it’s a sport bike — or at least a sports tourer — is much encouraged by one of the more stiffly sprung active suspensions in the segment. In complete contrast to the original AT — which, if memory serves, had pillowy-soft 0.55 kg/mm fork springs up front — Honda’s latest suspension is more controlled than even many sport tourers.
“Firm” is now the adjective most appropriate for the Africa Twin’s suspension, especially when all the suspension’s electronic gizmos are cranked up to Hard. The days of wallowing round high-speed sweepers or diving like a porpoise at the first touch of the front brake lever are gone. The new Honda may not be as acutely razor-sharp as a Multistrada Rallye — or even, for that matter, my much-
modified Suzuki V-Strom 1000XT — but, for the first time, you can chase sport bikes down twisty roads.
Active Suspension
The even better news is that all this newfound prowess hadn’t rendered the ride unnecessarily harsh. One of the most misunderstood secrets to suspension performance — at least for big Japanese adventure bikes — is that over-soft springing typically results in a worse ride than harsh compression damping. And while the new Adventure Sports’ active suspension — officially dubbed Electronically Equipped Ride Adjustment — is calibrated for sporty handling, the ride is also more controlled than before, with none of the old bike’s tugboat-in-a-Nor’Wester pitch-and-roll every time you whack the throttle or grab a handful of brake.
While the Hard option was best left for the aforementioned blitzing of Alpine passes, I preferred the Medium damping valving to the overly cushy Soft mode for my daily riding. It should be noted that there’s an Off-road setting, but considering the tread pattern of the aforementioned Bridgestones, I never ventured off the beaten path.
And, in a boon to those who frequently ride two-up, the adaptive suspension system also includes electronic preload adjustment for the rear shock. You can’t set the desired amount of preload specifically, but the system does offer settings for a single rider, two-up and two riders with full luggage, each step increasing preload to maintain the same ride height under increasing loads. All in all, the Adventure Sports chassis is now much more adept at tarmac shenanigans.
Updated Engine
The engine is likewise more robust, albeit less dramatically improved. Oh, the 1,084-cc parallel twin’s peak remains a modest 101 horsepower. Ducati, KTM and even BMW’s big-inch adventure bikes remain unthreatened. That said, a little bump in compression ratio — up from 10.1:1 to 10.5:1 — and some jiggling of cam timing has Honda claiming a seven per cent increase in mid-range torque which is more than noticeable in real-life riding.
Indeed, from 4,000 rpm to six grand, the Africa Twin is a bit of a mid-range monster, able to keep up with the powerhouses of the segment — the same three mentioned above — until it starts running out of revs. Whether you miss — or ever use — that top-end rush is a personal matter. I didn’t (and don’t) so the modestly spec-sheeted Africa Twin has plenty of moxie for me. If, however, you do need those high-rpm thrills, even this new and improved Africa Twin is definitely not for you.
A Smoother Shifting DCT
Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission also takes another step forward. Still an outlier amongst adventure bikes — MV Agusta has added an automatic clutch to its Turismo Veloce and, recently, others are now threatening various automatic-style transmissions — the DCT’s fully-automatic operation now feels more “natural.” Upshifts are smoother, downshifts — except from 2nd to 1st — less clunky and the shift points more appropriate to throttle position and rider inputs.
It’s all due, says Honda, to exchanging a sensor that measures hydraulic pressure in the clutch mechanism to one that measures the fluid’s flow rate. Whatever the source of the newfound sophistication, except for truly slow-speed crawling — i.e. trials-like tricks — the DCT’s automatic clutches are truly well-calibrated now. In fact, any low-speed snatchiness — and yes, some does remain — is probably more due to emissions-controlling EFI tuning than the computer controlling the DCT’s dual clutches.

Awkward Switchgear Buttons
That’s a good thing because manual operation can still be a bit frustrating. For one thing, the shifting is a little more abrupt. For another, the left handgrip is literally plagued with buttons and switches. It’s entirely possible — actually, more than likely — that you’ll occasionally hit the emergency hazards rather than the downshift lever.
Were I buying the DCT, I’d opt for the traditional gear lever that can be used in lieu of the handlebar switches. Honda says that few actually opt for the traditional foot lever, which leads me to believe most owners just leave the DCT in automatic mode most of the time (or else have more dexterous digits than I do).
One thing that I think could help the handlebar-mounted gear selectors would be repositioning the downshift button. While the upshift switch’s location at the front of the left-hand switchgear housing makes it perfectly situated to be easily flicked with your index finger without moving your hand, the downshift lever is at the back of the same housing and is positioned low enough that it requires a deliberate — and awkward — rotation of the thumb.
If it were just adjacent to the upshift version, the whole toggle-to-downshift procedure would be much more natural. Plus, you wouldn’t hit the hazards as I often did. All that said, the DCT’s major disadvantage is probably the 10 kilograms it adds to the AT’s curb weight compared with the manual version.
Better Sensory Interaction
I mentioned previously that the AT’s seat was five millimetres thicker. For such a seemingly small change, the seat is now more accommodating. It’s also a little wider at the rear and narrower through the front which surely helps comfort, but for a seat that, at first glance, is essentially indistinguishable from the previous perch, the improvement in comfort is significant. And because Honda hadn’t revised the handlebar and footpeg location, the seating position is improved as well; there’s less bend to the knee with just a slightly larger tilt forward to the handgrips. Add in a decent windscreen and the Africa Twin is a pretty good way to eat up miles, though taller types might want to fit a two-piece Givi AirFlow windshield.
Another tidbit worth noting is that Honda’s digital instrument cluster is pretty well-organized. Riding modes — four pre-set and two more customizable settings — are easily fiddled, the toggle mounted on the left side of the handlebar obvious and easily manipulated. Ditto the preload settings. And Honda artfully adds a sunshade to the whole affair so it’s not rendered useless in direct sunlight.
Other nice touches abound, my favourite being the USB socket’s cover, so waterproof it’s NASA-level overkill unless you’re planning to use your CRF1100 to go submarining. Plenty are the competitors that could use some of Honda’s singular devotion to build quality.
With these improvements comes one downside: the price. While not as expensive as its top-of-the-line European competition, the 2024 Africa Twin’s MSRP — $22,316 for the manual transmissioned model; $23,316 if you opt for the DCT — is more expensive than most comparable Japanese alternatives. Compared with, say, Suzuki’s V-Strom and Kawasaki’s aging Versys 1000, Honda Canada can justify that pricing position. Price shopping with KTM’s 1290 Adventure — soon, one expects, to be a 1390 Adventure — those shopping spec-sheet horsepower will be left wondering what Honda is thinking. There are rumours that Honda is contemplating a turbocharger for the Africa Twin. With the chassis now up to snuff, that might not be such a bad idea. MM
Mojo would again like to thank Stilmoto in Sondrio, Italy for the loan of the Africa Twin Adventure Sports demo unit. Owner Matteo Giotta can also attest to the popularity of the new AT with its new 19-inch wheel since his entire allotment — save the demonstrator we rode — has been sold out since June. And, as always, thanks to his generosity, we got to test the new Honda on some of the best roads in the world in the Swiss and Italian Alps. Yes, it’s a great job.

Specs
LIST PRICE
$23,316
WARRANTY
12 months, unlimited mileage
CONTACT
powersports.honda.ca
ENGINE TYPE
Liquid-cooled parallel twin
DISPLACEMENT
1,084 cc
POWER (Euro Spec)
101 hp (75 kW) at 7,500 rpm
TORQUE (Euro Spec)
82.6 lb-ft (112 Nm) at 5.500 rpm
BORE AND STROKE
92 x 81.5 mm
COMPRESSION RATIO
10.5:1
FUEL DELIVERY
Electronic fuel injection with 46 mm throttle bodies
TRANSMISSION
6-speed DCT
FINAL DRIVE TYPE
Chain
FRONT SUSPENSION
Electronically controlled Showa 45mm inverted fork with adjustable preload, compression and rebound damping
REAR SUSPENSION
Electronically controlled Showa with adjustable preload, compression and rebound damping
WHEEL TRAVEL
Front: 210 mm (8.3 in.)
Rear: 200 mm (7.8 in.)
BRAKES
Front: Two four-piston calipers with
310 mm discs
Rear: Single one-piston caliper with
256 mm disc, ABS
WHEELBASE
1,550 mm (61 in.)
RAKE AND TRAIL
N/A
TIRES
Front: 110/80-19 tubeless
Rear: 150/70-18 tubeless
WEIGHT (WET)
253 kg (558 lb)
SEAT HEIGHT
835 mm (32.8 in.)
FUEL CAPACITY
24.8 litres
FUEL ECONOMY
N/A
FUEL RANGE
N/A

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