My Nearly New Honda Africa Twin

[nigelpugh7]

So I did post here about the Honda fog light kit I fitted.

A very nice OEM item, but the lighting quality was poor for extra nighttime vision riding.

So I invested in a set of Denali D4 Quad optic lights.



These photos show just what a major job it is to fit an item that is supposed to be plug and play!

[nigelpugh7]

And amazingly it was almost two years ago now that i decided to attend the ABR festival at Ragley Hall.

I hadn’t camped on my own for many years, but decided it would be a good idea to get in the festival spirit and bought a lot of new camping gear and this huge touring bag to fit it all in as well!

[Powderpuff]

That bag looks big enough to sleep in Nigel

nigelpugh7 said:

And amazingly it was almost two years ago now that i decided to attend the ABR festival at Ragley Hall.

I hadn’t camped on my own for many years, but decided it would be a good idea to get in the festival spirit and bought a lot of new camping gear and this huge touring bag to fit it all in as well!

[nigelpugh7]

Powderpuff said:

It was amazingly big, but good value too, I bought it because it was modular, the two bottom sections can be removed and all three sections can then be used independently.

Unfortunately I had not bargained on one thing, the height of the main bag makes it really uncomfortable to manage to get your leg up and over it when you have large motocross style boots on.

So as a result I now have a set of the individual SW Motec side panniers and mounts as well as a smaller rear top box too, it’s a much more usable setup!

[nigelpugh7]

Here’s the latest preferred setup now used all the time.

[Master Bean]

Saw this on Facebook.

[nigelpugh7]

Master Bean said:

Saw this on Facebook.

Funny!

But actually not a bad effort too.

Is it just me that sees the big Africa Twin standing and looking proudly at his daughter?

[nigelpugh7]

Some more pics of the places we went to back in 2021.

This was the trip to Ragley Hall for the ABR festival, a fab event and met some great people who we have all kept in touch with too.



I also had a go at the big adventure bike off road route, but there had been so much rain it was a nightmare to keep it upright with my road biased tyres.

As a result I managed to drop it twice, fortunately just in grass and mud!



I then decided it was best if I spent the rest of the event enjoying the beer and food and listening to the live music!

[nigelpugh7]

After the mud and grass of the ABR festival it was time for a good clean and a quick polish of lower protection plate, which with a bit of Solvol and a rag comes up nice and shiny!

[nigelpugh7]

Then we had a family holiday booked to wales in a lodge in the mountains for a week.

So I thought great the wife and kids and the dog can all go there in the Discovery and I can take the bike and enjoy those winding Welsh mountain roads.



And of course, typically as is often the case in Wales it lashed it down all week, I still got to go out on the bike most days, but got wet on every trip!

[MGZTV8]

How’s the bodywork etc holding up Nigel?

I still think I’ll end up getting one at some point as I love the look of them.

Horror stories of corrosion however still put me off buying one…

Thanks

[nigelpugh7]

MGZTV8 said:

How’s the bodywork etc holding up Nigel?

I still think I’ll end up getting one at some point as I love the look of them.

Horror stories of corrosion however still put me off buying one…

Thanks

Mine seems to be doing fine so far.

I had also read the horror stories about poor paint and corrosion.

I also wanted to make sure that I used it as intended so mostly Road based touring trips but some off roading too.

I like to keep my bikes clean, but I’m not a fanatical polisher by any means, there’s not enough time to ride it let alone polish it.

So when it was new I made sure I sprayed ACF 50 in the areas most vulnerable.

Then when I do take it off road I use Muc Off bike spray on the front chassis Down tube areas and the same at the rear swing arm.

It still looks pretty clean to me, and no obvious areas of rust that I can see so far.

The standard exhaust headers are quite easily to clean too, and a quick wipe and buff with Solvol and they come up pretty shiny too!

[nigelpugh7]

MGZTV8 said:

How’s the bodywork etc holding up Nigel?

I still think I’ll end up getting one at some point as I love the look of them.

Horror stories of corrosion however still put me off buying one…

Thanks

Here the pictures of the lower chassis frame area.

[MGZTV8]

Thanks a lot and that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. She looks a beaut.

I equally would want to use it as intended but also like to keep my bikes clean and protected where possible.

[nigelpugh7]

Hi Guys,

Well an update on my bike and one I had hoped I would never have to write.

Sadly we had a very severe fire in our garage at home and both of my Bikes, so my Africa Twin and my Montesa were completely destroyed.

The intensity of the fire melted almost every panel on my Africa Twin.





The insurance company have told me that it is as we suspected a total write off, so I’m now just waiting for them to tell me what to do next, assuming they will send a settlement offer, Which is also bound to end up as a bun fight about what they value it as compared with what I know it’s going to cost to replace it.

Then the next big question, what do I replace it with?

If I’m going to get another ATAS, I don’t see the point in replacing it with a like for like model to mine, so I’m thinking perhaps a newer 2021 model.

One thing I do know is it must have DCT, it’s what makes the whole riding experience for me.

[Kawasicki]

Sorry to see that.

[Chicken Chaser]

Ah that's sad to hear, it was a lovely looking bike and looked like a garage queen even though you'd had use of it. Hope you get sorted with insurance, just make sure you do the dance with them and push them on every offer with examples. At least you have plenty photos to show condition.

[nigelpugh7]

Kawasicki said:

Sorry to see that.

Thanks it’s really hard to deal with, I have to go out to the garage most days, and look at the level of destruction, and just stand and stare a lot feeling pretty hopeless.

[nigelpugh7]

Chicken Chaser said:

Ah that's sad to hear, it was a lovely looking bike and looked like a garage queen even though you'd had use of it. Hope you get sorted with insurance, just make sure you do the dance with them and push them on every offer with examples. At least you have plenty photos to show condition.

Yes I suppose it was a bit of a garage queen, but as you said I had lots of use out of it too, so it will be missed, as I said when I first got it, it was the best bike I have ever owned in 40 years of riding motorcycles.

And that’s a good point, I do indeed have many very high quality pictures that I can share to demonstrate just what a high level of condition my bike was in.

[Tam_Mullen]

Sorry to see the sad end to what was a cracking looking bike, and you have my sympathy in advance for what will be an uphill struggle to get any sort of deal from your insurance for what it would cost to replace a practically brand new bike.

I scoffed at DCT bikes when i first heard of them, after a child hood of ragging centrifugal clutch'd farm quads around the farm I longed for something with an actual clutch. But I appreciate now that the DCT 'box is a long way away from a Honda Big Red.

I'll be needing to replace my Speed Triple next year and a AT in that colour scheme really appeals to me.