Who has purchased a new Africa Twin?
Discussion
Renn Sport said:
What was it like otherwise? I guess the screen can be addressed.
My experience of adventure type bikes is limited to a short stint on a S1000XR, and I only did 1.5hrs today so not best placed to say where it fairs among other similar bikes but, just my initial thoughts...DCT was my biggest concern but is great. After the initial "where the f
k has my clutch gone", it's absolutely fine. Within the hour you'll be loving it. My only criticism is that in "D" mode, it wants to skip to highest gear possible at all times, so you lose a bit of responsiveness, and the parallel twin gives you a bit more vibration under load and the drone can irritate. Thankfully the sports mode (with three settings as to the change the shift point) means provides a viable alternative and is easy to switch on the fly. The DCT in manual mode is similarly excellent, and won't let you destroy the gearbox, which is always a bonus if like me you like indiscriminately mashing buttons.I struggled with low speed turns a bit as I'm not used to this sort of bike, but the weight is placed quite low, and it's very narrow for an adventure bike. The turning circle is excellent which will be useful for anyone not as s
t as me. I expect if you're used to adventure bikes you'll be impressed, I felt in much more control than the Beamer owing to the riding position. It was very comfortable, and the ability to easily stand up made short work of the Sainsbury's car park speed bumps on the way to the countryside.The suspension does tend to pitch a tolerable amount during braking, but it didn't seem excessive. The front brakes seemed reasonable given the weight, but as with the suspension I don't have much of a reference for these sort of bikes. I took it to some very rough lanes and it surpassed expectations, that's all I can say. If it inspires confidence on really s
t roads, even in the wet, something must be right.The bike itself is quick, not just for a vehicle, for a bike it is quick. The engine is linear and sufficiently torquey. It's quite deceptive when something is changing gears for you, so much so I drifted North of three figures several times without any effort. Drop it in S3, and it will pull hard if you want it to. The engine note is fine, it can be a bit of drone when the "D" mode has you going up a hill at 30mph in 6th, but otherwise it does have a bit of character. Standard Honda affair really, but expect criticism from people who like to claim irritating as f
k noises and features are "characterful".Today was windy. The buffeting with the standard screen was pretty s
t but will depend a lot on riding position and height. I'm just a smidge over 5'10" and felt the wind was at eye level, so much so I struggled to keep the visor cracked open to avoid fogging without it shaking the visor, it also seemed to buffet on either side of my head, something I've not had before. On the plus side it kept my vision clear of the rain. The larger Honda screen is £120 from Fowlers, and you could probably negotiate something, but I'm not entirely convinced it would solve the problem, and I personally prefer the look of something adjustable as given the number of mixed reports, it must be a multifactoral thing which causes the buffeting.Contrary to a small number of reports, tank range on the roads is very good.
But yes, it's not as exciting as the GSXR, but it seems great on the roads. I'm very much looking forward to getting it out onto some (mild) dirt roads once I get it.
Edited by Prof Prolapse on Friday 8th September 16:39
I've ridden a couple of NC750s with DCT and in 'D' mode it's terrible and always at least two gears higher than you'd want it to be, put them into 'S' and they're great though. As a default reaction just put it straight into S mode and forget that D even exists would be my suggestion.
jamiebae said:
I've ridden a couple of NC750s with DCT and in 'D' mode it's terrible and always at least two gears higher than you'd want it to be, put them into 'S' and they're great though. As a default reaction just put it straight into S mode and forget that D even exists would be my suggestion.
The Africa Twin with DCT is genuinely decent and a few steps above any of honda's previous Auto box bikesI have a manual AT, but wished I'd got a DCT to be honest having ridden one
graeme4130 said:
jamiebae said:
I've ridden a couple of NC750s with DCT and in 'D' mode it's terrible and always at least two gears higher than you'd want it to be, put them into 'S' and they're great though. As a default reaction just put it straight into S mode and forget that D even exists would be my suggestion.
The Africa Twin with DCT is genuinely decent and a few steps above any of honda's previous Auto box bikesI have a manual AT, but wished I'd got a DCT to be honest having ridden one
jamiebae said:
graeme4130 said:
jamiebae said:
I've ridden a couple of NC750s with DCT and in 'D' mode it's terrible and always at least two gears higher than you'd want it to be, put them into 'S' and they're great though. As a default reaction just put it straight into S mode and forget that D even exists would be my suggestion.
The Africa Twin with DCT is genuinely decent and a few steps above any of honda's previous Auto box bikesI have a manual AT, but wished I'd got a DCT to be honest having ridden one
Took the mrs out on the DCT today and it pissed down. It did labour in D, I looked down and it was in 6th at about 30mph!
Screens - I think touratech is meant to be decent. But I think I will go for the MRA vario screen.
As for wheelies, I did have a quick go and struggled, traction control kept cutting in, I turned it off but still no success, 1st is very low gearing so maybe 2nd would be better and just sit back a bit. Not like my GSXR where I can sit in 1st in 30mph limits.
What I found weird was not being able to feather a clutch during filtering and turns. Very unnerving. But I believe it is impossible to stall. The G button on the dash is meant to be awesome and opens a mulititude of settings for off road fun
I spoke to sales, and this offer was introduced by the MD and JB, a smart move as they will certainly meet targets. Over 40 sold and I think they have 5 left. 30 will be delivered on a lorry on Tuesday! They did a similar deal a while ago on the repsol Blade. They do great deals there. My mate bought a 15 plate repsol there last year with 900 miles on the clock for just over 8k!
Screens - I think touratech is meant to be decent. But I think I will go for the MRA vario screen.
As for wheelies, I did have a quick go and struggled, traction control kept cutting in, I turned it off but still no success, 1st is very low gearing so maybe 2nd would be better and just sit back a bit. Not like my GSXR where I can sit in 1st in 30mph limits.
What I found weird was not being able to feather a clutch during filtering and turns. Very unnerving. But I believe it is impossible to stall. The G button on the dash is meant to be awesome and opens a mulititude of settings for off road fun
I spoke to sales, and this offer was introduced by the MD and JB, a smart move as they will certainly meet targets. Over 40 sold and I think they have 5 left. 30 will be delivered on a lorry on Tuesday! They did a similar deal a while ago on the repsol Blade. They do great deals there. My mate bought a 15 plate repsol there last year with 900 miles on the clock for just over 8k!
Edited by rat840771 on Friday 8th September 23:23
Edited by rat840771 on Friday 8th September 23:27
mckeann said:
What's it like on the road with such skinny tyres???
Biggest issue for me when I test rode the AT on the road was the issue of the 21" front wheel. Whilst the bike is slim, has good drive off the bottom end, and skinny tyres help with turns of direction; the 21" front wheel feels slow to turn when riding on tarmac at pace.GS has the best compromise for on/off road at 19" front, imho.
I popped into my local Honda dealer to look at the Africa twin as it hadn't been on my radar before. Looks good!
They were offering the luggage, plus £1000 dealer contribution. That's some way off the John Banks deal. Perhaps I can encourage them some more or perhaps JB have huge volumes and have taken a view on pricing. The JB website says they have a few left so maybe a phone call tomorrow!
They were offering the luggage, plus £1000 dealer contribution. That's some way off the John Banks deal. Perhaps I can encourage them some more or perhaps JB have huge volumes and have taken a view on pricing. The JB website says they have a few left so maybe a phone call tomorrow!
I spoke to Darren at John Banks just before closing today. He's going to call me in the morning and let me know if they've got any left!
jimmyslr said:
I popped into my local Honda dealer to look at the Africa twin as it hadn't been on my radar before. Looks good!
They were offering the luggage, plus £1000 dealer contribution. That's some way off the John Banks deal. Perhaps I can encourage them some more or perhaps JB have huge volumes and have taken a view on pricing. The JB website says they have a few left so maybe a phone call tomorrow!
They were offering the luggage, plus £1000 dealer contribution. That's some way off the John Banks deal. Perhaps I can encourage them some more or perhaps JB have huge volumes and have taken a view on pricing. The JB website says they have a few left so maybe a phone call tomorrow!
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