Honda Africa Twin, thoughts ?

[Se7enheaven]

Just wondered if anyone has any feedback on running the new Honda AT ?
All reviews I've read are on the whole pretty positive, but can't beat actual owner thoughts. Good , bad or indifferent.
I've seen a previous thread with some mixed thoughts , but that was mainly just test rides and not really ownership.


Thanks in advance

[Se7enheaven]

GM182 said:

Took delivery of one for my overseas based brother in law and took it up to the running in service so about 500 miles.

It is very comfortable, doesn't feel its weight, suspension over typical crappy British roads is excellent. It is quite soft but well damped.

Stable on the motorway, we had the tall screen which I preferred to the standard one. Feels totally natural to be stood up on the pegs as well. My bro in law shipped it to Dakar and then rode back to London on it and had no mechanical issues whatsoever. He said it was excellent off-road, really confidence inspiring.

The panniers are crap (according to him) one cracked in a minor off road spill, it does not have enough grunt or space for two up touring but for a solo rider it is plenty. If I was to buy one I think I would change the huge end can for a bit more noise, power (its delivery is very soft). The Honda heated grips are a bit lame so might be worth going after market for those as well as luggage options. Other than that I would spec centre-stand, tall screen and extra 12v socket. For the price I think the socket and stand should be included but they're not...

Edit to add the above is a manual 'box. Haven't tried the DCT

Edited by GM182 on Friday 2nd December 10:56

Some good info there thanks.

Bit disappointing to hear it may be too much of a squeeze and not enough grunt for two up , as would probably be looking for that option quite a lot of the time.

Sounds like your Brother in Law would have had a good trip back from Dakar. Certainly a pretty thorough test !

[Se7enheaven]

GM182 said:

If it was his choice he would have kept it but his better half put her foot down and said no more long trips as his pillion! He will be keeping his GS Adventure. They are both of average build. They are doing a film of their trip for Honda Brazil so I'll direct to the link when it becomes available (which may not be until Jan).

My missus is just a slip of a thing at 45 kilos , so I'm thinking for two up may not be too bad for space. Obviously need to try it and see of course.
Look forward to seeing that trip vid in January. Appreciate the link when it's ready.

The mention of possible revisions to the bike sounds interesting for 2017 / 2018. I'm not in any rush to buy at the moment , and I'm sure the market will have changed again by the time I am ready to buy anyway. But certainly at the moment the AT seems to tick all the boxes.

Thanks for replies all.

[Se7enheaven]

I see the Multistrada 950 is on it's way, coming out early 2017.
Initial reviews are quite positive. Down a good bit on power from it's big brother, and not so off road orientated as the Africa Twin of course.
The price does seem a bit steep though at around 11K without the options. So I guess by the time you spec it up you are back into the realms of a year or two old 1200 Multi standard model.