Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin gearless and clutchless motorcycle | First Ride

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Engine		Liquid cooled, 4 –stroke, SI engine, twin cylinder 999.11cc
Power		87hp@7500rpm
Torque		91.9Nm@6000rpm
Transmission		Ducal Clutch Transmission (6 speed)
Seat Height		840mm-820mm Adjustable
Ground Clearance		250mm
Suspension	Front	Telescopic
	Rear	Pro-Link
Front Brakes Rear Brakes		Hydraulic double disc 310mm Hydraulic disc 256mm
Front Tyres Rear Tyres		90/90-21M/C 54H 150/70R 18M/C 70H
Fuel Tank		18.8 litres
Price (ex-showroom Delhi)		Rs. 13,06,927

Design and Features of the Honda CRF 1000L Africa Twin

This half faired motorcycle comes with twin LED headlamps, an aggressively poised handle bar, knuckle guards and spoked wheels along with an artistically painted fuel tank and seats. The rear mud guard and tail light give the bike a sporty character. In place of the clutch lever you have the parking brake which can be pressed and engaged. The small windscreen and the cowl are well designed for the perfect aerodynamic look. The smart looking two in one exhaust with two tiny outlets add to the good looks of the bike. A closer look at the bottom exhaust outlet you will notice that it has been welded shut, perhaps to meet some of those stringent emission and noise norms in the country.

Honda is also offering a lot of additional accessories for this bike. These include a front side pipe, a DCT pedal shift for someone who wants a gear shift lever at the left foot area, fog lamps, top box, a high wind screen, a main stand, a U lock and others. Obviously it is going to cost you more.

This bike is 2334 mm in length, has a 932 mm width, a height of 1478mm. The seat height is around 820 to 840mm which is adjustable. It also has a high ground clearance of around 250mm and a kerb weight of 245kg. The bike has a fuel tank capacity of 18.8 litres which can ensure you a travel of around 400km. Fuel efficiency hovers around 21.5 km per litre.

Engine and performance of the Honda CRF 1000L Africa Twin

The CRF 1000L Africa Twin is powered by a parallel twin cylinder OHC engine that produces around 87hp at 7500 rpm and a peak torque of 91.9Nm at 6000rpm. The bike can reach a top speed of 190kmph. The engine also has a lightweight camshaft made from the same material of the proven Fireblade cousin. And with a 270 deg crankshaft with irregular firing intervals and the fact that the engine has two spark plugs per cylinder, the bike has its own characteristic when it comes to its performance.

But before we get into the performance of the vehicle, let us explain the electronic dynamics of this two-wheeler. For the regular and hard core motorcyclist, this new Africa Twin will take him or her by surprise. Without a gear shift lever near your left foot, and a clutch lever to help you shift gears and also control all your throttle inputs to some extent, this bike has none of that. You will wonder how to deal with this, but the moment you sit atop the bike, you are given a whole range of controls on the handle bar that you need to simply get used to while riding.

The new Africa Twin is a motorcycle that owes its life to the electronics embedded in it. The moment you tweak the ignition and press the start button on the right of your handlebar, the engine comes to life with a great sound that is not jarring or irksome. Another button on your right helps you to put the bike into D or drive mode, just like in the cars. The bike has a Dual Clutch Transmission or DCT which acts like an automatic transmission with paddle shifters on the left side of the handlebars. The thumb switch on the right allows you to select D or S riding modes. There is also a button for you to select MT or manual transmission which means you can play manually with the paddle shifters to shift up or down the six gears. The D mode is ideal for city riding where you want to achieve good fuel efficiency. The Sport mode again allows you three levels of sporty ride. S1, S2 and S3 all engaged with long pressing the button.

The Africa Twin also has a rally style LCD display which digitally informs you about the speed, rpm levels, fuel position, gear position, odometer details, trip functions, ambient temperature and clock. It also displays all your drive settings and whether your traction control   is engaged or disengaged and most important the Honda Selectable Torque Control (HSTC) and ABS.

The parallel twin layout of the engine has allowed the makers of the Africa Twin to position its heavy components like battery and ABS unit to rear for a better balance, thus keeping the centre of gravity point of the vehicle very low. This means the proportions around leg area are slim, making it easy for the rider to get his or her legs in the right position for riding. Even the fuel tank is sculpted in a way that it does not interfere with the rider when he or she crouches for those fast rides.

The 43 deg steering angle of the motorcycle enables a turning radius of 2.6 metres which is good for a mammoth motorcycle of this size.

Coming to riding the Africa Twin, you need to master the electronic functions first. That may take a while. The Honda Selectable Torque Control and ABS work in unison but they can be independently set to give the rider 80 different possible combinations. Thus depending on your skill and your track or terrain, this setting can be done. As you ride, the human and computer generated algorithms come into play to programme gear changes. This ensures optimum automatic gear changes. Both the power and torque delivery are very strong and linear.

As I rode into some off road terrains, I changed my settings to Sport mode, pressed the G switch. The G function is like when you half press the clutch and it responds directly to your throttle inputs. Going over rough terrains or even bumps and pot holes is a breeze with the Africa Twin. The vehicle sits on 21 inches 90/90 54H front tyre and 18 inches 150/70R rear tyre. The tyres are not tubeless which is a tad disturbing because tubeless does have its own advantages over ones with tubes inside.

I found the suspension of the Africa Twin perfectly tuned to absorb all the undulations and ensure a comfortable ride. With telescopic front suspension and a pro-link suspension at the rear and a semi double cradle frame to boot, this bike is rock solid on almost every terrain. Incidentally, the front 45mm front forks with a 230mm stroke are fully adjustable while the rear shock with a 220mm travel are also full adjustable.

The Africa Twin has a 310mm wave style twin floating front discs with 4pot radial calipers and at the rear we have a 256 mm wave style with a 1 pot caliper. A 90 km ride through Rajasthan’s unruly and chaotic traffic in Udaipur and also and on some very rough patches of land, proved beyond doubt that this machine is the right one for a true adventure seeker. There is no stopping the rider atop the new Africa Twin.