Honda is reportedly considering a middlewieght variant of its Africa Twin CRF1000L which will compete against the motorcycles such as the Triumph Tiger 800 XC, BMW F850GS and the upcoming models like the KTM 790 Adventure and the Yamaha Ténéré 700. The middleweight Africa Twin will be targeted to A2 licence holders in the European market.
The most obviously motor to propel the scaled down Africa Twin will be the 750cc parallel twin engine which currently powers the NC750X and the X-ADV. The motor, on the X-ADV, comes mated to the DCT gearbox.
In an interview to motoring portal Motorcycle News, Honda’s Large Project Leader for the Africa Twin, Kenji Morita said, “We are thinking of putting a half-way model in to attract younger people. We will develop this bike, but it’s not something we are working on right now.”
Will the middleweight Honda Africa Twin come to India?
The middleweight segment of the Indian two-wheeler market is gaining momentum. The middleweight adventure class is currently dominated by the Triumph Tiger 800s. The Ducati Multistrada 950 recently joined the segment too while the KTM 790 Adventure is expected to arrive by 2020. So it would not be incorrect to assume that the motorcycle will make way to the Indian market.
What about the CRF1000L?
With the arrival of the middleweight Africa Twin, the litre-class model may also see some upgrades. The capacity, for example, may go higher to upto 1200cc which would place it against the Ducati Multistrada Enduro, Triumph Tiger 1200, BMW R1200GS Adventure and the KTM 1290 SuperAdventure. However, Honda has other plans.
Morita told the motoring portal, “In terms of pure horsepower, then yes some of our competitors have more, but for us this is not what we have in mind. Our intention is to have the right amount of horsepower that customers actually use when in real riding situations. If we just want to increase horsepower it’s easy but when you do that, you lose something – the bike gets heavier, it vibrates more, it’s hotter and you lose the balance we are looking for. We experimented with power delivery at different rpm ranges and the best happened to be 100hp.”
For next round of upgrades, Honda is evaluating to install devices like TFT screen, Bluetooth and USB connectivity for phones.
Honda, as reported, isn’t working on the middleweight Africa Twin yet but it’s a matter of time before they start withe the R&D. The complete process may take some time and thus we do not expect to see the production spec model before 2020.
Via Motorcycle News