The Ultimate All-Rounder In Honda’s Adventure Lineup
Adventure riding in America demands a machine that can genuinely do everything. From the sweeping interstates of the Great Plains to the rocky two-tracks of the Rockies and the tight switchbacks of Appalachia, the sheer variety of terrain this country throws at you is humbling. The ideal adventure bike for tackling all of it needs to be reliable, have the legs for long highway stints, and still be willing to get its wheels dirty when the pavement ends.
It also needs to carry luggage without complaint, offer a comfortable pillion seat for two-up touring, stay manageable in city traffic, run cool at low speeds, and spare your left hand from clutch fatigue on long days in the saddle. That’s a tall order — but it’s exactly the brief that the best do-it-all adventure bikes are built to fill.
Honda Makes The Best Sense Here
One of the pillars of a do-it-all motorcycle is reliability and everyday usability. Otherwise, everyone would be riding fancy Italian exotics on dirt. And which manufacturer nails reliability more than Honda? This Japanese manufacturer has developed a reputation for making some of the most dependable motorcycles in the world, across segments.
Whether it’s the small cruiser class or superbikes, Honda models consistently rank among the most reliable in their respective categories. Fortunately, Honda does not shy away from the ADV segment, either, offering a select range of adventure bikes and even dirt bikes that can double up as ADVs in a pinch. But can all Honda ADVs do it all? Let’s find out.
A Few Honda Bikes Qualify As Do-It-All
Honda offers a range of adventure bikes in almost all major segments. However, they are a very interesting collection. The CRF300L Rally is a thinly disguised dual-sport. The NX500 is an outright tourer that can handle some dirt if pushed to do it, but that isn’t its comfort zone. The NC750X DCT is a scooter in disguise, and the XR650L is an old-school dual-sport bike.
Lastly, the XL750 Transalp absolutely qualifies, but it doesn’t have the kind of off-road chops you’d expect from this segment. Like the NX, it’s a tarmac-first tourer with some capability in the rough stuff, despite what the spec sheet would suggest. The only Honda that actually stands up to the task and seems like it was born for it is the Africa Twin, Honda’s big adventure bike.
The Honda Africa Twin Can Do It All
The original Africa Twin is a legend. The XRV650 and XRV750 were derived from Dakar Rally winners, and they were so good that they remained in production for almost two decades. The draw was that, as a Honda, you knew they would be well-engineered and reliable. However, in 2003 we saw the last of the Africa Twin until 2015, when the all-new CRF1000L Africa Twin was launched.
A major update arrived in 2020, when the engine capacity was increased and the CRF1100L was born. Since then, Honda has made incremental refinements rather than sweeping changes — a sign of confidence in the platform rather than complacency. The Africa Twin occupies a clear niche, and its sales figures confirm that Honda has the formula right. It remains the Honda adventure bike that can genuinely do it all.
It Is Priced Extremely Reasonably For A Full-Size ADV
The base Africa Twin starts at $15,199. This is a full-size ADV, remember, yet the pricing puts it among the premium middleweight ADVs. Yes, there is an argument to be made that its power output also puts it in that company, but Honda has opted not to fight the spec-sheet battle. Higher-spec variants carry a premium, but even the fully loaded Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES DCT — with electronic suspension and the dual-clutch automatic gearbox — is priced at $18,599.
Honda’s Proven Parallel-Twin Engine Is Unbreakable
Honda has chosen a 270-degree parallel-twin engine to power the Africa Twin. This 1,084 cc unit produces 100 horsepower at 7,500 RPM and 82 lb-ft of torque at 5,500 RPM. The numbers won’t win a spec-sheet war against larger rivals, but the engine’s broad, accessible torque curve makes it genuinely satisfying to ride in the real world — whether you’re threading through city traffic or pulling out of a sandy wash.
The engine also hides some clever engineering details. It uses a Unicam SOHC head with four valves per cylinder, keeping the overall engine height compact. A dry-sump lubrication system frees up space below the cases, contributing to the Africa Twin’s impressive ground clearance. And that 270-degree firing order gives the engine a characterful V-twin-like pulse that makes long days in the saddle more enjoyable. Being a tried-and-tested design, it’s also remarkably bulletproof and straightforward to maintain.
Dual Clutch Gearbox Is Still Unique, Over A Decade Later
The engine is paired with a six-speed manual transmission featuring a two-way quickshifter, or you can specify it with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The DCT offers multiple modes — ‘Auto’ is self-explanatory, while three ‘Sport’ modes deliver progressively sharper shifts. Manual overrides are available via handlebar paddles. The Africa Twin’s DCT also features a ‘G Switch’ that allows extra clutch slip at very low speeds for technical off-road work. Competing automatic gearboxes have since appeared in the segment, but they are all considerably more expensive and use automated manual systems rather than a true dual-clutch setup like Honda’s.
The Old-School Chassis Makes It Great Off-Road As Well
The Africa Twin uses a traditional semi-double cradle frame constructed from steel. The subframe is also steel, while the swingarm is made from lighter aluminum. It’s not the lightest arrangement, but the steel frame absorbs punishment off-road without complaint and inspires confidence on rough terrain. Suspension is handled by Showa throughout: a 45 mm inverted SFF-BP front fork that is fully adjustable, and a fully adjustable Showa rear unit with Pro-Link mounting. Travel measures 9.1 inches at the front and 8.7 inches at the rear.
Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES Hides The Real Party Trick
Electronic suspension is not available on the standard Africa Twin in the U.S. market; it is exclusive to the Africa Twin Adventure Sports here. That higher-end variant features Showa’s EERA electronic suspension, which continuously adapts damping to suit road conditions. The trade-off is slightly reduced travel — 8.3 inches front and 7.9 inches rear — but the Adventure Sports can still handle more challenging terrain than its road-biased tuning might suggest.
Other Essentials For Adventure Are In Place, Too
The braking package consists of twin 310 mm front discs gripped by radial-mount four-piston fixed calipers, and a 296 mm rear disc with a single-piston caliper. Unlike the Adventure Sports, the standard Africa Twin runs a 21/18-inch wheel combination that is well suited to off-road use. Both rims are spoked and fitted with tubeless tires.
This Is A Full-Size ADV
The Africa Twin is unambiguously a full-size ADV. It stretches nearly 92 inches in length and 38 inches wide, with a seat height of 34.3 inches in the standard position and a low setting of 33.5 inches. Ground clearance is a generous 9.8 inches — more than the Adventure Sports variant. The one area where the standard model concedes ground is fuel capacity: its 5-gallon tank is noticeably smaller than the Adventure Sports’ 6.6-gallon unit, which is capable of around 300 miles between fill-ups. Riders who prioritize range will want to step up accordingly.
Good Feature Set Backs Up The Strong Cycle Parts
The Africa Twin doesn’t promise the moon — it cannot, at this price point — but it delivers an intelligent selection of features that cover the bases for serious adventure riding. A 6.5-inch TFT touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay is standard, as is Bluetooth connectivity and turn-by-turn navigation. Honda has also retained a secondary LCD display for at-a-glance readouts of speed and odometer data.
A ride-by-wire throttle interfaces with a six-axis IMU to enable seven levels of Honda Selectable Torque Control (HSTC), six ride modes including two fully customizable settings, cornering ABS, wheelie control, and cruise control. The accessories catalog adds practical items such as a center stand, engine guard, enduro footpegs, and a full luggage system.
Very Little Direct Competition For Honda’s Flagship ADV
The Africa Twin occupies a niche that no other motorcycle quite fills at the moment. The Moto Guzzi Stelvio is priced similarly at $16,390, but its transverse V-twin engine isn’t to everyone’s taste, and it hasn’t demonstrated the same off-road credibility as the Africa Twin. Other strong all-rounders exist, but they fall into either a higher price bracket — the BMW R 1300 GS, Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally, and KTM 1390 Super Adventure R — or a different displacement class altogether, including the BMW F 900 GS, Ducati DesertX V2, KTM 890 Adventure R, and Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro.
The closest rival to the Africa Twin is the Suzuki V-Strom 1050DE ($16,449). But with its aluminum twin-spar frame and overall character, it leans more toward tarmac touring than genuine off-road adventure. It also costs noticeably more than the base Africa Twin for a platform that has remained largely unchanged for several years.
Source: Honda Powersports
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