Honda Africa Twin launch by mid-2017

The 2016 Auto Expo saw Honda unveil their adventure motorcycle, the Honda Africa Twin. Honda will be launching the bike here in mid-2017 and the company says there will be only one variant will be launched here and it will be brought down via the CKD route. The Honda Africa Twin was speculated to be launched in India towards the end of 2016, but production and deliveries took a hit due to the earthquake that damaged Honda’s manufacturing plant at Hamamatsu, Japan.

Talking about the bike, the Honda Africa Twin comes with a semi-double cradle type chassis with high-tensile strength steel rear sub-frame. It is powered by a liquid-cooled, 998cc parallel-twin which churns out a whopping 94 HP power and 97 Nm torque. India will only be getting an auto shifting dual-clutch transmission (DCT) on the Honda Africa Twin. The bike also gets a host of features like a digital tachometer, wide handlebars with hand-guards, a start-up system, ground clearance of 250 mm, a small dash and windscreen.

The bike measures 2335 mm in length, 875 mm in width and stands 1475 mm tall. What it also boasts of is an adjustable seat height, a feature that comes very handy on a bike this size. The bike in addition to the above, offers a fuel tank capacity of 23-litres, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Honda Selectable Torque Control (HSTC) as standard.

Having a history of nearly 14 years, the Honda Africa Twin was first launched in the year 1989. The XR 750 was in production only till 2003, and after a more than a decade, Honda has decided to give this model a new lease of life. The Honda Africa Twin, may come in a choice of three colours, the Dakar Rally, i.e. (the Red and Blue), Metallic Silver and Matte Black.

This adventure-tourer from Honda goes against the likes of the Triumph Tiger, Kawasaki Versys 1000, Ducati Multistrada. Honda is expected to price this adventure tourer competitively and we expect the prices to be somewhere around Rs 17-18 lakh. Honda is clear on its intentions of getting a slice of the adventure-tourer market, only time will tell as to how the Honda Africa Twin fares against the competition.