New larger capacity Africa Twin confirmed
Honda’s worst kept secret in motorcycling is confirmed today in the form of its new large-capacity adventure motorcycle, the CRF1100L Africa Twin
HONDA has been at the centre of a hurricane of rumours recently regarding the CRF1000L Africa Twin and its potential upgrade from 1000cc to 1100cc. We now have solid proof that the bike is incoming in the form of some specs, dimensions and a rough idea of when it could be released.
First up, it is confirmed the bike will wear the CRF1100L Africa Twin name, with cycleworld.com stating that the machine’s internal codename will be SD09, the current Africa Twin is the SD06 while the relaunched (2015/2017) model was the SD04.
The big(ish) news for the bike is the capacity increase that the rumoured new name already suggests. Taking the engine from 998cc to 1,084cc is more a move in pre-empting incoming Euro5 regs, where tighter emissions and noise regulations are claimed to make the machine 3dB quieter than the outgoing model. The bikes power output isn’t changed massively from the previous version with a claimed 101hp (up from 94hp), and is clear intent that Honda are still not interested in battling in the ADV-bike power-war between KTM (1290 Super Adventure 160hp), Ducati (MTS 1260S 156hp), or even the new BMW R1250 GS at 130hp. Cycleworld (and a number of other credible sources) also state that the new bike's engine will hit peak power 7,500rpm, exactly the same as the current model.
The range of new Africa Twins is set to feature four bikes starting with the manual gearbox CRF1100L A2 and A4, with the A4 variant being more hardcore off-road-oriented Adventure Sports spec. The DCT options will be the CRF1100L D2 and D4, with the D4 being the DCT of the Adventure Sports version.
The leaked information also points to 24l fuel tank across all the new models; previously it was just the Adventure Sports versions that received a bigger 24.2l tank. If that’s the case, the new bike will be harder to tell apart, as the larger tank of the Adventure Sports model of old caused the front end of the bike to be more bulbous and easily identified on the road.
The leak also confirms the weight of the new machines, with the CRF1000L A2 will be 238kg, the D2 being 248kg, while the Adventure Sports is 240kg and 250kg with the DCT system.
With no pictures included with the leaked information, we have no idea as to the styling of the new bike but don’t think it’d move too far from the current model’s styling. There were some computer renderings (included in this article) showing a more angular front end that was still unmistakably an Africa Twin; they probably aren’t far from the truth.
With Honda’s specs getting leaked this early in the year – it’s normally later in the season, nearer the motorcycle shows that these kinds of semi-intentional leaks occur – It could be that Honda are planning a launch of the bike sooner rather than later, pre-EICMA possibly.
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
