New Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin unveiled at EICMA

Honda's flagship adventure tourer gets more adventurous with a new variant, while the standard version gets more goodies. 

Wraps have come off the 2018 Honda Africa Twin at the ongoing EICMA motorcycle show. Highlights include a more adventure-focused variant, called the Adventure Sport, while the standard version also gains a number of updates over the outgoing model. 

The new variant – the Adventure Sport – takes the Africa Twin’s adventure game up a notch. To start with, it gets 5.4 litres bigger fuel tank (24.2 litres) than before, increased ground clearance – up by 20mm to 270mm, heated grips, 22mm longer suspension travel, a larger sump guard and an extended front windscreen.

The standard version, too, gets new bits and bobs. Ride-by-wire throttle with three riding modes, seven levels of traction control – up from three in the current model, and a modified new air-box for better power delivery and enhanced exhaust note have been introduced in the motorcycle. There’s also a new lithium-ion battery that saves 2 kilograms over the older model’s battery. A new paint scheme to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the original Africa Twin rounds out the list of updates.

On the mechanical front, there are no changes to speak of. This means the motorcycle continues to come powered by a 998cc parallel-twin motor that develops 87bhp and 92Nm. The motorcycle comes in two gearbox options – a six-speed manual or a dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT).

The outgoing Honda Africa Twin was launched in India earlier this year in limited numbers. Though the one that came to our market was only offered with the DCT gearbox. With the new model being unveiled now, we are expecting Honda to bring it our shores sometime in 2018.