Honda displayed the Africa Twin Adventure Sports concept at the 2016 Osaka Motorcycle Show held over the weekend in Osaka, Japan. The new concept is a more rugged version of the Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin, first unveiled at the EICMA show in Milan and then at the 2016 Auto Expo in Delhi.
The notable differences are a much larger aluminium sump guard as well as an upswept hi-performance Termignoni exhaust. The rear end of the bike has been redesigned as well and the seat is flat, like the one found on Honda motocross and dirt bikes. Overall, the rest of the bike remains the same - same engine, same chassis and most of the bodywork.
The engine is the same 998cc parallel-twin found on the CRF1000L, which makes 94bhp power and 98Nm of torque.
Adventure Touring motorcycles are quite the rage across the global market, and Honda will want to grab a slice of that pie with the Africa Twin CRF1000L. Like other manufacturers, who offer a more focussed and off-road oriented variant, like the 'Adventure' in the BMW R1200GSA variant, or the Aprillia Caponord 'Rally' version, Honda is expected to be looking to tap this market with an 'Adventure Sport' version of the new Africa Twin CRF1000L as well.
(Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sport Concept)
So far, the Africa Twin Adventure Sport is just a concept, so it's still unclear when the bike will see production. However, given the global demand for adventure bikes, and particularly the hardcore 'adventure' or 'rallly' variants for the off-road inclined, Honda is likely to get the Africa Twin Adventure Sport out soon, possibly by the end of the year.
The market for adventure bikes is growing in India as well, with Triumph leading with its bestselling Tiger range. However, most adventure bikes are used primarily for touring in India, given our road conditions, with the occasional Himalayan adventure thrown in.
Honda has already announced that the Africa Twin CRF1000L will be assembled and launched in India, possibly later this year. It remains to be seen if at all the Adventure Sport variant is launched in India.
