African Revolution

Honda’s stepped up its game for 2020, building on the massive success of its Africa Twin with the introduction of three new bikes – a new top-of-the-line, electronically assisted Afric a Twin Adventure Sports, a standard Africa Twin Adventure Sports and a standard Africa Twin. And we’ve been out to Sardinia to see just how well they go on the road and the rough stuff.

- Ross Mowbray

At first glance, you’d probably be forgiven for thinking that Honda’sdone very little to the Africa Twin for 2020. But you’d be wrong. Despite the quite subtle visual changes, they’re completely new machines; all three of them. The headline news is that they’re lighter, slimmer, more powerful and come kitted out with an eclectic mix of the latest technology. There’s no doubt they are a serious step up from the previous generation machines. There’s been a shift of priorities, too. The ‘standard’ Africa Twin now becomes Honda’s out and out off-road adventure machine, while the Adventure Sports is all set for some serious touring – either with or without that new Showa EERA suspension system.

The standard Africa Twin will set you back £13,049 for the manual transmission machine, or £13,949 for the DCT bike. The base-model Adventure Sports will cost £14,649 for the manual, or £15,849 for the DCT. And finally, the electronically assisted Adventure Sports is priced at £16,049 for the manual, or £17,349 for the DCT. So they’re not cheap – but when you look at all the work that Honda’s put into the new bikes, it’s easy to see why.

We spent the bulk of our time on the new top-of-the-line Adventure Sports, covering close to 200 miles across a mixture of tight twisties, fast sweepers and wide, undulating gravel trails. As a result, that’s the bike we’re going to focus on.We will touch on the other two though, just in slightly less detail.