Which Adventure Motorcycle is the Best Buy? - Will the Honda Africa Twin be a Contender?

I have the spent the past several months voraciously reading every tidbit released about Honda's Africa Twin. From the moment the Africa Twin was announced it not only captivated me, it also captivated the majority of adventure motorcycle fans from all over the world.

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With all of that fanfare and build up, the Africa Twin had a tough yard stick to measure up to. Whether it made it or not will be left to the sales numbers to determine. However, there is at least one glaring omission from the Africa Twin spec sheet that keeps it form being a bonafide touring machine: The lack of cruise control is simply unacceptable. This is what also prevented the KTM 1190 from being a bigger seller and prompted KTM to offer the 1290 Super Adventure to gain sales in the more on-road-oriented segment. The absence of cruise control means that the Africa Twin gives up amenities to the class leading BMW.

BMW is the class leader in adventure motorcycle sales. They are also the most expensive motorcycle in the class and it's really hard to exit the dealer with one that is less than $20,000. At that price you get heated grips, electronically adjustable suspension, ride modes, and pannier racks. You also get to own the most recalled motorcycle in the category. From chronic drive shaft issues to leaking seals, the BMW may have been around the world, but it also has made numerous visits to the repair shop along the way.

The new Africa Twin is priced to be the low cost value leader at $12,999, only the Suzuki V-Strom 1000 is in that range for MSRP. For that low price you get, um... a very good motorcycle with ABS, ride modes and for $1000 more, an automatic.

ABS is standard on all the competitive ADV bikes, so are ride modes. Automatic motorcycles are about .0000000001 of the market so the expectation is to see these wild animals languishing in dealer showrooms for several model years. If Honda built an adventure bike specifically for the dirt, they are significantly over-priced— you could kit out a 450 for less. And if they did build an adventure motorcycle competitor, they are woefully under-featured.

I touched briefly on the V-Strom above and it falls into the same area as the Africa Twin. It's less expensive, but it has far less amenities. The V-Strom also lacks the aftermarket support that BMW and the Honda will certainly have when it releases.

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