Ride Impressions of the 2016 Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin
Touratech's Paul Guillien and journalist John Bentman test the Africa Twin.
Touratech-USA CEO, Paul Guillien and journalist Jonathan Bentman visited Touratech’s headquarters in Germany to see the product line for the new Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin. As luck would have it, they found the keys to the Touratech-modified test bike and took it for a ride.
Guillien and Bentman tested the Touratech-equipped bike over varied Black Forest terrain and got a feel for the performance, handling, and features of the CRF1000L Africa Twin – including the ABS system, traction control and automatic dual-clutch transmission (DCT).
“We all hoped that Honda would return to the adventure segment with a properly configured adventure bike. I am happy to say, the day has come and Honda got a lot of things right on this bike.” said Guillien. For nostalgia’s sake, the pair grabbed an original 750cc Africa Twin and were able to compare the performance of the old version from the 90s to the new Africa Twin. While both riders are looking forward to spending more time on the new bike, their first impressions are made quite clear in this video.
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Typical Honda lovefest. A little better than a BMW 800; but not in the same league with a KTM. Zzzzzzzzzz…
So you have ridden this bike?
I was, but suffered a bout of narcolepsy, and crashed.
I was with him until he described it as a possible “entry-level bike”. I think it’s somewhat irresponsible to recommend a bike with this amount of horsepower for beginners.
I also was dismayed at the suggestion that one could easily “outgrow” a KTM 690. What is it with the big-engine love fest? Is it just Americans (and I’m one) who always think ‘bigger is better’? Maybe Americans from Texas?