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ADV NewsFilings Show New Generation Honda Africa Twin On The Way For 2024

Filings Show New Generation Honda Africa Twin On The Way For 2024

Notable changes may be in store for Big Red’s next-gen flagship Adventurer.

Published on 08.01.2023

As the seduction of adventure bike ownership continues to draw consumers by the score, manufacturers are under pressure to nudge their flagship mounts to new levels of capability. Following the trend, recently filed Type Approval regulatory paperwork unearthed by Cycle World, indicates Honda is in the process of upgrading its CRF1100L Africa Twin with some notable changes. 

An improved Africa Twin will help keep the bike competitive in a hot segment that has manufacturers constantly on the move to keep up. After all, it’s been nearly four years since the Japanese powerhouse enhanced its liter-class adventure bike with a more-powerful parallel-twin engine, more-compact chassis, a slight, yet much-appreciated reduction in weight, as well as a slew of new componentry. 

Honda Africa Twin featuring radar technology
Patents show the addition of radar technology, allowing adaptive-cruise control and blind-spot detection.

According to the paperwork, the 2024 Africa Twin will be changed enough to warrant a new designation as a new generation model in Honda’s classification structure, an in-house way of identifying machines using alphanumeric codes. For example, A is the first character given to models 500cc and under, while bikes between 650cc and 899cc are R models and bikes over 900cc start with an S. The next character describes the bike’s style: F for scooter, C for street or sport, E for MX or enduro and D for dual sport. The numerals that follow are the chronological order of creation, dating back to the 1980s.


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The Type Approval paperwork names a 2024 “SD14,” which is safe to assume will be the next generation Africa Twin, based on the current Africa Twin and Africa Twin Adventure Sports production numbers of SD08 and SD09. (Yes, there are missing numbers but these are generally understood to be AT variations or other large dual sport concepts either scrapped or still in the design phase.) 

So aside from the exciting expectation an updated AT is on the way after several years of only tweaks, an additional look at recent patent filings offers some clues about what we might see revealed later this year.

Supercharged Honda Africa Twin CRF1100L
A supercharger is speculated to be a possible change – a design Honda has previously filed for with the Japan Patent Office.

For example, patent drawings show the next Africa Twin will very likely include front and rear radar, an update we’ve already seen implemented on bikes like Ducati’s Multistrada V4, KTM’s 1290 Super Adventure, and BMW’s long anticipated 2024 R1300GS due for an official unveiling the end of September. 

In fact, the timing of BMW’s release of its all-new flagship is likely a factor in Honda pushing an Africa Twin update to arrive in step with the new GS, a line that remains the world’s best selling large-displacement adventure bikes. Any bike in this pricey segment is often the golden goose for many manufacturers, and competition for loyalty is understandably fierce.

Another possible game-changer for the 2024 Africa Twin is the chance the bike will be supercharged. After all, we saw patents filed for this upgrade back in 2020 just after the current generation Africa Twin hit the scene. The idea is nowhere as crazy as it seems when you inspect Honda’s filings with the Japan Patent Office, showing a design that uses a volumetric compressor geared from the crankshaft rather the engine so that it delivers a fixed amount of boost throughout the powerband instead of just a punch on top, as we’re used to seeing in street and sport bike applications.

The reason this type of supercharging would be a plus for adventure riding is how right from idle, the turbine would be in rotation, providing a steady, predictable boost in midrange and torque.

Honda Africa Twin featuring direct fuel injection
Honda’s proposed direct-injection fuel system may be a means to reduce emmissions while increasing power.

While a supercharged 1084cc parallel-twin might still be a generation down the line, patents dating back to 2019 reveal a proposed switch from the current engine’s Unicam to a double-overhead-cam cylinder head that would utilize a direct fuel injection system. This new design could very well show up on a revamped 2024 Africa Twin as a means to stay competitive with other top-shelf ADV entries, while continuing to balance displacement vs emissions in order to comply with ever-increasing Euro-5 environmental impact limitations. Or if used with a supercharger, more boost could be applied with reduced chance of engine damage.

With the unveiling of BMW’s new R1300GS only weeks away and the promise of a next-generation 2024 Africa Twin on the near horizon, not to mention next year’s arrival of Honda’s middleweight XL750 Transalp to American shores, the near future is sure to continue to be laced with new, interesting adventure bike options. 

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.

Author: Jamie Elvidge
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RobertSix52
RobertSix52
August 2, 2023 8:08 am

I spent 5 years with a 2017 Africa Twin and I’ll say this, it was the best giant dual sport ever made. I also owned a 2007 BMW GS 1200 and I’ll say this, it is the most overrated motorcycle ever.

Tom Brown
Tom Brown
September 4, 2023 8:52 am
Reply to  RobertSix52

GS has come a long way since 2007, Robert.

Brian
Brian
July 9, 2024 6:54 am

It is now JUL 2024 and I’m holding my money ’til I see the supercharger on the ’25MY. Would make it the perfect ADV bike and really set the cat among the pigeons in the bigboys camp. DCT and S/c would make a hell of a great bike!

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