New 2020 Honda Africa Twin Full Specs & Pictures Released

Finally after months of teasing the new 2020 Honda Africa Twin has been announced with full specifications and some beautiful imagery of the bike in action. There have been some pretty significant updates that address most of the shortcomings expressed by owners of the previous generation so in today's video we're going to go through every detail of Honda's announcement. The headline change for the 2020 Africa Twin is a boost in capacity for its 8 valve parallel twin motor from 998 CC to 1084. To achieve this increase Honda left the bore the same but increased the stroke from 75.1mm to 81.5 and made a few weight reducing changes to the internals while they were at it such as aluminium cylinder sleeves which have resulted in a two and a half kilo saving. There are a whole host of other changes listed on the spec sheet such as a completely redesigned cylinder head, larger 46mm throttle bodies, new ECU setting and revised injector angles, optimised valve timing and increased valve lift. All of these add up to a six horsepower improvement versus the outgoing model increasing peak power from 94 to 100 horsepower at seven and a half thousand revs. Peak torque has also gone up from 99 newton meters to 105 and is produced at 6,250 rpm. Honda claim that the extra grunt produced by the motor can be felt all the way across the rev range from two and a half thousand revs up to the redline. The bike's emissions are Euro 5 compliant which is something that all manufacturers are currently scrambling to achieve across their range as the new rules start to come into place at the beginning of next year. Honda also added misfire detection which is another Euro 5 requirement as well as replacing O2 lambda sensors with linear air fuel sensors in the downpipes which apparently give a more accurate reading of air fuel mixture ratios. Honda also claimed that a revised clutch results in a lighter lever feel and that stronger materials have been used on redesigned gears. The Africa Twin also inherits a variable exhaust control valve in its end can similar to the system found on a Fireblade. The valve opens at higher revs to help the motor breathe but Honda claims it also improves the exhaust note at tick over with a pulsing sound. The Africa Twins 270 degree firing order already helps it to produce a pretty pleasant sound so I'm looking forward to hearing the ECV in action. One common complaint that I've seen in the comments on my video about the outgoing Africa Twin is that the LCD display looks a little dated by today's standard and perhaps lacks the functionality offered by competitors on their touring focused adventure bikes. Well potential buyers of the Africa Twin can rejoice as Honda have made some significant leaps in this area. Whilst the small LCD display remains for speed time and gear position a substantial TFT display is included above in the squared off Dakar rally inspired style that seems popular with adventure bikes at the moment. I'm sure Honda have included their own cool stuff in the interface but I'm way more excited to see that they've integrated Apple's CarPlay system. Whilst car and motorcycle companies may be great at designing machines often they're not so good at software. Personally I find that it's best left to software specialists and Apple's CarPlay is something that I've used in plenty of cars and found to be much more intuitive and simple to use than the manufacturers interfaces. It also means that third-party apps like Spotify, WhatsApp and Waze can be used and it's always going to be up-to-date with the latest version if you keep your phone up-to-date. As far as I know CarPlay is only available on a handful of motorcycles like Honda's Goldwing and bikes with Harley's Boombox infotainment system but hopefully we'll see it trickle down to more bikes in the coming years. Aside from the new TFT Honda have also improved the riding adding a 6-axis IMU or inertial measurement unit which provides your pitch and roll angles to the ECU to enable wheelie control, rear wheel lift control and cornering ABS. The number of riding parameters now customizable on the Africa Twin is actually quite something. There are four levels of power delivery, three levels of engine braking, three levels of wheelie control, seven levels of their selectable torque control and on and off-road parameters for ABS as well. You can configure these all yourself in two user-selected riding modes but if your head is spinning then the existing touring, urban and gravel modes are available as well as the new off-road which gives you relatively low power, low engine braking, cornering ABS and switchable rear wheel ABS. Cruise control is now fitted as standard which will be a welcome addition to help with those big motorway miles and Honda have also included LED daytime running lights to improve visibility and therefore safety. They automatically adjust to the conditions which should ensure that they can be seen whatever the weather. All in all the electronics package on the new Africa Twin seems absolutely comprehensive and up to the challenge of competing with the rest of the adventure bike market. Honda claim to have increased rigidity of the frame around the steering head to give the new Africa Twin better feel for front-end grip whilst the main beams are also slimmer and straighter in order to reduce weight and combined with removing the front cross pipe 1.8 kilograms are saved. The subframe has also been completely revised doing away with the welded steel unit from the last bike in favour of an aluminium bolt-on design. This will be a welcome change to some Africa Twin fans as I've read complaints on forums that any damage sustained to the subframe of the last bike which can be likely if doing any serious off-roading would result in the whole frame having to be swapped whereas a bolt-on unit can be swapped out much more easily. Honda also state that it's 40mm narrower which can help with getting shorter riders feet onto the floor especially considering that the Africa Twin seat height is 850mm at its lowest adjustment or 825mm with a low seat option. The aluminium swingarm has also been redesigned now closely based on the one used on the CRF450R. Not only is it 500 grams lighter but Honda claim that it has better rigidity which ought to improve rear wheel traction and feel. I've mentioned a number of weight savings in this video with the motor, frame and swingarm. They all tally up to a bike that's 5 kilograms lighter than the last generation with a new 226 kilogram curb weight. Combined with an extra 6 horsepower that should make it noticeably quicker. Lastly on the chassis the internal settings of the shower forks and rear shock have been revised in order to apparently give the bike better handling on and off road. Honda's dual clutch transmission is still an option for the Africa Twin providing semi and fully automatic gear shifts using as the name suggests two clutches. The IMU mentioned earlier offers an advancement for the DCT system for 2020 in that it can detect when the bike is cornering allowing DCT to adjust the way that it shifts in order to give what Honda describes as their most natural gear changes. Honda have also increased the range of accessories for 2020 including premium 42 litre aluminium luggage, larger 58 litre plastic top box and panniers, two seat heights, a touring screen, radiator guards, engine guards and side pipes, knuckle guard extensions, heated grips and a charging socket. Although the 2020 model is unmistakably still an Africa Twin there are some styling changes to bring it right up to date. Dakar rally style bikes seem to be the flavor at the moment so the bodywork has been slimmed down to give the bike more of a rally look. A shorter screen not only lowers the top line of the front of the bike but also Honda claims helps with scanning ahead when riding trails. The redesigned subframe also gives the bike a slimmer back end with a newly sculpted seat that allows the rider to move back and forth with ease. The bars are also 22.5 millimeters higher which should help with comfort whether seated or standing. The look of this bike has always been defined by the twin headlights and to me the LED daytime running lights only emphasize this still further. To my eye the Africa Twin is probably the best looking adventure bike on the market and remains so in this iteration. It has an aggressive look and from what I can see in the press pictures it looks really well finished too. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the flesh at a bike show in the next couple of months. The only outstanding complaint I can see from potential buyers is that the new Africa Twin retains its tube type tires. I've seen many comments on my previous videos asking for tubeless on the 2020 model. Spoke rims offer more resilience and repairability for off-roading but typically require an inner tube as the spoke holes tend not to hold air in the rim. More recently some adventure bikes use spokes that lace onto the side of the rims which means that tubeless tires can be used which will offer better on-road performance and puncture resistance. The three most common asks of this update aside from the bigger motor seem to me to be a better display, cruise control and tubeless tires so some folks might be disappointed to only get two out of three but there are so many advancements elsewhere on the bike that it looks like a pretty awesome increment on the last generation to me. What do you guys make of the new Africa Twin? Is it now the ultimate adventure bike or would you go for a GS or perhaps the new Triumph Tiger 900 which is expected to be announced soon? Let me know in the comments below and if you're new here and you want to see more videos like this hit subscribe and I'll catch you next time