Africa Twin Adventure Sport 2020 Test Ride and Review

Note: Review and ride conducted before lockdown for Covid-19

I’ve had my Africa Twin for just over two years. In that time we’ve travelled Europe together, had a few drops but more adventures. It’s safe to say that my Africa Twin is my favourite bike I’ve ever ridden. But today I’m out to see if I can top it. Honda has released their new 2020 Africa Twin, it’s got a bigger engine (1100cc instead of 1000cc), a bit more power and a heap ton more gadgets. So today I’m booked in to test ride this new bike and I’m going for an upgrade, trying out the Adventure Sport version.

Today I’m asking myself the question, is the 2020 Africa Twin Adventure Sport better than the 2015 Africa Twin? More importantly, can it make me love it more than I love my current bike?

Arriving at Kent Motorcycles I’m informed that they’ve not got the DCT version with the electronic suspension and all the other gadgets available, so I’m riding the stock Adventure Sport with the manual gear change. Not an issue, my other bike is a manual so it’s not like I’m out of touch with gear changing, but I would have liked all the extra gizmos (I’m a bit of a gadget fan). That being said, the left control mount already has 14 buttons on it, a slight increase on my bike. We stand around for some time clicking buttons to try to find how to change rider profiles. We go through the same menus over and over, changing the volume of the bluetooth interface, changing the heated grips settings. It takes a while but eventually I get used to what does what. I think it becoming second nature will take a considerable time though.

The next thing is to set the bike up. The Adventure Sports is taller than mine so throwing my leg over it I can feel the extra height, even with the seat on the lower setting. Standing is uncomfortable as the seat digs into the insides of my legs. I adjust the screen to it’s tallest setting and prepare to set off.

Riding around to the exit the throttle feels a little janky, it’s all or nothing. Smoothing it out with a little more clutch might help. Pulling out onto the dual carriageway there’s a blast of power and I work my way up through the gears quickly. The tank is wider, the bike is taller, but on the move it feels no different to my AT. Coming off the A roads for more twisty roads I soon get the feel of the bike. It moves just like the previous models, using your hips and feet to push through bends. It’s a familiar feeling and I’m instantly at home with it. I’d been warned that the tyres were fresh but the bike gave me no cause for concern. Africa Twins are reliable and take care of you when you’re riding them. I’m beaming as I put all those extra horses of the bike to work.

Our route today was full of junctions and red lights. Each red light reminded me of just how much taller this bike was and each junction reminded me of my least favourite bit of this new bike. The indicator switch.

I’m riding in my winter gloves. The Sun may be out and it may have stopped raining, but it’s still cold. The indicator on this Africa Twin is in a new place to accommodate all of those new gadget buttons - right underneath them all as a little toggle push switch. Through my gloves I can barely feel whether I’ve hit it or not so I have to look down to check. Thankfully this bike has auto-cancelling indicators so once I know it’s on I can forget about it. But it’s little things like that which stick out at you and leave a little annoying niggle in my mind. Would I get used to that? Or would it annoy me forever?

Pulling over for fuel I take the opportunity to check out the rider modes more. So far I’ve been riding in Tour. Which is great as the screen tells you loads of info, possibly too much. I can see what distance I’ve got left in the tank (roughly £10 bought me approximately 140 miles) which is a great addition, but again there seems to be just too much going on. We search the settings for how to adjust the user modes and find it hidden away somewhere. I set the power and engine braking to full (I think I’d been riding on a quarter), turn the traction control down and switch the abs on. A side note here I’ve just realised is that my AT has a dedicated switch for the traction control, I’m not sure that this one did.

Heading out again I can feel the new power in the bike. On fast and familiar roads the AT is pointed, precise. The throttle twist gives instant gratification and a needle like accuracy. My confidence is increased further and I’m darting past traffic, pushing some corners I’m most used to faster than I normally could and I’m loving the experience.

One of the interesting things so far too, remember I said that I’d pushed the screen as high as it would go? When on my AT I get a lot of wind buffeting even though I have the taller screen. With this new screen I’m riding my visor open and can’t tell much difference. It’s peaceful behind the screen, quiet and still. Perfect for long distance touring.

We stop again for some lunch at the Dog House just before Ashford on the A20. We discuss the bike for a bit before setting off again. The Dog House is in a small community of businesses and there’s a gravel car park in which I’ve parked the AT nose first into a space. This means walking it backwards. Luckily for me they’ve shaved some weight from this bike and walking it backwards around cars and obstacles is easy enough.

Riding through the small villages there’s a lumpiness to the road and that exposes the twitchy throttle to me again. Trying to keep the speed low there’s a jerkiness to how the bike handles. Perhaps with a little more clutch I could overcome this, but it’s something to keep an eye out for when slow speed riding. The lumpiness for me is mostly taken up by the suspension and the seat. The seat which feels like you’re riding on a ball of air. It’s the same as the old seat and comfortable enough on its own to soak up the miles.

Riding back I use the straights to try out the cruise control, which takes a while for me to get the hang of how to turn it on but I don’t really like it anyway. It feels like the bike is riding away from you and I turn it off soon after. There’s a few larger vehicles on the road, but now accustomed to this new AT I take each opportunity to pass them by.

Back on the dual carriageways it’s time to see what the top end of this bike is like. Suffice to say I back off before it does. In fifth gear it’s going faster than I’ve got my AT to and there’s a whole other gear to go.

Pulling back into the dealership I set the bike on its side-stand and step off. It’s like I’m jumping off my own bike. One thing I do like about the upgraded models is the new vibrancy to the colours. It’s much more appealing than the original tri-colour set they used, but that’s not a biggie for me.

I chat with the dealer, hand back the keys and jump back on my own AT to ride back home. The home comforts come flooding back, but suddenly my bike feels small. Without the double wide tank or the higher seat everything feels much narrower. But still, I’m happy to be back on my bike and I think that’s the most telling point.

There were a few things which stuck in my mind that stopped me from falling in love with the 2020 Africa Twin Adventure Sport, the indicator switch, oddly enough, being one of them. The bike is the same, but different. But given the history I have with my bike, the touring and off roading we’ve done, it’s not different enough. There’s some things which they’ve improved - the power and responsiveness as well as the wind protection, and some things they’ve not - like the ergonomics of the controls.

So yeah, the new 2020 Africa Twin Adventure Sport - the same, but different. I think it would be great for mile munching, you could handle long distances easily enough on it. That extra height might make a heavy load more unstable though. For commuting I can’t really recommend it, especially if you’re in stop start or cramped traffic. At the end of the day I’ve still got my old Africa Twin in the garage and I’m happy about that.