Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1262717
2020 HONDA CRF1100L AFRICA TWIN & ADVENTURE SPORTS ES R I D E R E V I E W P66 gage quicker (think of it as a short ver- sus a longer lever pull on a traditional clutch lever). The result you'll feel is a quicker throttle response, almost like a more direct throttle map. CHASSIS DEVELOPMENT The two bikes share the same main chassis and swingarm, with their only major differences being the suspension. There's a smattering of CRF450R motocrosser in the new Africa Twin, with the subframe and swingarm modeled off it. The new, lighter subframe is now separate from the main frame and 40mm narrower at the seat rails, while the swingarm is stiffer and a pound lighter than before. The main chassis does away with the cross pipe at the top of the shock, which is now centrally-mounted in the frame/swingarm, and the steering head's been beefed up for more rigid- ity and front end feel through the bars. This factor is also helped by the main frame having straighter main spars. As for the base model, suspension consists of conventionally operated 45mm Showa inverted forks with 9.1 inches of travel, mated to a Showa You can play around with the spec of your new Africa Twin at the dealer, where you can have the traditional manual or the DCT semi-automatic gearbox on either model. However, you can only have the Showa electronic suspension on the Adventure Sports edition. More on that later. The manual gearbox comes in for an all- new, stronger gearset and a new, smaller diameter slip-and-assist clutch for a lighter lever pull. On the DCT side, this is where Honda has put most of its cookies. They've been trying to perfect this design since the Honda VFR1200 of a decade ago, and much of the Africa Twin's overall R&D budget will have gone into making the DCT a real off-road alternative. The 2020 Africa Twins come with a six-axis IMU for the first time and this works hand-in-hand with the DCT's performance. Cornering detection is now built into the system, whereby the ECU recognizes the bike is cranked over and won't suddenly change gear on you, which leads to the inevitable chassis unbalancing. As before, you get three transmission modes—AT D (Drive), AT S (Sport) and MT (Manual, operated by shift levers on the left handlebar)—with new shift timing for each. There's also the G switch, which essentially lets the clutch en- (Above) The stumpy screen is perfect for a real off-road bike on the base model. (Below) The AT Adventure Sports is a beast and gets a taller screen and much more fuel capacity to boot.