Regardless, in performance
the single-cam parallel twin
is a gem of a motor. If you've
ever ridden an Africa Twin,
you'll know what I mean but,
if anything, I feel this motor is
even more suited to the cruiser
segment than the ADV one.
Power is delightfully smooth,
and the droning exhaust note
almost limits your desire to
go revving the thing out when
in Sport mode on the auto
gearbox. The Rebel redlines at
8000 rpm, but all the meaning-
ful drive is done by about 7000
rpm and it greatly prefers to be
lugged from corner to corner
in higher gears, keeping the
revs nice and low. This is a
cruiser, after all.
There are three preset
power modes of Standard,
Sport and Rain, each of which
has its own level of traction
control/wheelie control (they
are part of the same algorithm)
engine brake control and DCT,
and you get a programmable
"User" mode that lets you indi-
vidually set all those aforemen-
tioned parameters.
You can get a manual Rebel
1100, but we only tested the
DCT version at the launch. The
DCT itself comes with three
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 9 MARCH 2, 2021 P75
(Above) The DCT has
its foibles but it's a
good overall system.
(Left) You can hustle
the Rebel along quite
nicely, especially for a
cruiser. (Right) Four-
piston brakes are
more than enough
for this bike.
