2016 Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin Preview

Honda has a new adventure bike for 2016 and if you’re looking for a full liter motorcycle that’s ready for anything, you’ll want to check out the CRF1000L Africa Twin when it hits the showrooms in early 2016. The engine is a 998cc twin, with each head housing a Unicam valve system and two spark plugs per piston, has an automatic transmission that can be shifted ‘manually’ with triggers on the handlebar, or put into two different modes: comfort/economy mode or sport mode (and sport mode has three shift patterns to choose from). The clutch detects when less abrupt throttle response would be better, such as in slow, technical riding, and automatically gets into a ‘slip’ mode to lessen the hit (not a bad idea with 1000cc of torque at hand). The bike also knows when it’s going uphill or downhill, and adjusts the shift points with a later shift when climbing, and earlier downshift when descending. The bike is available with ABS, which can be turned off to the rear wheel. The big CRF rolls on a 21” front wheel and 18” rear wheel, is engineered with mass centralization and a slim feel in mind, and comes in two colors: red/black/white and silver.

Here are the specs, provided by Honda: