The New Twin Is In
We knew already that Honda had a new 2020 CRF1100L Africa Twin coming, and now there are images, specifics, and video of the bike. The company made the new bike with a bigger engine and a lighter weight. Two very good things. The bike now tips the scales at 498 pounds (entry model—the DTC weighs 520 pounds). That’s still a little heavy, and lighter would have been better, but that’s still pretty good.
The engine in the motorcycle is a 1084cc parallel-twin. It makes 101 hp and 77 lb-ft of torque. The engine features many new and improved components, including aluminum cylinders, a new design for the cylinder heads, twin-spark combustion chambers, valve timing upgrades, and ECU upgrades. Overall, it should be a better engine.
Honda also has a new exhaust with variable Exhaust Control Valve. There are also six driving modes on this bike, that allows you to select the mode that’s truly right for your terrain, including tour, urban, gravel, off-road, and two different custom settings. Suspension and braking are largely unchanged.
The exterior of the bike looks more or less the same as last year. Honda did revise the tail end of the bike a bit and the handlebars, headlight, and headlight housing. This updates the look but doesn’t change it entirely. The bike now starts at $14,399 the DCT version costs $15,199. The Adventure version of the bike starts at $17,199 and the DCT adds another $800. The motorcycle will be at AIMExpo and so will we so you can expect more photos and reporting on this model.
