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The New Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports Brings More Off-Road Goodness to the ADV Trail

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The Honda Africa Twin gets a sibling for the 2018 model year, as the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports debuted today at Honda’s pre-EICMA launch event.

As expected the Africa Twin Adventure Sports is a more off-road focused version of the Honda Africa Twin, and comes with a robust set of features that make it easier to go globetrotting on the plucky adventure-tourer from Honda.

Like on the now revised 2018 Honda Africa Twin, the Adventure Sports version comes with improvements over the original Africa Twin design.

This includes new foot rests, a new instrument panel, ride-by-wire throttle control with three throttle maps, seven levels of Honda’s traction control system, a new exhaust design, and a lithium-ion battery.

Internally there are some changes as well, like a modified airbox, which improves the mid-range response, as does a lighter balancer shaft. 

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Bikes

Honda Teases More Off-Road Capable Africa Twin Model

By 31 COMMENTS

Honda seems set to update the Africa Twin, its plucky ADV model, with a more off-road focused machine. Teasing the new model online, the Honda Africa Twin “Big Tank” – nicknamed for its supposedly larger 22-liter fuel tank – is expected to debut next week at the EICMA show in Milan. Not too much is known about the machine, but we expect it to borrow heavily from the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports Concept, which debuted at the Osaka Motorcycle Show last year. Accordingly, we can expect more off-road goodness for the Africa Twin in Italy, with a slight styling refresh as well. The larger fuel tank (up from the stock 18-liter unit) will necessitate some bodywork changes, which includes a redesigned flat seat.

Dirt

Suzuki Shockingly Ends Its MXGP & All Japan MX Racing

By 9 COMMENTS

In a shocking announcement, Suzuki Motor Corp. announced the withdrawal of its factory-supported teams from the Motocross World Championship (MXGP) and All Japan Motocross Championship – two high-profile series for Suzuki’s off-road racing efforts. Suzuki says that the move comes after evaluating its motorcycle operations, as it plans to focus on its core business function, and it also restructures its motorcycle business. The result, as we have now seen, is the Japanese brand reducing its MX commitments. While this news isn’t our usual fare, it is of note that Suzuki is withdrawing from MXGP and All Japan Motocross, especially after just debuting an all-new RM-Z450 motocross bike for the 2018 model year.

Bikes

L’Avventura by Walt Siegl

By 25 COMMENTS

How do you say “The Adventure” in Italian? You start with an air-cooled 1,100cc Ducati engine. You then strip the chassis it comes with, down to only its most essential elements, and then from there you create a purpose-built ADV machine. You will want to focus on the details too though. Details like long-travel suspension and knobby tires mated to 21″ and 17″ wheels, which are a must, especially if you want to create significant ground clearance. Contrasting headlights and extensive crash protection help complete the transformation as well, and of course some stylish, but functional, bodywork should wrap everything together. When you are done with all that, you have the L’Avventura by Walt Siegl – an Italian-bred dual-sport that begs to be taken down wooded trails, lofted over jumps, and railed through dirty berms.

Bikes

Electric KTM Freeride E-XC Enduro Debuts for 2018

By 48 COMMENTS

KTM just doubled-down on its electric motorcycle offering, debuting today the 2018 KTM Freeride EXC – an electric enduro model that builds out further the current Freeride E platform. This isn’t just the old KTM Freeride E with a few extra enduro parts added to it though, instead the KTM Freeride E-XC launches the next iteration of the Austrian brand’s electric motorcycle lineup, coming with significant changes. For starters, KTM has beefed up its electric package, with a more powerful motor and a larger capacity battery pack, not to mention more of the off-road prowess that you would expect from the “Ready to Race” brand. As such, the 218 KTM Freeride E-XC boasts roughly 50% more energy on-board, with its lithium-ion battery pack rated at 3.9 kWh and expected to retain 70% of its capacity after 700 cycles.

Bikes

Alta Adds Enduro Model to Its Electric Lineup

By 35 COMMENTS

The electric motorcycle lineup from Alta Motors quietly grew larger today, with the San Francisco startup adding an electric enduro model to its range. As such, say hello to the 2018 Alta Motors Redshift EX. The bike is pretty straightforward, as it takes the motocross-focused Redshift MX, makes some chassis changes and adds a license plate, so you can go shredding off-road and on-road alike. To the finer details, the chassis changes include an 18″ rear wheel, narrower rake and larger offset, a WP rear shock with a custom reservoir, a smaller rear brake, and Metzeler 6 Days Extreme tires. All of this adds up to a 275 lbs electric motorcycle (which is kind of a thing right now) with 40hp at the rear wheel, and 120 lbs•ft of torque at the countershaft sprocket.