Dakar-style Honda Africa Twin concept to be revealed on Saturday

The CRF1000L or Africa Twin is a 1000cc parallel-twin adventure motorcycle which will be produced by Honda in India. The motorcycle will be a modern interpretation of a four-time Paris-Dakar rally winner. Honda is to reveal a new concept bike derived from the Africa Twin at the Osaka Motorcycle Show in Japan on Saturday.

The firm has announced a list of its main attractions for the event, and among them is the Africa Twin Adventure Sports Concept, which Honda says is “a concept model taking the adventurous spirit of its base, the CRF1000L Africa Twin, to a new level.”

Honda had revealed the CRF250F Rally concept at the same event last year. They took the chassis, engine and running gear from the CFR250L and covered them with bodywork similar to that used in the works CRF450 Rally. It’s likely that the new Africa Twin concept will go down the same road.

The Africa Twin is a 1000cc parallel-twin engine that puts out 94bhp at 7,500rpm and 98Nm of torque at 6,000rpm through either a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed dual clutch transmission. The adventure motorcycle will be assembled in India and take on the BMW 1200GS, Ducati Multistrada and the Triumph Tiger Explorer. The Honda CRF1000L can be expected to be rolled out in the second half of this year.