An Italian-built Africa Twin Rally special-edition
caused a stir last week when a corporate video seemed to show Honda’s new
version of the popular adventure bike.
The truth is slightly more convoluted. The Rally
offerings seen in a new Spidi promotional video – and another by an Italian
magazine which tested the bike in both manual and DCT forms – was built by Red
Moto, Honda’s official importer in Italy, aiming to capture a slice of
Dakar-cool for the mid-market adventurer. The expensive, numbered
limited-editions wear high-end parts, modified bodywork, a one-piece seat, and
borrows heavily at the front-end from the firm’s 450 Dakar replica. It’s a
thorough job, and if you think Honda aren’t in on the ruse, then think again.
More interesting still, is that our European Honda
sources suggest that we will see a new ‘Adventure’ model launched at this
year’s Milan show in November. While it won’t be as radical as the Rally
version built by Red Moto, we do expect it to have more rally-focused
suspension spec, a larger fuel tank, and a Touratech aluminium pannier system,
as well as styling tweaks.
With the model deep into its second year on the
market, Honda need to reinvigorate sales, and the addition of a new model in
the line-up will do that. Our European source also suggests that there could be
another version in the pipeline – resulting in a three-bike Africa Twin family,
all sharing the same 1000 cc parallel-twin engine.
