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XLADV DEMO's AN AFRICA TWIN


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AltRider had an extra set of bars they're loaning me for this AT so I put them on today.  They are REALLY well made!  1.25" lower bars are only 10%  heavier but double the strength of 1" bars and the whole system is designed to transfer the load of a crash around the most important parts of the bike.

Here's a video that will show you all the features and benefits.  They've come a long way since my GSA oilhead bars!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I enjoyed the demo of the Africa Twin.  I tried to give the DCT a fair shake down.  For slow and casual riding, its great.   Doing slow figure eights, or stop and goes without dabbing was just plain easy on the AT.    

At speed on a gravel road, sport mode was not smart enough to shift up a gear when I was done accelerating.  I would stand up and be cruising at 50+.  Then I would try to catch up to Eric on my bike and would open up the throttle.  It would shift down to 3rd gear and start spinning the back wheel and jump up to 75 mph in no time.  Then I would let off to try and hold that speed but the DCT would keep holding on the 3rd gear, so I would lose all my speed.   It was balls to wall or slow acceleration, no in between.   My logic could be wrong, but I was thinking it should be like a car and start to shift up when you let off the throttle.  Maybe it only does that in Drive.  I didn't test Drive on the gravel road.  
 Manual shift mode seems to be the only way to go on dirt.   

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for a quick ride you got the feel.  I've seen it will upshift eventually but tends to keep it in a lower gear longer.  There's a 1/2/3 shift setting you can change.  1 is like it shifting to 3rd gear before you're even out of the intersection and 3 is like what you experienced; it holds onto a gear a lot longer before shifting.  There's a bit of a learning curve for sure.

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It's funny how much butt hurt riding this bike and simply talking about it has generated.  Of course I love the click bait but I'm not the one saying the Africa Twin is better than any other bike, it's other people saying it, particularly the KTM 1090.

All I did was cite a few articles and people lose their minds:

I've been accused of taking money from Honda, lol!  Hey, if they want to compensate me for my time or the impressions I'm generating for them then I'm not going to turn it down but this is simply a loaner press bike that all the press has access to for these purposes.  Plus, I'm unable to pick a winner because I really haven't ridden the 1090R except for a 15 "test ride" at Overland Expo; just enough to get a feel for the ergonomics really.

I do hear pretty consistently that the 1090R wins off road due mostly to suspension and the frame but it is interesting that the Africa Twin has more power at 3200 rpm and lower as well as more power than the 1090R in dirt mode which is where you typically need it.

The biggest downside of the Africa Twin may be it's suspension but it performed really well for me once I cranked up the rebound in both the front and rear.  Plus, I don't know many OEM bikes with suspension worthy of my 235 lb frame and riding style anyways.

But you'll all find out shortly anyways in about a week when I publish my review.

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Rode the AT here at the ADV Rally Sierra in auto mode the whole time and learned a few things. One is that the auto clutch got me up every hill before everyone else, even The Gear Dude who is a great rider but on the manual version. The other is how important lower crash bars are for this bike.

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I absolutely love my AT.  I'm going to Baja in a week and a half and I don't want to take my GSA.  Both are sitting in the garage ready to be ridden but I'm likely going to take the AT.  I just prefer it. 

The first question I get since I own the GSA and an AT is which is better.  Such a stupid question.  That's like asking which sandwich is best.  It depends on the personal preferences of each person. 

The two bikes are very good at very different things and I don't think that it's even fair to compare the two bikes. 

PS, Anybody looking to buy a GSA? I have one that doesn't get ridden anymore.  ;-)

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14 hours ago, Motopreneur said:

I was getting curious about the GSA but it took me quite some scrolling in your IG feed before finding it ... It is pretty though.

Yeah, it's down there.  I haven't done any rides with it at all this summer.  I'm down with my AT. 

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