Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin

Bend, turn, gravel or Kapstadt, the "civil" version of the Paris-Dakar winner bike made its way in every situation and won nearly all comparisons in the following ten years. The winning streak of the coloured bird just had begun, and even die-hard "single-riders" switched, grown older and lazier, to the Twin-party.

Just one party stood thoroughly against them. "Get the sparkplugs out of this thing", joked BMW GS riders on every meeting and listed the necessary parts, to betaken off, to fulfil this simple task: Side covers, seat, tank, ignition spool, air-shaft. Added to this ridiculing listing followed a theatrical look at the easily reachable spark givers of their Boxers. They didn't call in mind that the water-cooled V-Twin from Japan was hardly comparable to the old engine of Bavarian production. Honda had developed a nearly indestructible motor. Maintenance free and very elastic. Nearly suited to sell it as an emergency -Dynamo to sell it to the clinics of Africa or South America.

The extremely high mileage of the motor was accomplished by their owners undoubtedly after several years. What they recognised immediately was the unequalled driving and the sovereignty, with which the Africa Twin mastered all situations. Regardless of the relatively high weight of over 220 kg the Twin always followed the chosen line. No matter of deep sand, gravel or tarmac, she always stayed controllable. Good brakes, a torsionally stiff chassis and a good compromise on the suspension, between racing and relaxing, enhanced the selling success. Was there any possibility to improve this model?

Honda could. In 1990 their technicians led their 650, type RD03, through the internal fitness-studio and enlarged the capacity to 750 ccm.

The new RD04 lured for new customers with more torque, an oil cooler, strengthened frame and better brakes as her predecessor. But no muscles without more weight. The enhancement lead to 17 kg more.

In 1993 with type RD07 the Africa Twin had lost some weight and for the first time it lost its repelling for riders of the type "short-legged". With a newly designed frame in combination with a replacement of the air filter under the tank, the seat height sank from 88 to 86,2 cm. By the way she lost 8kg of weight. Due to model customizing in the following years the externally adjustable pretension was discarded because of cost, and the formerly bronze-coloured wheels adjusted to the silvery sparkling of the motor.
That was about it.

There was just nothing else to do. Even though many people regarded the Twin as boring. A stylish paradise-bird without character. Always starting, driving sovereignly and no major problems, about which on campfires all around the world could philosphated. A modern donkey, which will never reach an XT 500 in cult-status, due to a lack of anecdotes. At least that's what the single-pot-party thought.

There are smiles about the two Austrians which because of the two sparkplugs per cylinder thought the Twin was 4-cylinder bike. Or the one about the horrifying fuel consumption, that made Twin-riders to see the both warning lights more often than the turn-lights or neutral-light. At yellow there are still 8 of the 24 litres left in the tank , at red you should immediately look for a gas station. Bad hearted people tell at a speed of 160km/h the sucking sound of the carburetor was louder than the exhaust. At full throttle and with a sozia and luggage you easily reach 10L many owners are reporting about their Japanese drinking comrade. Also Stephen Jaspers, co-owner of Africa Queens, speaks of a consumption of 12 litres on sand. He took care of this problem and offers voluminous tanks for the XRV. With an additional tail-tank a potential Rally-driver could transport nearly 60 litres of fuel - never fuel-talks were more important.

On the other hand there's no talking about heroic power. It's permanently looked for. With the series 60 HP very few are pleased, after all the brakes and the chassis easily could face 75 HP.  A good task for a handful of Tuners specialised on the V2. Prices are in a range of 2000 and 7500 DM for the quest of more power. With modifications at the carburetors, air filter and exhaust-system the specialists get out up to 15 HP more. Unfortunately without Tuev. The simplest and most effective Tuning of the "every task V" is a well lubricated chain, is told by some insiders.

But regardless of the HP you are travelling with, the Twin is an excellent Travelling bike. This especially is true for the European market. So it's no wonder that a lot of bikes show 6 digit mileages. Best example is the Swiss Dirk Egli. A long trip to work as well as 5 tours to Corsica and countless travels through Europe made him and his Twin a km-eater. At 130000 km he located a noise in the motor and thought the engine would die within the next days. A sheer false diagnosis. Today his Twin got 243000 km on her - and over 100000 of them without oil change or any other service. Salt of seven winters keeps her together and the chain was changed when it was torn. Three chains have had it. "I want a bike to ride not to service", was his comment.

Ralf Linde from Hanover looks at it differently. The screwdriver-freak made from offers at used-parts dealers a reduced self construction, which took the last hair from the Tuev-staff. He had to return three times. But after that the "Linde-Light" XRV 750 weighs fully fuelled just about 194 kg- nearly a Hard-Enduro.

All owners agree, that there's nothing impossible with an Africa Twin. The balanced mixture of tourers, screwdriver-freaks, rally-drivers and globetrotters is responsible that after all the little cult that exists was formed. Because all owners, no matter if they got a recently cleaned, with crash-bars as well as plastic-cases and street-tires, RD07 or a personalised RD03, have one thing in common, the permanent quest for the next filling-station and the 6th gear. And the knowledge you can go everywhere without any problems.

This is what Honda claimed about the recently presented Varadero, which with its 1000ccm engine, based on the VTR, 95 HP strong and regarded as the "ultimate Twin". But the name seems to make it clear: As you can go through the deserts of the black continent on the Africa Twin, the new bike was named after a famous Cuban holiday resort - which sounds rather like group-tourism than adventure, another point against gravel-pads and off-road trips is the combined braking system and the solid-steel wheels.