HONDA has reportedly registered the Transalp nameplate in the USA pointing to a new middleweight adventure bike from the firm.
The middleweight adventure sector is currently one of the best populated both in the UK and abroad. Bikes like KTM 790 Adventure and BMW F850 GS Adventure have shown that middleweight bikes can be just as capable as the larger capacity machines in the family – if not more so. Yamaha then turned sector on its head with the release of its Ténéré 700, proving that on and off-road ability doesn’t have to cost the earth.
With this huge pool of potential customers, and no current middleweight adventure machine in its ranks, it's no surprise to hear that Honda is looking to plug the gap, and the bike we expect them to do it with is the Transalp.
What could the new Honda Transalp look like?
With just a trademark to work with and no official confirmation from the factory, we only have the whispers from the Japanese media to go on. The rumour-mill is claiming that the new bike will be powered by the NC750 parallel twin-cylinder engine, meaning easy-going power and torque delivery, fantastic fuel economy, and a DCT version on the cards.
It’s thought that the bike will inhabit the ground in between bikes like the CB500X and current NC750X and the current CRF1100L Africa Twin. The CB and NC are more road-biased adventure machines, and for serious off-road use need some modifications to the tyres and in some cases the suspension. We’d expect the new Transalp to be much more ADV-inclined right out of the box.
