WE don’t know quite why Honda’s new 1000cc parallel-twin Africa Twin isn’t ready for sale yet but the firm’s latest patent – published today in America – reveals that it will look just like the True Adventure concept bike that was revealed last year.
That’s not a huge surprise, since it was widely expected that Honda would have the Africa Twin ready for 2015. That didn’t happen, but the True Adventure appeared at shows in its place, effectively allowing the firm to show a prototype instead of the delayed production bike.
The new patent gives a clear look at the bike’s layout under the skin, too, with side-mounted radiators and an airbox that straddles the front of the frame to give more space for the fuel tank behind it. The overall shape has definite hints of the firm’s Paris-Dakar bikes, emphasising that this is a real off-road-capable machine, unlike all too many big ‘adventure’ models.