Honda Africa Twin Specs Leaked

[EricV]

There's a guy over on Stromtrooper site that manages to get 35-50k miles from his chain and sprocket, all without ever cleaning, so chains have come a long way, just messy.....

There's always one... : When you travel, ride in rain, and ride at speeds over 65 consistently, you don't get that kind of mileage from a chain. We were seeing ~13-15k from the oem chains and get a fairly consistent 20-25 from the higher quality DID chains. And sometimes a chain will simply go downhill much faster than expected. I never leave on a trip, even of a thousand miles, w/o a spare chain and sprocket for the wife's BMW. We have a WeeStrom in the garage too, an '09 ABS version. Cute little toy, (I've only ridden it about 10k miles), but every time I ride it and get back on the Super Ten, (or after riding the F650GS2, for that matter), I am reminded how great the brakes, suspension and power are on the Super Ten. The Wee is our spare bike for guests or when the BMW is broken, (or, sadly, when the S10 is broken too, after the 4 month CCT repair incident).

I have a friend that is very experienced with chain bikes, having owned something like 65 of them in his 66 years of age. He also swears by just keeping them clean and doesn't lube them. He likes shorter rides these days and no longer takes long trips by motorcycle, so much of his riding is less than 300 miles a day and much lower speeds since he's just poking around here and there or riding off pavement. I've seen a brand new chain that's had the ~500 mile adjustment done, go bad in a single ride and need replacement so the rider could get home.

 

[GrahamD]

There's always one... :

Now there's two..

Before I used Scottoilers Or the last bike a CLS, I would have said the same. I still agree with the part where the chain just goes down hill fast once it gets there, but the amount of Km I got from the first RK? chain with an oiler was huge. I sold the bike with 75,000K on the chain and 90,000K on the bike. That was an SV650 and did a bit of dirt and mud but not a huge amount. The guy I sold it to changed it at 85,000Km because a friend said he should.

And that is what happened. No one who doesn't use an oiler wants to believe it but it's just the facts.

The second DID X Chain I used I adjusted once after 90Km, and didn't adjust it again for 20,000Km. Then sold the bike. The chain never had an adjustment after the initial 90Km. The guy who bought it off me was still going fine at 35k. Last I heard from him. The DL did all kinds of dirt and dust. Why the CLS oiler? It carried 500ml of oil and had a oil rate adjustment so when it was rainy or mud time I cranked it to 8. Normally it would run at 2. It also monitored the speed and adjusted accordingly.

Downside of course was I cleaned the back of the bike a fair bit. The back wheels on those bikes were like new when I sold them. The oilers are a good thing if you don't mind your pretty back wheel slowly turning black over a couple of thousand Km.

On the other hand if you buy a bike with black wheels like the DL then it goes from Shiny to matte black so not so noticeable. ;D

So yes if I ever by a chain bike the price always includes an oiler, unless it's a RRR bike and just gets a blast around the block on the occasional Sunday or something, but that's not going to happen.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

There's a guy over on Stromtrooper site that manages to get 35-50k miles from his chain and sprocket, all without ever cleaning, so chains have come a long way, just messy.....

Yes, I've ridden with V-Tom many times. He never cleans his chain, he does routinely lubricate it, and he does get incredible mileage out of it. He commutes daily with his bike, and anytime I've ridden with him he flogs the hell out of it. He does not ride in dirt. That was his old DL650, not sure if he's getting the same results on his new DL1000.

I was thinking an automatic oiler would be a must if I got the AT. Then I remembered there's also regular checking of the chain tension. My DR reminded me of that before I left on this morning's ride. As great as the AT is sounding...and it does sound really nice, I don't think I would be willing to go back to a chain for my long distance bike. Oh and that tube rear tire thing...

I do really like the review twinrider gave it. Would love to ride the bike, but don't think I could pull the trigger on it.

 

[twinrider]

Yes, I thought about the chain and tubes before buying the AT but it was way too much fun to let them stand in my way.

So I'll add the chain oiler, which also minimizes the need to adjust the tension. And maybe at some point add this kit, which eliminates the tubes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CRF1000L-Africa-Twin-Spoke-Wheel-Tubeless-Kit-21-2-15-18-4-00-MT-FR21214-/291698243582?hash=item43ea91f7fe:g:~d0AAOxyni9TCa70&vxp=mtr

 

[twinrider]

I get (make that used to get) 60,000 miles out of a chain and sprocket set. This came from constantly lubing, and I don’t mean every few hundred miles. In rain or dusty conditions chain needs lube every 20 miles.

Never occurred to you to get an auto oiler?

 

[GrahamD]

The auto oiler may be fine, but still at the end of the day the frame, wheel, ect is covered in oil, and how does the auto oiler really know when to oil? On a nice day, dry and no dust, chain may not need any lube for 300 miles. On a dusty day or in rain it needs every 20 miles. The auto can tell the difference by sensors?
Either way, mess of oil all over the wheel, frame, your riding gear, ect. Old bikes sometimes had ugly chain guards that worked more or less to keep oil confined to the bike. Haven't seen that in years, now you oil the chain you oil your back, your legs, your boots, ect. Not my cup of tea. Don't mean to rag on any bike in particular and think the Africa Twin is a fantastic model, but to me chains should be ditched like points ignition and carbs. Three things I did that, did that too many miles and glad I don’t do them things in this day and age anymore.

The CLS has a dial you can turn up to 11. ::018::

And if you leave it there THEN you may end up with oil allover everything. But when ridden in normal slab usage on a dry day you turn it down to 1 or 2. It counts engine pulses to give it an idea to tweak the oil up and down a bit as well. (it uses the stator noise). So when you are riding through dust you crank it up a bit, the oil grabs the dust and flings off. You end up with a dirty back wheel, and yes you may want to clean it all off if you are heading to Starbucks. Otherwise it just sits there preventing corrosion until you clean it and just looks like you stole the back wheel off a rat bike.

Bit of Kerosene on a brush and it's done. Sure a shafty is better for convenience I wasn't saying it was no better in that respect. But the interwebs is full of a lot of BS with oilers.

And no you don't slide all over the road either.

 

[RED CAT]

Never cleaned a chain. My 2nd last last chained bike was a 2004 Triumph Tiger 955i. It had 45,000kms when I sold it. Stock chain was showing no wear and very little stretch. My last chained bike was a 2006 KTM Adv 950S with 29,000kms, same thing. Used nothing but WD40 after every ride and no maintenance other than a small adjustment once in a while. WD40 is not supposed to be a lubricant but it works on o-ring chains for some reason.

 

[twinrider]

The auto oiler may be fine, but still at the end of the day the frame, wheel, ect is covered in oil, and how does the auto oiler really know when to oil? On a nice day, dry and no dust, chain may not need any lube for 300 miles. On a dusty day or in rain it needs every 20 miles. The auto can tell the difference by sensors?
Either way, mess of oil all over the wheel, frame, your riding gear, ect. Old bikes sometimes had ugly chain guards that worked more or less to keep oil confined to the bike. Haven't seen that in years, now you oil the chain you oil your back, your legs, your boots, ect. Not my cup of tea. Don't mean to rag on any bike in particular and think the Africa Twin is a fantastic model, but to me chains should be ditched like points ignition and carbs. Three things I did that, did that too many miles and glad I don’t do them things in this day and age anymore.

Which chain oiler did you use with that end result? My Scottoiler worked great.

 

[tenbob]

Seen a few of theses now appear on the UK roads. Always other side of road tho. Not sure if I like or not. Probs more like then not. That's Honda these days for me... : Saying that might be a grower. 8)

 

[Brick]

I think IF Honda brings this one here that it may get be the right choice for me.

 

[shrekonwheels]

I managed 23k with the original chain and sprockets on my zx6r. It was ridden fairly hard including track time, so babying is certainly not necessary for longevity, caring for your chain and making sure you keep it well oiled (not too much) certainly is. I followed a friend who dragged his Banshee quad and did lots of dune riding on it. Every single stop he would get off and oil his chain, I was not quite that anal, however every single time I pulled into the Garage, it was oiled PERIOD!

With that said my KLR soured me on ADV riding with a chain. I have zero desire to maintain a chain nor to make sure an auto oiler is not plugged up.

The Tubed tires are not an issue for me personally at all.

 

[Andylaser]

Honda should have re-enginered the XLV.