RUST magazine: RUST#37

adventure
comes another confession – I loved
this bike! The Adventure Sports is a
thing of brutish proportions and some
beauty but the humble L really cuts it
in the off-road, and for me that’s a big
win.
Lots of things must contribute to
this. The reduced stature helps, the
L is immediately less intimidating.
The lower seat height will help many.
And the weight saving really makes a
difference, if you compare a manual
L to a DCT L2 we’re talking a weight
difference in the order of 21kg – and
that really is telling when you’re
flicking a bike around in the dirt,
especially tight tricky Devonshire
forest dirt. You wouldn’t think there’d
be that much of a difference, but if the
Adventure Sports felt like say a KTM
500EXC then by comparison the L felt
like a 250 or 350EXC, you just felt you
could boss it around that much more.
As we say all too often, less is more.
And while I’m here, one more gripe.
For me on the evidence of these two
days riding, I’d like to see Honda work
a little more magic into their rider aids
– alternatively I need a good week to
work through what we have, see if I
can find a JB setup. Jump on a BMW
or Triumph and you can select Enduro
Pro and you’ve pretty much got the job
nailed, the bike becomes a weapon. On
the Hondas, hmmm, I wasn’t finding
joy in any of the seven settings for
the traction (torque) control and for
off-road in the end I went for zero
TC as even on 1 I wasn’t getting the
responses I wanted. I wasn’t entirely
happy with the engine responses either
– not sure if I need more or less there.
And I’d love the suspension to have a
‘big action’ mode.
SO, WHERE ARE WE AT?
Honda have improved the Africa
Twin, of that there is no doubt. And
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