[TheVaas]

October 2024: Prep before a ride or Ride before the prep?

(Note: A bit of personal commitments kept me away from posting real-time updates. But rest assured, the bike hasn’t been under the covers, but ridden from October ’24 till about two nights ago! So keeping in check with the time-travel pattern of this thread, let's head 'back to the future!’ Read on.)

The month of October was relatively ride-free - barring the odd occasional breakfast and/or late night rides to Marine Drive (Suburbs to Town and back). I had gone on a family trip to Vrindavan & Mathura (via Rajdhani Express) - being the only travel in this month. Not that travel is mandatory every month but that’s what everyone expects from an “ADV Bike” owner!

Had gone for a breakfast ride with 3 other twin owners to Jimmy Boy in town. The line-up includes 3 ATAS MT and one 2018 AT DCT. Sharing a few brilliant clicks by fellow ATAS Tribesman & team bhpian, SG_pegasus -

Boys, Motorcycles and animated discussions which lead to nowhere!


Paying our tribute to the majestic Taj Mahal Palace hotel. All 4 japs bowing in respect!


Against the backdrop of the mighty Gateway of India.

Diwali was fast approaching (first week of November) and probably some trip manifestation was lurking around in the corner. And voila! One lazy October afternoon, Pawan sent me a whatsapp message, just as I was just about to settle in for my afternoon siesta! He wanted to check whether we were free during the first week of November -

Me : “What’s the plan?”

P: “I’m planning a quick two day trip to my ancestral village in Kutch. Thought if you two are free, we could do it together?”

Cue dream sequence music and a black and white visual flashback in my head - “In 2021, during our Tiger days - we had done a 14 day Kutch + Coastal Gujarat trip! And it was one of the best trips ever with the roads and sights of Kutch being the highlight. We had also visited his ancestral village of Vaanki and somehow it always felt that we would return soon! And to top this experience, maybe Dominic and GC on their 1250GS will join us - which means after our eventful 2020/21 North East ride, the gang would be back on the road again; this time with their new steeds. How exciting!”

Me (back in reality): “Done! We are in!”

The siesta warped into a fiesta in my head, but then the ACTUAL reality hit me (in quick succession) - The 48k kms service was pending and Replacement of the almost dead rear tyre (I had mentioned this in my previous post).

TYRES
The previous owner had changed his set to Pirelli Rally STR at approx 37k km mark. The current odo was 49,200km. So roughly a life of 12k kms - not bad considering we rode all the way to Zanskar and back with luggage and pillion; 60% tarmac and 30% off-road terrain. Upon inspection, the front still had some life in it (probably 2-3k kms more) but the rear would have lasted for 1000-1500km max.

Rest in peace.

Since the Kutch trip would entail around 2000km (2-way) of pure tarmac (not factoring the under construction MH-AHD highway), I decided to not risk it with the existing tyres and opted to go for a more road friendly one - Metzeler Karoo Street (the 2022 models used to come stock with this one).

“Why not the Michelin Anakee Adventure”, you ask?

Well, the ATAS comes in 21” front and 18” rear tyre profile. And adding the bizarre tyre import restrictions into the mix, the prices for the Anakee touch almost 48k INR. That makes the KS slightly budget friendly at around 35k. Anyway, called up my tyre vendor only to find out that the Indian customs have been sitting on a container full of Pirellis, Michelins and Metz for a month now and no indication as to when they plan to release it. And he himself had sold out all stocks barring a few rear sets - early 2024 Pirelli STR and Metzeler Karoo. Discussed my ride plans with him and sent him a video of my tyre conditions - he advised me to go with the STR since my front was also the same. Honestly, even I didn’t want to experiment with different brand/pattern tyres in the front and rear, so decided to go with the STRs at a discounted rate of 16k INR (and gave him a token amount for the front tyres whenever they arrived!). The tyres were delivered the same day to the Honda SVC. So that solved the tyre dilemma, phew!

SERVICE (Odometer: 49,200kms)
As with any ADVs sold in Indian markets, the Honda service interval is also “10,000km or 1 year (whichever is earliest)”. The SVC usually recommends a checkup and/or service (if needed) at 6,000kms/6 months because of our Indian conditions. But I followed, what I used to with my Triumph Tiger - just to keep things simple and easier to remember.

Now, from the service history it was established that the previous owner usually followed the ‘6K/6M’ schedule, so the last service was done in Feb 2024 with the odo reading 41k km. This got me thinking - "Should I go ahead with the Kutch trip and return when the ODO was around 51k OR should I just service it now and enjoy the refined post service performance during the ride?!

“Big bikes and Dilemmas are directly proportional!” - old ADV saying!

Anyway, didn’t need to overthink this one a lot - Honda mandates that the spark plugs be changed at 48K kms interval (I had delayed this due to 'Mumbai Monsoon' season) and also post my Zanskar ride, I wanted to change the air filter and 'cone-set bearing' as well. So all this kind of worked in my favour before this trip.

Note: Despite being a twin cylinder, the Africa Twin has 4 spark plugs (2 for each cylinder). And it has two air filters (one on each side of the tank). From current owners, I have heard that the OEM air filters don't get so dirty that they need to be changed in every service. The Tiger's air filter was a dirt magnet in this case. Moving ahead, Throttle body cleaning and valve clearance checks are also usually done - but in my case, it wasn’t needed.

Final checks being done before delivery!


Spanking new rear tyre!

Service breakup (In INR / rounded off)

Engine oil + oil filter: 3.8k
Spark Plugs (4 nos.): 9.3k
Air filter: 3.5k
Cone-set + dust seals: 1.5k
Misc (incl. rear tyre replacement): 700
Labour: 5k

Total service cost came upto 24k (including parts and labour; clearly the spark plugs taking up most of the cost). The labour is also on the higher side for this particular service because apart from stripping off the panels to access the air filter, most of the time goes into accessing the spark plugs. Anyway, no complaints and a great job done by the Mumbai service team. Got the front tyre and brakes inspected as well. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

It's ironic that for the pre-Diwali cleaning, instead of the house, I gave priority to the bike to be cleaned/serviced first Well, what did I say about Big bikes and their quirks!

And just as I was riding back home from the SVC, I get a message from Pawan - “Sir, I think we may need to re-think our upcoming trip! Will tell you the scene once you reach home!”

Oh well, another twist in the tale I thought to myself. And with that another dilemma faced me - should I just ‘Moto GP’ my way home and get to know what the scene is? OR should I just calm my impatient head, soak in the Mumbai traffic experience and let the Universe chart our future course?!

I chose option #2: Found inner peace in peak traffic and aged 300 years as well!

(To be continued…soon…I promise!)

[TheVaas]

I'm sure you all and the 'Nation' would be dying to KNOW -"What exactly happened after that ominous message from Pawan?", "Did we land up going somewhere or just ended up going nowhere?"

Well, I won't test your patience further. We did end up going somewhere and another good friend/rider also joined us in the process! I've journaled the trip here:

TRAVELOGUE: (Journey to the West & Northwest India: A saga of 3 ADVs (Made in Japan, Germany and UK))

With this out of my way, my Africa Twin's 'ownership experience timeline' is now more closer to the present (2025) than it ever was! In a few weeks time, it'll be the 'One year anniversary' of this magical machine!

Ah! How time flies!

[vishal.joshi]

Friday evening and you login here impatiently to read what happened next, just to be redirected to a travelogue which you start reading and the next minute its 12AM already completing the journey.

You got some great and gripping writing skills Always enjoy reading your posts.

Now since you have arrived in 2025, its only 2.5 months worth of content you need to post

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by vishal.joshi

Friday evening and you login here impatiently to read what happened next, just to be redirected to a travelogue which you start reading and the next minute its 12AM already completing the journey.

You got some great and gripping writing skills Always enjoy reading your posts.

Now since you have arrived in 2025, its only 2.5 months worth of content you need to post

Guess 'time-travel' is manifesting into reality - looking at the way your Friday turned out! Thank you for your kind words! And yes, though I've arrived in 2025, there's still one 'timeline' pending from the past - my Zanskar trip (charging the 'watch' batteries for that one is going to take some 'time' - pun intended)

[rahulbhosle]

Is the Africa Twin not sold in India anymore by Honda? I do not see it listed on the BigWings India website.

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by rahulbhosle

Is the Africa Twin not sold in India anymore by Honda? I do not see it listed on the BigWings India website.

No it is not. 2022 was the last batch of Africa Twins that Honda India had sold. The 2024 updates Africa Twin models that were launched worldwide - won't be launched/sold in India this year too. Maybe 2026 but then nobody knows what and how life happens in the HondaVerse!

[TheVaas]

Deliver's Travels

It was a jam packed last week of March for me. No, not because it was the ‘Financial Year’ ending (Always remember: There’s no ‘FY’ in ‘Motorcycle’!) but because two friends from different phases of my life got themselves a new bike! So let's get going!

---

Riding Phase Friend: DA


"Ready to unravel"


Dominic aka DA (If you remember him from Chapter 6 of my first post here) got himself the brand new KTM ADVENTURE 390 - S!

A brief, intimate delivery of a bike that promises (as per critical reviews) to deliver “immense off-road and trial riding pleasure”! The usual ADVengers assembled for the moment - as jokes, laughter, friendly big bike-small bike banter and sugarcane juice (Bombay’s getting progressively closer to the sun!) flowed through the entire process. Since it was a weekday delivery, everyone had to return back to their daily work stations with the promise of a weekend ride (which didn’t materialise lol) to fully celebrate the new bike! Also KTM showroom didn’t have a dedicated guest parking space, so we couldn’t do a side by side comparison with my AT.

ADVengers assembled!


"Return to Sender, address unknown..."


Mandatory posing!

---

Life Phase Friend: HB


A unicorn spotted! (But whose is it?)

If you time-travel to my first post in this thread, I’ve mentioned a ‘Dear friend’ - both of us had taken delivery of our Tiger 800s on the same day. The plan back then was to ride, tour, explore India together. But then life took over. Back to the present - after a lot of soul-searching, patience testing and hard negotiations - my ‘dear friend’ aka HB is now a proud owner of a 2020 preowned Africa Twin Adventure Sports (Manual). An itch that started exactly a year ago when I got my ATAS - scratched, cured and how! I poured my heart into a post I wrote on social media which I am sharing with you all here -

In filmmaking parlance, we often hear the line - “It takes an entire village to make a film!” But sometimes, to reach that village, you need a motorcycle! My tryst with motorcycles began in 2006 by sitting pillion on HB’s faithful Pulsar 180 - as we rode from one end of the city to the other - braving traffic, people, speed guns and even narrowly escaping a massive oil spill on the road (which I was completely unaware of). Trivia: I didn’t even know to ride one back then!

But with all things ‘Universe’, 10 years later, in 2016, we both rode to Goa on our Royal Enfields and decided then and there that “more motorcycling adventures awaited us!”. Well, that line got reversed because in 2020, we robbed a bank and got ourselves an ‘adventure motorcycle’ (see what I did there?) - the Triumph Tiger 800. Life happened post Covid - and we ended up in contrasting situations with work, life, family taking over HB while unemployment (aka motorcycling) taking over mine!

Anyway, the point of this appreciation post is - last night when I was riding back home after our little celebratory meeting, I just couldn’t help realise that - life has come to an almost full circle for us - with both of us settling for yet another ‘adventure motorcycle’ and the same one at that - the might Honda Africa Twin!

Our 2006 selves would have never imagined this occurrence back then; would’ve definitely laughed it out like we used to! Anyway, here’s hoping we find the ‘village’ that I spoke about earlier!

--

As I had mentioned earlier too - the end of this post is the beginning of another’s journey into the wild. The promise to each other is to honour our commitment of ‘riding and touring together’. So hopefully you’ll see more of him and his ATAS in my future posts!

(PS: In case you were wondering about the title of this post, sorry - couldn't resist the PUN! )

[TheVaas]

Happy ONE-er

April 9, 2025 marked one year of the Africa Twin coming into our lives. Going by my ‘verbose’ track record in this thread, there’d be so much I’d usually have said as the date came closer - but it’d be a repeat of everything ‘that has already been said’. Haha! So keeping it short this time around.

Some moments from a year gone by!

The bike’s a keeper and each and every time I get to crank it up - I end up smiling ear to ear (or how much ever my helmet liners can let me!) like I did when I bought it a year back! Drawing heavy inspiration from fellow Tbhp veterans, KarthikK and Crazy Driver - I thought I’d also try and make some charts of my one year ownership costs etc. Well, the inspiration remained strong but the application (read: MS EXCEL & yes, pun intended) was too complex for me to handle. So I’ve promised myself that the ‘Two Year anniversary’ will at least have ONE chart of ownership expense to show off!

So I’ll just stick to the basics here of my One year Ownership details:

• Total Kilometres : 13,180 kms (inclusive of 2 major trips: Mum-Zanskar-Mum & Mum-Kutch-Jaisalmer-Mum)
• Spares and Annual 48k kms service cost : 25,500 INR (mentioned in my earlier posts)
• Accessories : 75,000 INR (Includes Center stand, rally footpegs, Hard panniers + pannier mounts)
• Tyres: 31,000 INR (Pirelli Rally STR 21”F-18”R)

Total cost: 1,31,500 INR (Make whatever you want of it!)

90s music + Bombay Nights + Partners in Crime (Pawan & Prerana) = Perfect celebration

---

Ok I admit I am NOT a man of few words. So sharing another update that coincided with the one year happy birthday event (eagle eyed viewers might have already guessed it from the video above!) -

Since these are the months when our Earth shares the same room with the Sun, I decided to look for some ventilated helmet options for my city commutes. From NOT being a huge fan of off-roading helmets, I actually ended up buying the ACERBIS PROFILE 4 off-road helmet from the REISE Moto Store in Andheri West. One of the reasons to look for a secondary helmet, apart from ventilation, was that I didn’t want to ‘overuse’ my current MT helmet that I use for touring and erstwhile commuting. Secondly, - the mindless consumption of off-road, trail biking content on social media where such helmets and googles are the norm made me try it out even more! And lastly, the city of Mumbai has become one big off-road dirt park with roads being dug up left, right and centre. So even more reason to ‘LOOK THE PART’ while commuting!

Saying CHEESE - but you cannot see it!

My head size is S even with longer hair, but I guess with Acerbis, the M size fit me snug. The helmet is super lightweight at 1250g as I wore it in the store and spent some time chatting with the great team over there especially Saiyam (who’s an off-road enthusiast himself). After about 20 minutes, nothing seemed off with the pressure points, so thanked the team and rode off with my wallet weighing 8,000 INR lighter.

"Phantom of the Off-road-era"

I guess to complete the look, got myself these first copy 100% goggles from Garage0Eight and a fully ventilated ‘Fusion Neo Offroad Jersey’ from Rynox. Initial impressions (apart from I LOVE IT) after about 200 odd kms of city riding is -

1. It is light weight so automatically you feel comfortable with free-er neck movements.
2. Ventilation is great but that also means it is noisy. I use ear plugs to cut most of the sound and I’m happy with the levels.
3. The goggles are pretty easy to put on and the yellow-golden reflective lens provide great sun protection in the day and night riding is also manageable (doesn’t completely cut off the light). There is a clear lens also provided in the box.
4. The Jersey is pretty much mesh - front and back - light and really comfortable when you’re at standstill. Thinking of getting one more in the arsenal.

"Paint me like one of your Off-roading icons!"

[ashwinbalachand]

Nice write up!

Sad that there is no news on Africa Twin . Hope they launch it soon and also get the base variant to India!

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by ashwinbalachand

Nice write up!

Sad that there is no news on Africa Twin . Hope they launch it soon and also get the base variant to India!

I've mentioned this somewhere in my thread and also on the other AT thread - from whatever news I've heard from the Honda guys - the only model that will come to India (in whichever alternate future that HMSI lives in!) would be the 'Adventure Sports' (19"/18" wheel config) in DCT with Electronic Suspension (ES) variant. The same practice that they've been following since 2020+ - where they stopped the standard variant (2017-2019) and introduced the ATAS versions (with manual/DCT and non ES version). "Hope" is what Honda sells more than any other brand here

[ashwinbalachand]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

I've mentioned this somewhere in my thread and also on the other AT thread - from whatever news I've heard from the Honda guys - the only model that will come to India (in whichever alternate future that HMSI lives in!) would be the 'Adventure Sports' (19"/18" wheel config) in DCT with Electronic Suspension (ES) variant. The same practice that they've been following since 2020+ - where they stopped the standard variant (2017-2019) and introduced the ATAS versions (with manual/DCT and non ES version). "Hope" is what Honda sells more than any other brand here

I understand. Pity that they have completely abandoned the base model for a market as price sensitive as India. The base model will cater to a wide range of audience with varying budget. Getting only the ATAS DCT will mean only a select few can enjoy the AT!

[narayan]

This is a smart move isn’t it ? In this segment, is there really a price sensitivity between base and top models ?
Additionally, most buyers use these machines for adventure touring and hardly any adventure off roading. So the top end with larger tank, DCT, 19” front wheel seem to make logical business sense to me.

[ashwinbalachand]

Originally Posted by narayan

This is a smart move isn’t it ? In this segment, is there really a price sensitivity between base and top models ?
Additionally, most buyers use these machines for adventure touring and hardly any adventure off roading. So the top end with larger tank, DCT, 19” front wheel seem to make logical business sense to me.

I was referring to the AT's standard variant base model with 21" front wheels which is a good 4000 GBP/USD/Euro less than the ATAS base model. 4 L is a substantial difference.

[MileCruncher]

I personally think Honda is not going to bring AT anymore. All their action indicates to that.

[ashwinbalachand]

Oh my! I really hope that’s not the case! If anything, the success of the Transalp is an indicator that India is a great market for the AT and the ATAS! The Transalp has been a smashing hit in India!