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My journey of finding a used Honda Africa Twin; Ownership experience

10th September 2024, 10:33 by Rahul Nagaraj

The Africa Twin is Honda’s one true Unicorn (pun intended) because to find one in the used market is next to impossible.

BHPian TheVaas recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

EPILOGUE: “And they lived happily ever after?”

Before you try to pinpoint the OBVIOUS, let me just clear it for you. Unlike your usual “Mystery-whodunnit-Thriller-Killer” stories, this one begins, well, at the end!

Straight onto the crime scene then -

CRF1100L AFRICA TWIN ADVENTURE SPORTS (2020 / preowned)

That’s my partner in crime Prerana (aka Pre) and me, grinning widely and evilly inside the helmet, about to escape into the wilderness on our getaway ride! Now with the ending out of the way, let the mystery begin!

***

CHAPTER ONE: “Riding Blocks - one CC at a time”

I won’t bore you’ll with my childhood dreams, posters and stories of super-bikes, super cars etc. Neither go in-depth with stories of my motorcycling journey - which btw started pretty late in my life circa 2015/16.

The cc-game was progressive, starting with the 150cc Bajaj Discover (2014) then to the 220cc Bajaj Avenger - both were short flings as I graduated to the Royal Enfield Classic 500 (2016) - which stuck around till about 2021. In 2018, I got myself a pre-owned Kawasaki Z650 which became my daily driver up until March 2020 - when I decided to basically surprise myself!

The Z somewhere on Kasara Ghat

***

CHAPTER TWO: “A small step towards the ADV-kind, A GIANT leap for my bank account!”

While the Z650 was an able commuter, it didn’t provide much relief when it came to touring with the pillion. Even though desi touring ‘jugaad’ like adding a tail rack for top box aka support for pillion and re-foaming the rear seat for a comfortable ride - worked for a brief while, the urge to do long distance touring still remained impractical.

In parallel, my elder brother was trying to push me towards the ‘touring’ segments and also in parallel, BS4 was being phased out and every brand was running discounts left, right and center right out of the factory. Somehow the universe was conspiring FOR me, so I didn’t resist it for a change!

Keeping in mind the budget and my weight lifting threshold, the ideal upgrade (or rather ‘Sidegrade’) for us at that point was the Kawasaki Versys 650 or the Suzuki Vstorm 650. Since I was already in the Kawa Eco System, decided to exchange my Z650 for one of the discounted BS4 Versys 650. Took a test ride at Anzen, Mumbai and sure the bike was imposing and weighed a ton compared to the Z, but once on the road it felt really planted and confidence boosting.

There were two dealers at that point in time, Mumbai and Thane - the latter offered me a better deal and also was close to my house etc. Booking amount signed, Z650 washed and kept ready for exchange - waiting period of one week. Looking at my calender and the X marks on the dates, realized it takes exactly seven days for a week to pass and also the maximum threshold of how many days my excitement/patience lasted! But as in the movies, there’s always a twist in the tale.

Turns out my booking got transferred to some other person and I was in the wait list for the BS6 version - the launch date for which was a big question mark. Promptly took back my Z650 from the showroom and dejectedly entered home to see my partner, Pre seething in rage. Hold on! That rage wasn’t for me but for the showroom manager and shortly it got transferred onto the Kawasaki plant in Chakan Pune and then to the motherland herself- Japan!

***

CHAPTER THREE: “Doogna lagaan dena padega” (“You’ll have to pay twice the amount as tax”)

Parallel to the above storyline (yes there are lot of parallels in my life, so please pay attention) - a dear friend of ours was toying with the idea of upgrading from his Ducati Scrambler to a touring bike and hence was in touch with the sales person at Triumph, Mumbai. Even Triumph was offering some BS4 discounts for their Tiger range, namely free pannier sets and some accessory vouchers.

“HANG ON! Kaha VERSYS aur kaha TRIUMPH TIGER?!”, I’m hearing you say this out loud. Well, not exactly my thoughts. Because by this time, I was eyeing the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC. Spec sheet wise it was all but a naked version of the Tiger 800 - lesser priced, more powerful, more features, zero creature comforts, one lesser cylinder and a heat management system that’ll eclipse the Sun! What else does an adventure rider want?

“Except there are two adventure lovers here, sir. You and your partner!”, said RK my sales person at Triumph interrupting my thought process. What followed was an eventful test ride of the Tiger 800 (more on this later), a 2 hour masterclass conducted by RK and Sherman with 20 cups of chai on “WHY TIGER TIGER HAI?!”, closing the shutters of the showroom with RK and coming back home with a price list & ‘affordable EMI’ options.

The test ride mule - Tiger 800XRx

If the ARABIAN NIGHTS lasted 1001 nights, I’m sure our MIDDLE CLASS NIGHTS must’ve touched 10,000 - that too sleepless. Armed with a calculator, notepad and our individual l bank passbooks - my partner and me burnt the midnight oil trying to figure how we could make this mission impossible, possible! After a few days spent in a ‘fugue state of mind’, we found ourselves clicking pictures with our very own Triumph Tiger 800 XRx (2019) - the last white color BS4 in India! Oh and our dear friend also took delivery of his Triumph Tiger 800 XR model!

RK with Prerana and me - grinning game strong!

Prerana doing the needful - warding off the evil eyes!

Three to tango

That's my Tiger in the foreground while my dear friend's Tiger is in the back. The black Tiger in the centre was Sherman's prized Tiger 800Xr. He wanted to relive his own delivery day - more the merrier!

All’s well that ends well, right? Well, read the first line of this post again!

***

CHAPTER FOUR: “All’s well that ends well”

The Tiger years (2020-2024) was by far one of the best phases in our lives. I have to admit that I was never a travel guy. Years and years of commuting in Mumbai (school, college, work etc.) hardened my views towards the concept of ‘travelling’. And my wife is the opposite - at any given opportunity, she would travel. Having taken the huge leap of faith in the last chapter, what good is a Tiger if it doesn’t travel? Re-wired my feelings towards ‘travel’ and ended up doing a few Mumbai peripheral trips before lockdown kicked in.

As the lockdown opened up, a few more rides were possible with another Tiger rider, Pawan M - who lived two blocks down from our place. As fate would have it - he bought his Tiger 800 XCx two weeks before I did. And down the line, we would end up meeting another Tiger 800 XCx rider, Dominic A - who bought it two weeks after I did. The surprise angle in this story - Dominic also rides with his wife Greeti C as pillion!

What are the odds? Makes you believe that the Universe definitely works in mysterious ways!

Together (We 2, Pawan M, Dominic A and Greeti C) we have ridden most of the following routes -

Mumbai - North East (Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh) - Mumbai : Total trip lasting 30 days from Dec 2020 till Jan 2021
Mumbai - Kutch - Coastal Gujarat : Nov 2021
Mumbai - Mount Abu - Mumbai : Feb 2022
Mumbai - Coorg - Mumbai : March 2023
Mumbai - Kashmir - Mumbai : May 2023 (With a larger group of mix ADV riders)
Mumbai - Tirupati - Mumbai: Nov 2023

Some memories from these trips -

Tropic of Cancer, Madhya Pradesh (North East ride)

Somewhere on the road (North East ride)

A group of ADVs at a secret location (Lockdown rides)

Three Musketeers in Mount Abu

Prerana and me on our trusty Tiger

Pawan's black Tiger XCx and my white XRx raiding some fields

Anyway, the “Tiger Years” will make its presence felt in later posts as and when the parallel timelines in my life intersect (remember what I said about parallels!). Also the chapter title suggests, the journey ended well in 2024 when I sold the Tiger at 37500kms on the ODO. Went for a night ride with the usual suspects gang and next morning the bike was sold.

Thank you T800. There'll never be another like you

***

CHAPTER FIVE: “Cure for the Itch: Vol 1”

Let’s rewind the tape a bit further to early 2022.

“Hang on! You meant FORWARD the tape, right?”, I can hear your inner voice say this out loud (all puns intended)!

Don’t let the timelines confuse you. Think of it as Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’. The only relevant timeline is the one you’re being placed in! So yeah, there’ll be a bit of shifting here but believe me - it’ll all make sense in the end! (This time read the first line of this post carefully - for the co-relation!)

So now with your calendars aligned, let’s go to early 2022. I assume it was around this time that BMW India was launching the new updated 850GS range for the first time since 2020. I remember having taken a test ride back then and was somewhat impressed by it. With some mileage under my belt and decent amount of experience with a big ADV bike - I was toying with the idea of probably ‘side-grading’ to a similar CC ADV bike but with a bit more comfort for the pillion and a good suspension.

(PS: By now you’d have figured what the ‘itch’ in the chapter title meant!)

The introductory pricing for the 850GSA variant was around 16L (on road) - which to me seemed to be a good sweet pricing considering the feature set it had over my 800, which incidentally had costed around 16L as well.

Along with me, Pawan and Dominic were also looking at upgrading but to the 1250 range and also, in different phases of the year. Obviously the only cure for the upgrade itch for anyone in the 800/900 segments was the ultimate apex predator, BMW’s R1250GS. It was also the first time we actually sat on one to just understand “Aisa kya hai yeh bike mein?”

Pawan flanked by the 1250GS Adventure Rallye and the 40th edition GS

Dominic already beaming on the beemer!

That's me waxing eloquent about the plastic handguards

My reaction on hearing the on-road price for the 1250GSA

The showrooms didn't have the 850GSA for test ride. There was a delivery happening for the same model - but I didn't want to sit/test the bike without due permission from the new owner. So I let it be. The calculators, notepad and bank passbooks again made a cameo appearance in our lives. Despite everyone suggesting to go for the big daddy 1250, I was content with the 850 platform - given my past trajectory when it concerned CCs.

There was nothing wrong with my Tiger and there was absolutely no need for an upgrade too ; I don’t think I need to explain the “itch thought process” to you all here. We’re all part of the same family!

No surprises this time around as life happened and I got busy with a long term work commitment and thereby had to put the upgrade plans on hold.

***

CHAPTER SIX: “Cure for the Itch: Vol 2”

Towards the end of 2022, Dominic injected himself with the cure. Remember how he was beaming atop the beemer! He sold his Tiger 800XCx, jumped ship and was a proud owner of the BMW 1250GS Rallye edition - and till date hasn’t looked back, enjoying his steed like nobody’s business!

Dominic and Greeti with their brand new BMW R1250GS Rallye aptly named 'ZEUS'

All of us trying to dwarf the GS and failing!

My work commitment kept me busy into 2023 and that is when Triumph launched the 1200 range. The 1200 Rally Pro caught both, Pawan and my fancy. Again, the all too familiar Triumph eco system played an important part in trying to convince us that this would be a worthy upgrade to our respective 800s - over the RTW worthy BMW 1250GS.

Me on the Triumph 1200 Rally Explorer version (Mumbai launch)
(PS: The Zanskar-esque terrain aesthetic)

Couple of months later, RK (remember him?) called us over the Triumph Mumbai showroom to test ride the 1200 Rally Pro - that had recently arrived on their doorstep. At this point, I wasn't keen on the GT version since I was keen on trying out the 21" front tubeless spoke setup. Barring the TALL seat height, the ride from the showroom to Bandra Reclamation - braving traffic and congestion ; the experience was excellent. Prerana was super comfortable with the seating and pillion foot peg positioning and I was overwhelmed with the sheer power and suspension! The 850GS was scratched from the list and replaced by the 1200RP - albeit briefly.

A cinematic shot of Triumph 1200 Rally Pro and me

Triumph 1200 Rally Pro
(Disclaimer: The following are my top of mind, first thoughts about the bikes upon riding in conditions that I want to ride in. Not too long, not too short - just trying to see if I can connect to the bikes and whether they're 'drift compatible' with me)

Pros:

Excellent, plush suspension + travel
Great Power/Torque delivery
Extremely agile
No heating whatsoever (as compared to my 800)
Two storied ground clearance (one of the mandatory clause in my upgrade list)
Triumph eco system that I was familiar with.

Cons:

TALL
Front end heaviness (like all Tigers)
Felt too overwhelming at slow speeds

The height factor was a hindrance. We had just returned from a Coorg trip on our 800 and I had found a lot of places where flat footing the bike helped in stability at slow speeds and bad roads. With the 1200RP - this wouldn’t have been possible (the ride height adjustment feature came later in the year). So the itch continued and started growing worse!

It seemed the vaccine was the 1250GS. Dominic was gracious and open hearted enough to lend his prized GS for a short spin in the city and the first time that Prerana (as pillion) and me rode it - we were blown away by the comfort it offered. To put it in a more simpler way - it’s like a hovercraft - it just hovers over anything and everything. The power delivery is in your hands literally - it almost like the bike is telling you “You want to go slow, okay we will go slow. You want to go fast, hang on tight, let’s go fast”! One often comes across comparisons of the GS with an elephant - well, if you ever paid attention to those BBC documentaries you’ll know that Elephants can outrun most of the speedsters! And I am not even getting into their power figures!

A screengrab from the video of us riding Dominic's 'Zeus'