Rumors have long been around that Honda was looking to bring back the Africa Twin model to its line-up; and with a quick scrolling through Honda America’s “Adventure” category, one can see that the less-than-inspiring odd-couple that are the Honda NC700X and Honda CB500X, while fine machines they might be (though we’ve heard the word “soulless” used more than once to describe them), proper adventure-bikes they surely are not.
With the tuning-fork brand putting out the stout Yamaha Super Ténéré, and Suzuki teasing the 2014 Suzuki V-Strom 1000, Honda and Kawasaki have been late to the Great American Adventure Bike party — though at least Team Green fanatics can pretend like the Versys is a viable option for this category.
With Europeans having a variety of adventure motorcycles to chose from in the Honda brand, bikes like the Honda Transalp, Honda Crossrunner, Honda Varadero, and Honda Crosstourer, us Americans have been left out in the cold.
Well, that might be set to change, as our stroll yesterday though the USPTO’s online database (check-out our find on upcoming Ducati Scrambler) has revealed that Honda Motor Co. has registered “Africa Twin” for use in the American market. Could a proper adventure-tourer from Honda be headed our way?
We can’t of course definitively say for sure at this point, but there is at least some evidence to suggest that a new Honda Africa Twin is on the horizon, as Vito Cicchetti, the General Manager of Honda Italy has tipped as much to Italy’s venerable La Gazzetta dello Sport magazine.
Saying the machine would debut at the 2014 INTERMOT show, and be a 2015 model with a two-cylinder engine, Cicchetti was tight-lipped on just about every other detail, though the finding of Honda’s trademark with the USPTO does seem to throw support behind the news.
Considering Honda’s ADV landscape in Europe, it will be interesting to see how Big Red fits an Africa Twin into its line-up, and whether the model will replace anything currently on the table in Europe.
Will the new Africa Twin go back to its roots as a 650cc model? Or, will Honda bump the machine into the 800cc or 1,2000cc categories that are becoming more popular with buyers?
As always, time will tell, but for one reason or another, Honda intends to use the Africa Twin model name on a motorcycle, and it chose to file for that use just over a month ago. More news as we get it.
Source: USPTO & La Gazzetta dello Sport
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