What Happens When You Make a Cruiser Out of an Africa Twin?

Close your eyes, and imagine you have a Honda Africa Twin. Now, strip away everything about the bike that makes it one of the most potent adventure-touring models on the market, and start adding back the design elements found in the metric cruiser thing. Open your eyes.

What you just built in your head is the 2021 Honda Rebel 1100, and as you might be able to decipher from its name, the Rebel-styled full-sized cruiser features a parallel-twin engine that shares more than a few chromosomes with the 1,084cc motor found in the CRF1000L.

That might seem like a weird way to build a cruiser, but there is at least a little genius in Honda’s madness.

For starters, the retuned parallel-twin engine makes just under 100hp (74 kW), and with a curb weight of 509 lbs (for the DCT version), the bike is fairly light and powerful for the category.

Honda also boasts a 35° bank angle, which again, isn’t too shabby when you consider the standard in this category.

Add in traction control, anti-locking brakes, a 27.5″ seat height, and the possibility for a manual gearbox (if your heart so desires) and you have a motorcycle that is very approachable and in a popular form factor.

Of special note is that seat height, which makes the Honda Rebel 1100 a friend to shorter riders, especially women.

Oh, and did we mention that pricing starts at $9,299 for the manual, and $9,999 for the dual-clutch transmission (DCT) version? Yup, this is a sub-$10,000 machine – an increasing rarity in the large-displacement motorcycle world.

Out of the gate, Honda has a bevy of aftermarket parts available for the Rebel 1100, including a passenger seat and a number of customization options.

And if you couldn’t tell from the plethora of photos below, Honda hopes to entice a new generation of ride with the Honda Rebel 1100 – and isn’t making too much of a play towards the Harley-Davidson faithful.

Will the succeed? Only time will tell.

But, the 2021 Honda Rebel 1100 is certainly an interesting approach to a tough time-tested problem, and Honda has certainly not skimped on value in the bike’s design. This could be interesting.