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Honda VFR1200X “Crosstourer” Comes to the USA for 2016

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The European market has already had the Honda Crosstourer for some time, and now it will come to the American market as well, as the 2016 Honda VFR1200X.

The Crosstourer gets some updates for 2016, namely a Euro4 compliant engine, an adjustable windscreen, three levels of S-Mode for the dual-clutch transmission (DCT), and a software upgrade that detects uphill and downhill slopes and adjusts shifting accordingly.

For those who may not be familiar with the Honda Crosstourer, or the Honda VFR1200X as American Honda is calling it, the machine features the same 1,237cc V4 engine as the Honda VFR1200F, though it has been tuned to 127hp. It also has the optional DCT gearbox, which riders either love or hate.

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News

“Choose Your Own Adventure” with the Honda Africa Twin

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If you are a Gen-X male, you probably remember the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. If you don’t happen to fit this demographic, and don’t have a clue what I am talking about, don’t worry the idea is pretty simple – let me break it down for you.

Each book contained an adventure for the reader, and every dozen pages or so, the story would give a choice on how to continue. Each choice you had to make also had a certain page in the book that you would skip to, in order to continue the story on the path you desired. If you were like me, you almost always failed or died in your task. There is probably a life lesson in there…somewhere.

What does this have to do with motorcycles you may ask? Ah well, Honda has for us the modern-day version of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, using YouTube in a very similar manner. What are they promoting, you may ask? The Honda Africa Twin adventure bike, naturally.

The story found in the YouTube might not be of the same page-turning qualities as the original namesake, but we doubt you can take a wrong turn in Honda’s variable story line. Check it out, after the jump…and yes, for those keeping score, this is yet another video from Honda on the Africa Twin. Sweet merciful Jesus.

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Bikes

Another Africa Twin Cometh from Honda?

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Honda Motorcycles Europe has a peculiar video on its YouTube channel, which teases that “the adventure continues” starting this Friday, October 16th. The video is peculiar, because we have already seen the Honda Africa Twin, which debuted at last year’s trade shows.

The video itself doesn’t give away much, other than two riders making their way through some backcountry on a pair of Honda Africa Twin motorcycles.

Best guess seems to be that we’ll see a model variant or two from Honda, most likely including a “touring” model. More radical guesses would be a smaller displacement machine to accompany the 1,000cc adventure-touring beast.

While the latter makes a great deal of sense from a segment point-of-view, there is nothing to suggest such a thing, so we are thinking it’s more likely the prior. We won’t have to wait long to find out though.

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Bikes

US Pricing Released for the Honda Africa Twin CRF1000L

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American Honda has released pricing details on the 2016 Honda Africa Twin today, an eagerly awaited nugget of information for many adventure-touring riders who are interested in the CRF1000L.

We won’t waste your time with hyperbole, if you want a Honda Africa Twin, you’ll need $12,999. If the dual-clutch transmission model is your cup of ADV, then you’ll need some extra coin, as its MSRP is $13,699.

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Lifestyle

Watch These Urals Ford the River, Oregon Trail Style

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I don’t really get the people who obsess about riding a Ural – a Russian knock-off of a German sidecar just doesn’t strike me as an enjoyable time on a motorcycle.

Of course, my saddle time on a Ural has been relegated to around-town and highway riding, which isn’t really the Ural’s domain of choice. These Cossack bikes really shine off-road, where their funky WWII-era 2WD design becomes an asset, not a hinderance.

Add to the fact that Urals are bone-simple to work on — owning a Ural means you will be wrenching on it, a lot, by the way — and you’ve got a motorcycle that’s well-suited to the rough-and-tumble lifestyle of where the road ends…especially when the road ends in a river.

Attempting to ford the river, Oregon Trail style, these Ural owners are experiencing all that the Russian marque has to offer. Seeing is believing, after the jump.

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Bikes

There’s So Much “Zef” in this Triumph Tiger Explorer

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Eleven years ago I saw this short CGI’d film about robotic police officers that patrolled in South Africa, in lieu of humans. It was really well-done and impressive short, more so because over 10 years ago it was really incredibly hard to make passable CGI.

This video, “Tetra Vaal” by Neill Blomkamp (of District 9 & Elysium fame, and embedded after the jump), just recently became the launching point for the box-office buster Chappie.

The feature film is a bit painful, especially if you’re not into the whole “zef rap” scene (I honestly wouldn’t click that link, NSFW). But, the movie touches on some interesting nerdy points, such as artificial intelligence and generally how messed up South Africa is, as a country.

This discussion of special effects, musical tastes, and semi-opinionated geo-politics is all necessary and relevant because of a Triumph Tiger Explorer concept inked by Jakusa Design, which riffs heavily on the Chappie‘s namesake character.

Such is the soft spot in my heart for the lovable robot Chappie, that I’m forcing this concept upon you. Sorry for partying…but more sorry for adding zef to your lexicon.

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Bikes

Official Details & Photos of the 2016 Honda Africa Twin

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After leaking twice yesterday, Honda has officially dropped details and photos on its highly anticipated adventure-tourer, the 2016 Honda Africa Twin. A continuation of the legacy by the same name, the new Honda Africa Twin is an off-road focused machine that will go head-to-head with the big ADV bikes already on the market.

Built around a 998cc parallel-twin engine, which makes 94hp and 72 lbs•ft of torque, the Africa Twin tips the scales at the curb at 503 lbs (standard model, first photos after the jump) / 534 lbs (DCT/ABS models, shown above).

Spec-sheet off-road racers are likely not going to be happy with these numbers, though they measure well against the KTM 1190 Adventure R and BMW R1200GS Adventure.

What we think ADV riders will come around to is Honda’s off-road built dual-clutch transmission, which will have the benefit of making shifts while out of the saddle much easier, and giving clutch-free operation, much like a Rekluse clutch.

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Bikes

Honda Africa Twin Specs Leaked with Hi-Res Photo

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Last night we brought you a leaked video of the new Honda Africa Twin, which revealed the off-road oriented adventure bike in all its glory. Today, we get to see the leaked specs of the Honda CRF1000L (the model designation of the Africa Twin), along with what looks like an official high-resolution photo.

The spec-sheet for the Africa Twin has long been something of interest for ADV fans, with the obvious questions being 1) how much horsepower will it make? and 2) how much will it weight. The answers are 94hp, and 458 lbs dry (467 lbs with ABS, 489 lbs with DCT).

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Bikes

Finally, Here is the Honda Africa Twin in All Its Glory

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UPDATE: Technical specifications for the 2016 Honda Africa Twin have also leaked.

Honda has been teasing a six-part video series about the Honda Africa Twin, and the final installment has just leaked onto the internet. As you would expect, the video finally gives us the full monty on what the Honda CRF1000L will look like, along with some great action footage.

Perhaps even better, the final installment of Honda’s video series also features a very interesting discussion with HRC riders, Honda engineers, and stakeholders to the Africa Twin brand.

The discussion is very insightful to the development of the 1,000cc adventure bike platform, including off-roading’s first dual-clutch transmission (DCT).

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Racing

Marc Coma Retires from Racing…Sort Of

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When Marc Coma hinted at a return to the Dakar Rally for 2016, everyone assumed it would be on a bike and with KTM. The famous Spanish rally-raid racer has other plans now, announcing his retirement from the sport, and also that he will begin working as a Sporting Director for the Dakar Rally.

This makes the announcement a double-shock, one because we expected to see Coma vying for his sixth Dakar Rally win, and two because it was expected that when he did stop racing motorbikes, he would follow the path by many competitors, and race in the four-wheel classes.

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Bikes

Report: KTM 390 Adventure Begins Testing in India

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It’s been a while since we heard about the KTM 390 Adventure, the Austrian company’s third installment to its built-in-India small-displacement motorcycle lineup.

Based off the KTM 390 Duke, the Adventure model has been a long-time coming, ever since KTM CEO Stefan Pierer lit it slip that the dual-sport would be coming, two and a half years ago.

It seems now that KTM is getting closer to production, as the folks at CarTrade are reporting that two test models of the KTM 390 Adventure (codenamed KT22) have been sent to India for R&D, presumably as a prelude to Bajaj beginning production on the budget-friednly machines.

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