·
2020–2023 · Adventure · A variant of the CRF1100L Africa Twin
Differences between the standard CRF1100L Africa Twin and the Adventure Sports DCT
The Unflappable Long-Haul Partner
This is the Africa Twin in its long-range, high-tech suit. The 1084 cc parallel twin makes 102 hp and 77 lb-ft and sits in a steel double-cradle frame. It rolls on a proper 21-inch front wheel, with 9.1 in (230 mm) of travel up front and 8.7 in (220 mm) at the rear. The standard bike already brings cornering ABS, traction control, wheelie control, ride modes, cruise control and a TFT with Apple CarPlay. This trim adds electronic suspension, the DCT gearbox and heated grips, and a 6.6 gal (25 L) tank finishes the job. Honda didn't build a show-off here. It built a travel tool!
On the road it's calm, stable and easy to live with. The ride modes take it from a mellow city setting to a twin with real presence in Tour. Reliability is a genuine strength, but check the paperwork: 2020–2022 bikes are covered by recall KS8 for the left handlebar switch, and a software update under recall KR1 fixes a stall issue when wheelie control is on. Honda has also extended the TFT warranty to 2033. It suits experienced riders who cover big miles and still want real gravel. The caveat is mass: 547 lb (248 kg) and a 33.5 in (850 mm) seat. It's a big bike.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 102 hp (75 kW) @ 7,500 rpm |
|---|---|
| Torque | 77 lb-ft (105 Nm) @ 6,250 rpm |
| Displacement | 1084 cc |
| Engine | Parallel twin |
| Cooling | Liquid-cooled |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Final drive | Chain |
| Fork | Telescopic |
| Front tire | 90/90-21 |
| Rear tire | 150/70-18 |
| Wheelbase | 62.0 in (1575 mm) |
| Ground clearance | 9.8 in (250 mm) |
| Front travel | 9.1 in (230 mm) |
| Rear travel | 8.7 in (220 mm) |
| Seat height | 33.5 in (850 mm) |
| Wet weight | 547 lb (248 kg) |
| Fuel capacity | 6.6 gal (25 L) |
| Fuel economy | 51 mpg (US) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Comfort
Connectivity
Drivetrain
Lighting
Safety
Fire it up and the twin has a voice. Even with all the emissions hardware, it sounds like real displacement: a deep, even beat that never tips into obnoxious. You sit tall at 33.5 in (850 mm), upright behind the bars, with a commanding view over the fairing. On a cold morning the heated grips are the first thing your thumb goes looking for. The TFT stays readable in hard sun and even under a film of road dust. I set the layout once in the garage and stopped thinking about it. Pushing it around a gravel lot reminds you there's real mass under you. At normal road pace it falls into an unhurried rhythm, your shoulders drop, and you start looking at the landscape instead of the instruments. That's the point!
The CRF1100L Africa Twin Adventure Sports DCT (SD 08-AdventureSportsDCT) builds on the standard CRF1100L Africa Twin: the upgraded hardware, the key spec changes and where its character shifts. The full ride, specs, scoring and verdict are all right here on this page.
Equipment the Adventure Sports DCT adds vs the standard CRF1100L Africa Twin
| Spec | Standard CRF1100L Africa Twin | Adventure Sports DCT | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wet weight | 498 lb | 547 lb | +49 lb |
| Fuel capacity | 5.0 gal | 6.6 gal | +1.6 gal |
My own 0–100 score for this bike against the class, area by area — the marker on each bar is the class average.
What I did not expect from this bike was the panic stop. I expect a fork on a machine this tall to plunge straight to the bottom of its stroke under full-force braking and then hand me a pitching chassis to manage while I finish the job. It doesn't happen. The front takes the load, holds its composure the whole way down to a standstill, and leaves me exactly one thing to think about, which is how hard I'm squeezing the lever. Nothing moves around underneath me, nothing needs a correction, and the whole event stays as dull as an emergency stop ought to be. That is the most valuable habit this chassis has, because the hard stop is the moment that decides how a ride ends, and this one does not ask you to be good at it.
Comfort on this bike is mostly subtraction. At highway pace the bodywork parks your head in still air, tall riders included, and nothing is tugging at your helmet or quietly working on your neck, so the hours stop accumulating the way they do on a machine that buffets. The rest is being able to re-tune the bike's manners on the move without losing rhythm. Working against it is the density of that left-hand cluster, which took me a while to read.
What the two dirt modes really change is who gets to ride this terrain. Traction control, ABS and the optional adaptive damping act like one system with a single idea rather than three helpers pulling in different directions, and that integration is the whole trick. Loose switchbacks and washboard stop being things you steel yourself for. Riders who would normally turn around at the start of a climb like that do not have to here.
The display deserves more credit than a screen usually gets from me. It stays legible with the sun straight onto it and with a film of road dust over the glass, which is where most of them quietly stop telling you anything. It also strips down: a full instrument layout, or a clean speedo, or just a tach. Set it once in the garage and every mode comes up looking the way you chose.
The width of the character range is the part I'd point to. At one end the motor is calm enough to be genuinely undemanding, at the other it has enough presence that the bike feels like it wants to be moving, and both ends sit further out than the previous generation could reach. Engine braking is part of that. Dial it down and the calm setting goes calmer than the mode change alone suggests, which is a lever I ended up using more than I expected.
I've been collecting what owners say about this bike for years: over coffee in the paddock, at club nights, in long conversations at gas stations, and in the emails and messages riders send me once they have a few thousand miles on theirs. For the Adventure Sports DCT, the pattern is steady. Riders love the engine, the gearbox and how capable the bike feels for its size. Their complaints gather around the dashboard, the controls and the price.
The engine comes up first in almost every conversation. Owners say the 270° parallel twin has a real pulse, a torquey character that sets it apart from the smoother engines elsewhere in the class. They also say it pulls hard from low revs on pavement and dirt alike. The DCT gets the same steady praise. Riders call the shifts seamless and quick, and they single it out on long days and in technical off-road sections, where keeping both hands on the bars matters. Owners of later bikes say the old low-speed roughness has been refined out of it. The recurring counterpoint is outright power. At 102 hp, a consistent group of riders feels the bike falls behind the most powerful machines in the segment on acceleration, and says it rides more like a heavy middleweight than a liter-class bike.
Riders keep saying the bike feels lighter than its specs suggest once it's rolling, and that it turns into corners with confidence. Off the pavement, owners repeatedly call it the most dirt-capable bike in its weight and price bracket. They credit the 21-inch front, the ground clearance and the aluminum subframe. The weight still shows where you'd expect. In tight, slow terrain and deep sand, owners name mass as the limit, and the DCT versions carry the most of it. For distance, riders praise the tall screen and the roomy rider triangle, and shorter riders say the seat height is manageable. Real-world range comes in around 300 miles a tank. The seat splits opinion. Some call it plush, but a recurring complaint is that it's fine for short stints and firm by the end of a full touring day.
The dashboard draws the most consistent criticism. Owners say the touchscreen is slow to boot and imprecise with gloves on, and some report it registering inputs nobody made, with no permanent fix so far. The menus add to it. Riders describe Goldwing-style buttonology and a steep learning curve before the layout becomes second nature. On price, owners disagree. Some point out that this trim sits at the top end of the segment. Many others note that at launch it came in under the premium flagships while offering a comparable electronics suite. On durability, owners consistently rate the build quality highly.
Left handlebar switch corrosion (loss of horn/headlight)
Fretting corrosion at terminal joints can cause loss of horn and high/low beam control. Affects 2020-2022 models. Recall KS8 (2025) replaces the switch assembly.
Wheelie control recall (engine stall)
Incorrect FI-ECU programming can cause loss of power or engine stall when wheelie control is enabled. Recall KR1 (2024) addresses this with a software update; earlier campaign KP7 was insufficient.
Cracking wheel rims under severe use
Hard off-road riding can lead to rim cracks, particularly on tubeless Adventure Sports wheels. Evidence suggests impacts exceed design limits.
TFT display fragility and glitches
Some displays are prone to cracking even without impact, and electronic glitches cause freezing or rebooting. Honda extended warranty on TFT to 2033.
Rusting white frames
White-painted frames, particularly on tricolor models, develop rust spots around welds and fasteners early in ownership.
High-speed headshake / weave when carrying top box and panniers
At sustained highway speeds with a top box and side panniers fitted, the raised and rearward load can set off a slow weave or a shake through the handlebars, most noticeably when the top box is loaded heavily. The bike leaves the factory without a steering damper, so owners typically cut top box weight, shift heavy items low into the panniers, and fit an aftermarket damper to settle the front end.
6.5″ TFT touchscreen becoming unresponsive or registering false touches
The 6.5″ TFT touchscreen has been reported as becoming unresponsive to input, registering "phantom" touches by itself, or going to a temporary blackout. Cold weather makes symptoms worse. The issue has persisted after four years without any permanent fix. Replacement screens have exhibited the same behavior — pointing to a design rather than a manufacturing root cause.
Ride-by-wire throttle snatchiness in 1st–2nd gear at low speed
In the lower gears at low engine speeds, the ride-by-wire throttle can feel abrupt or snatchy as the throttle opens and closes. The effect is most noticeable on the optional automatic dual-clutch version in stop-and-go city traffic, where engine braking on a closed throttle combines with the clutch engagement logic to make the bike surge and pitch at walking pace.
Where this Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Wet weight
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the CRF1100L Africa Twin is actually built for.
You're the best fit here. The 6.6 gal tank, cruise control and quiet highway pocket make big days easy. Keep the top box light, though: loaded high, it can set off a weave.
Made for Beartooth Highway · Blue Ridge Parkway · Going-to-the-Sun Road
Gravel and Offroad modes really help on loose climbs and washboard, but 547 lb is a lot in technical sand. Go easy on hard hits: rims can crack under severe use.
Made for Kane Creek Recreation Area · Moab · Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area
A good match for 200–400 mi days: rock-steady, precise on turn-in and quiet behind the screen. Just accept that the tall 33.5 in seat and 21-inch front come with the deal.
Made for Black Hills · Blue Ridge Parkway · Cherohala Skyway
If you're cross-shopping the older generation, here's what changed.
Previous generation · 2018–2019
Reliable Enough to Trust Anywhere
Compare to the previous model →If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
Any price note compares both bikes at the same age — the youngest age both have on the used market — against this Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin. “cheaper/pricier” is what that bike costs second-hand, not how worn it is.
Successor · 2024
Tuned Mid-Range In A Trustworthy Shell
Successor · 2024
Dependable Twin, Dialed In
Competitor · 2020–2023
Two Souls, One Triple
~$100 cheaper used than this bike at 5 yr
Competitor · 2019–2024
The Continent-Crossing Full Tank
Roughly $6,400 pricier used than this bike at 5 yr
Competitor · 2023
Bulletproof V-Twin, Zero Drama
About the same used price as this bike at 3 yr
Competitor · 2026
The Budget ADV That Connects
Competitor · 2024
The Heavyweight That Rides Light
Competitor · 2024
Italian Composure At Speed
Same Platform · 2025–2026
The Hooligan Twin That Handles
