Born from Honda’s victory within the Paris Dakar rally, The Honda Africa Twin hit the scene in 1988 with ‘modern’ options like liquid cooling, an electrical starter, and disc brakes. But the present Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin bears little resemblance to its ancestor. It now boasts a 1,084 cc motor that makes triple-digit energy and torque, and sufficient elec-trickery to make Inspector Gadget blush.
Purists have rather a lot to say concerning the complexity of contemporary bikes just like the Africa Twin, however the reality is that a lot of that complexity makes these bikes higher. “This thing rips,” Bujar Muharemi says, bluntly, of the brand new Africa Twin. “I was a tech grinch until I tried it… now I want one.”
Bujar and his brother, Gaz, are the founders of Auto Fabrica—a UK-based {custom} store we’ve adopted since their early days. The Muharemi bros have a knack for extremely conceptual designs, and create machines that really feel extra like manufacturing unit prototypes than conventional customs. Case in level, this retro-futuristic Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin, designated ‘Type 22.’
“Type 22 started as a design study on what we could do if we used mid-80s Honda Paris Dakar and enduro bikes as inspiration, but used a modern CRF1100 donor bike,” Bujar explains. “This was a very interesting challenge for us because as much as we like slick and flowy art deco design, we also like to dip over to the super exciting race bikes and cars. We are automotive designers, after all.”
Auto Fabrica’s tackle the modern Africa Twin isn’t as a lot a throwback to 1 specific machine as it’s a homage that pulls from myriad sources. There are shades of the Honda NXR-750 rally bike that pre-dated the unique Africa Twin, plus particulars that echo the overall vibe of 80s off-road competitors bikes. There’s a heavy dose of futurism too, in the way in which that Bujar and Gaz have manipulated these kinds to suit the bones of the fashionable donor bike.
There’s nothing left of the Africa Twin’s plastic bodywork. A basic rally-style gasoline tank takes middle stage, consisting of two hand-formed aluminum covers over a custom-made reservoir. The internal tank makes use of the OEM gasoline pump and gasoline degree sensor, whereas carrying half a liter extra petrol than earlier than.
The Africa Twin’s chunky new solo saddle mimics the perches on outdated rally bikes, with hand-made aluminum facet covers providing one other nod to the unique Africa Twin. The seat will be eliminated through the bike’s authentic key mechanism, with three magnets serving to to carry it in place. Behind it sits a bespoke aluminum fender, neatly capturing that quintessential classic enduro look.
Although every half is spectacular sufficient by itself, it’s the way in which they harmonize with one another that floats our boat. View the bike from any angle, and every half morphs flawlessly into the subsequent, with myriad particulars to attract the attention. “Big volumes in the tank and seat areas were key to the design,” Bujar provides, “but we quickly found we could really hone in on detailed cuts, such as the air out inlet and outlet on the main tank covers.”
The carbon fiber entrance fender and 3D-printed twin headlight nacelle are distinctive to this bike too, however getting the whole lot fitted was a chore. It’s right here that one main downside of contemporary bikes grew to become obviously apparent—they’re onerous to take aside with out breaking one thing. Unplug the Africa Twin’s sprint or headlight, and the bike is straight away bricked.
Because of this, Auto Fabrica opted to retain all the Africa Twin’s inventory wiring—and the performance that it allows. So this bike nonetheless has traction management, ABS, switchable rider modes, cruise management, and a TFT display screen with onboard navigation and Apple Car Play.
While dismantling the Africa Twin’s rally-style entrance tower, the blokes found that the speedo and TFT display screen have been two separate items. Taking benefit of that, they relocated the slender speedo to a {custom} mount behind the brand new headlight nacelle, then constructed a neat enclosure to accommodate the TFT display screen atop the gasoline tank. That left them free to take away each final piece of the frame-mounted OEM fairing and mount the brand new headlights on to the forks.
Auto Fabrica’s subsequent problem was determining methods to swap out the inventory LED lightning with out upsetting the bike’s CAN bus system. “We actually dismantled and reverse-engineered the standard headlight internals,” Bujar reveals. “These were then retrofitted into LED shells and re-sealed; a huge challenge, but they work and look great.”
On prime of retaining the Honda’s trendy performance, Auto Fabrica went a step additional with a couple of tasty upgrades. FTR Suspension equipped a full set of Öhlins suspension upgrades, and the entrance brake calipers have been swapped for a set of Brembo objects. The inventory airbox was left alone, however the exhaust was changed by a full titanium system.
“The key for this sort of bike to work for us has to be its usability,” says Bujar. “There is no compromise on this, other than the seat position moving back 50 mm from stock. This was to get the styling dialed in properly—but after riding the bike we actually found it more comfortable than the stock position.”
In typical Auto Fabrica style, the Africa Twin wears an impossibly cool livery. Bold purple graphics sit on a white basis, accented by intelligent touches just like the 3D-printed LED flip indicators.
It’s such a clear design, that we are able to virtually image it as an official Honda idea bike (if solely). Lucky for us, Bujar and Gaz are as much as constructing extra of those if there’s curiosity—which there little question can be.
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Source: www.bikeexif.com