Honda Unveils The NT1100, A Tourer Based On The Africa Twin

The NT1100 is one of Honda’s most futuristic looking motorcycles, built to munch miles of tarmac

• The Honda NT1100 shares the same engine as the CRF1100L Africa Twin, and makes the same amount of power.
• However, the peak torque is 1Nm more than the UK-spec Africa Twin.
• Comes with preload-adjustable suspension (front and rear), 17-inch alloys with road-biased tyres.

Honda has unveiled a sports tourer based on the CRF1100L Africa Twin in the European market. Called the 2022 Honda NT1100, it is one of the most futuristic-looking tourers from the Japanese bikemaker. 

The motorcycle comes with a sharp and sleek fairing with angular twin-LED headlights dominating the front. It gets a 5-step electronically adjustable windscreen with easy-to-reach handlebars and neutral footpegs to ensure optimum touring capability. With the large 20-litre fuel tank, Honda claims the motorcycle can cover 400km on a tankful, enough for your mile-munching adventures. 

It also gets an info-packed cockpit thanks to the 6.5-inch TFT console with an LCD secondary display. The console is enhanced by standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone connectivity. For extra practicality, the bike also gets twin panniers (33 litres on the left and 32 litres on the right), heated grips, 12V socket, cruise control and engine immobiliser, all as standard.

The motorcycle is powered by the same 1,084cc parallel twin liquid-cooled engine as the Africa Twin 1100, and makes the same 101.97PS as the ADV. However, the peak torque stands at 104Nm, which is 1Nm less than the adventure tourer. Honda has tuned the engine’s intake and internals of the muffler to suit the bike’s character. The engine is reined in by three-level riding modes (Urban, Tour, and Rain), plus two user-customisable modes, three-level traction and wheelie control. The motor is mated to either a six-speed manual or dual-clutch transmission, linked to the rear wheel via a final chain drive.

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While the semi-double cradle steel frame is borrowed from the Africa Twin 1100, it has been tweaked to offer a shorter wheelbase and a sharper steering geometry. It also employs a different aluminium bolt-on subframe. The frame is suspended on a 43mm inverted front fork and a rear Pro-link monoshock, both preload-ajustable, from Showa. The suspension offers 150mm travel at both ends, and they hold the 17-inch alloy wheels that are wrapped with 120-section front and 180-section rear road-biased rubber. Anchoring is via twin 310mm front discs with radial calipers, and a 256mm rear disc with dual-channel ABS as standard. At 175mm, the ground clearance is decent enough to tackle the occasional bad patches of road. The seat is 820mm tall, and at 238kg, the kerb weight is decent enough for a bike of this segment. 

Honda is unlikely to bring this motorcycle to India as it already offers the CRF1100L Africa Twin, an ADV that’s capable enough both on and off the road here. In international space, the new NT1100 goes up against the Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX and the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT.