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Honda CRF 1100 L Africa Twin vs BMW F 850 GS Adventure: Which is the Best Adventure?
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Nov 16, 2022
The only way to choose a motorcycle is to take it for a ride. But if you want to check out the specs, visit https://adventurebiketroop.com/advbikes for all the data on the 14 most popular mid to large adventure bikes. For a specs comparison of the Honda Africa Twin, Yamaha T7 and the KTM 890 Adventure R, check out: https://adventurebiketroop.com/adventure-bikes-offroad/ This super quick and easy thumbnail was made using Canva Pro: https://www.canva.7eqqol.net/EmmDD
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Are you interested in the BMW 850 GS Adventure or the Honda Africa Twin
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Stick around to find out how they compare. Hi, I'm Francois from adventurebiketroop.com
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where we chat about bike riding, maintenance, travel tips and more. If you are new here, click that subscribe button and you can find all the links we
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mentioned in this video in the description below. Now in this week's video we chat about the BMW 850 GS Adventure and the Honda Africa Twin
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It's always difficult to find all the stats in one place, so I've compiled all the specs with videos and photos to the top 14 adventure bikes in a post
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You can find it at adventurebiketroop.com slash advbikes. If you own any of these bikes, please leave a comment below with what you like about the bike, or if you would want to own any of those, please tell us why
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So let's dive right in. Now when you go and check out my post on the 14 most popular adventure bikes, you might be asking how can you compare a $9,000 Suzuki 650 with a $25,000 Dugati Multistrada
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Now the answer is if you want to tour with your bike off-road or on the highway or you just want to commute, all of these bikes can do all of that brilliantly
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Now obviously some will do it better than others, but in fact you can do almost any of that on an old KLR 650 or even a little Honda 250
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At this price what really matters is how the bike makes you feel
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So if you want to decide which bike to get, the only thing you can do is to go and test ride the bike at a dealership or get on a buddy's bike and see what the bike feels like
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But if you are into specs like I am you can watch on how we compare the BMW 850 GS Adventure with the Honda Africa Twin Now are these two bikes comparable I mean the one is 853cc and the Honda is 1084cc so quite a bit bigger Well the price is almost exactly the same In fact
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it's only a $46 difference with the BMW slightly more expensive. So they are
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directly comparable. If you have $14,400, you have to decide between these two
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bikes. So let's see how they compare. Now as expected, the Honda with a bigger engine has
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more horsepower. It's 100 horsepower versus BMW's 90. So that's a 12% power increase
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but with a 27% bigger engine. It's 231 cc's extra for only another 10 horsepower. And we'll get back
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to why I think that is a good thing. The Honda is almost right there in the middle of our 14 bikes
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with BMW closer to the bottom end. So not a lot of power out of that 850
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Well, I say not a lot of power, it's still a pretty quick bike. Now, power is only half the equation. Weight is super important, especially when you venture
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off-road and with a fully loaded adventure bike. This is where the Honda has a clear advantage
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On the photos, it looks like a bigger bike. It looks like a taller bike, but it's only 501 pounds
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Well, I say only it's still quite heavy, but it's 501 pounds versus BMW's porky 538 pounds
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So BMW, not the biggest engine bike here, but right there in the middle with the weight
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with Honda on the lighter end of the scale, even with that large 1100 engine
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Other standard features, both have 21 inch front wheels, which is great for off-road gravel riding
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and the suspension travel is quite good on both as well. And it almost exactly the same with 230 millimeters in the front and 220 for the Honda at the back 215 for the BMW at the back Where the BMW does have an advantage and we looking at the Adventure here at this price it the BMW GS Adventure versus the standard Honda Africa Twin
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It's got a tank size of 6.1 gallons versus Honda's 5 gallons
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Now for an extra $2,800 you can get the Honda Adventure Sports ES, the Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES
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and that will up the tank capacity to 6.5 gallons. You also get electronic suspension, tubeless spoked rims and a couple of other neat features
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What I like about the Honda Africa Twin compared to the BMW is the fact that it is underpowered
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So it's got a much bigger engine, it's 27% bigger, but only a little bit more power
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And part of the reason is that low compression ratio, it's 10.1 compression ratio, 10.1 to 1 versus BMWs, I think it was 12.5 or 13
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And in theory, that should make the Honda more reliable and it would run better on low octane fuel, which you could expect to find in third world countries
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Something else that the Honda has as standard is cruise control. So this is even the standard Africa Twin has cruise control, whereas the BMW doesn't
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And even the R1250 GS Adventure, the big BMW, you have to pay $3,350 extra for the premium package to get cruise control
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So the Africa Twin really has some nice specs included. And then Honda has seven levels of selectable torque control and you can choose from different power delivery modes
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There Tour Urban Gravel and a fourth that is user programmable whereas BMW only has Rain and Road Something very nice we mentioned this earlier is if you go to the Adventure Sports ES model you got those tubeless rims
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That is really a nice feature to have, and you also get that electronic suspension
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Likes on the BMW, it comes as standard with engine protection bars, engine skip-bait, luggage rack, adjustable shift, clutch and brake levers, adjustable windscreen
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So quite a lot of standard features that you don't have to add and which is quite useful
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Especially if you take this bike on the dirt roads Now on the look side, this is where I am completely indecided
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Well, if I have to decide between the standard Africa twin which comes out in black versus BMW's
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Bike that comes in this lupin blue metallic quite a fancy word for that blue and red and white or the granite gray metallic
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also nice if I have to compare those two I'd clearly go for the BMW it just looks much better
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than this black Honda Africa 10 which makes the shape looks a bit awkward almost like an insect
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but if you go for the adventure sports es model in that pill glare white and blue
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then it's almost impossible for me personally to decide between the two and I actually asked my wife
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which one looks best and she picked one of the photos but she didn't realize it's two separate
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bikes. Now that brings me back to what is most important when you have to decide
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on an adventure bike that is what it looks like and more importantly how it
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makes you feel. So go out there and test ride each of these bikes and make your
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choice. And if you've already made your choice please comment below which one
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you have and why you like it best. Go and check out the post on the 14 most
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popular adventure bikes at adventurebiketroop.com slash adbbikes and and consider subscribing to this channel. Cheers, see you next week
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