Up till now BMW have pretty made the serious dual-purpose market their own, with their single cylinder 650 trailies being the best selling middleweight and their R1150 GS picking up most of the heavyweight sales in this country. The German’s closest competitor was usually Honda’s 750cc Africa Twin, but the Japanese factory discontinued the model last year, much to the chagrin of those who loved them. But now the Big Red H has come back with a new version of the popular XL 650 V Transalp, and the guys at Honda South Africa tell us that their sights are squarely set on the sector of the market dominated by BMW’s 650 single.
At the recent launch we set of from Honda’s Midrand headquarters in murky conditions, and by the time we’d got past Pretoria the rain was falling gently. The Transalp’s fairing did a pretty good job of keeping me dry, but I found the long, straight Gauteng roads less than exciting. That all changed, however, when we ducked off the tarmac onto a good dirt road for a further 70km or so, heading towards Warmbaths. Then we discarded the ducks-in-a-row mode of travel and set off at whatever speeds suited us as individuals. This is what big trail bikes are about!
At a steady 130 – 150 km/hr on the gravel the Honda was an absolute pleasure. Despite its relatively unsophisticated suspension the 200mm of front travel and 172mm at the rear coped splendidly with my heavy-handed riding style. Every now and again we’d encounter water-filled puddles that were difficult to see before we were just about upon them, so we did what the textbook recommends – drop a gear if there’s time, and get on the gas. This we did over and over again without complaint from the bike, even when the holes were deeper than we anticipated. The suspension never once bottomed out or sent me bouncing skywards, which pushed up confidence levels as the kilometres slipped by.
After having fun and getting dirty we ended up back on the black stuff, and I discovered that by wringing the Honda’s neck and tucking my bulk in behind the screen I could squeeze just on 180 km/hr out of the beast on a gradual downhill. I’d say that its realistic top speed is about 165-170 km/hr under normal conditions. The bike feels more stable at speed than the BMW F650 GS does, with similar power characteristics throughout the midrange. The BMW seems to have more grunt at the bottom though, but when the revs are up the 39 kW V Twin Honda seems to have the edge. Performance across the board is pretty equal otherwise.
The final part of our ride took in a game-drive – or rather, ride – around the trails of Mabalingwe Game Ranch near Warmbaths. This resort is home to the Big Five, and we puttered along through soft sand, slippery mud and across rivers keeping an eye out for hungry carnivores, of which we happily saw nary a one.
The Honda Transalp is a fine motorcycle, suitable for one or two-up adventure touring in this, the finest country in the world for such activities. It’s happy cruising on tarmac at anything up to 160 km/hr, and you can ride it on gravel as fast as your confidence and skill allows you to. It copes well with occasional riding along tracks and trails, but I’d worry too much about the replacement cost of expensive plastic body parts to treat the machine as a pukka trail bike too often. At R63 700 you get a splendid motorcycle that can act as a city runabout, a dirt road blaster or a relaxed tourer whenever you want it to.