The big enduros Honda and BMW have been competing for many years. In the 80s, the battle took place on the Dakar track, in the 90s - on public roads and off-roads. After a lull it has resumed, the Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin and the BMW F 850 GS are two direct competitors in the city, on the track and off-road with the same weight, power and price tag, but different character.
Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin
If you're looking for the most successful Honda motorcycle of the last decade, the CRF1000L Africa Twin is a top contender. The Japanese managed to find the perfect combination of driving performance, price, reliability and a legendary name. With such baggage, “Africa” received the love of motorcyclists from all countries, and with it good sales. For 2021, the bike has been updated, not too radically, but enough to keep up with the overall progress of the industry. Among the more or less significant things, it received LEDs in the headlights, a lightweight battery, and electronic gas, which for some unknown reason was absent in the first generation of the motorcycle.
Thanks to him, it was possible to make the work of electronics more interesting. Traction control is eight-speed, modes are switched with a separate button. Very convenient, you can quickly and accurately adjust it to road conditions. The most sensitive modes noticeably choke the engine, and at times it interferes with driving. A slight slip or wheel bounce on a speed bump, and for some time the traction is greatly reduced. This can save you from falling again on a long and very slippery section of sand or bitumen, but in most cases it is nerve-wracking. If you remove the sensitivity, it turns out just right. Switching traction is where most motorcycles have the high beams flashing; at first, when you want to drive someone out of the lane, you change the anti-skid setting. There is a similar situation with the turn signal button, which has swapped places with the sound signal: you are trying to indicate a maneuver, but instead you hear a horn. But the turn signals turn off very correctly on their own using a very sophisticated algorithm that can somehow distinguish between changing lanes and turning or parking, with virtually no mistakes.
The engine here is not too small and not too much, just right for the city and long-distance driving. The Japanese did not pursue peak power, but focused on more driving speeds. And we got smooth acceleration from idle to the red zone. The engine runs smoothly and quietly, with a minimum of noise and vibration. At the same time, the exhaust sounds, by the standards of our time, loudly and with character, despite compliance with the latest economic standards. The most comfortable driving speed is from 50 to 150 km/h. Slower - you begin to feel the size and weight. Faster - high seating position and soft suspension, and acceleration becomes more sluggish. But if you want, you can go 200 and even a little more. In traffic jams and heavy traffic you feel good, but nothing can be done about the laws of physics; the motorcycle is not the most compact and light, and therefore somewhat lazy when maneuvering.
The suspension works well off-road, the character of the engine is just right. But even here the dimensions do not contribute to handling. It is most comfortable to drive on compacted roads, and the terrain, paths, and swamps are driven through carefully and without much pleasure. On the road, the high height of the saddle is not particularly bothersome, but on the ground, even with a height of 185 cm, sometimes it is not possible to reliably rest on your leg. The CRF1000L Africa Twin is a truly big enduro, even among big enduros. And this must be remembered when purchasing. A driver with short stature will not be very comfortable, especially in situations where he has to help himself with his feet, that is, in traffic jams and off-road. But during a long drive, especially when traveling, there is complete comfort, including with a passenger and luggage.
BMW F 850GS
The middle "Goose" was expected for a long time, the Bavarians even delayed it a little. “Vosmisotka” was long outdated, so the client began to look in other directions. But the new F 850 GS is exactly what we need: modern, fast and comfortable. The F 800 GS was a popular motorcycle, but not without its flaws. The weak point was the engine. It lacked power even in the last decade, and even more so now. Moreover, extracting this power from it is not so easy. With a set of revolutions, the engine began to vibrate unpleasantly, and this vibration chilled to the bones. To get rid of such a legacy, the Germans not only bored out the cylinders, but completely rebuilt the engine down to the last screw. The itching is gone, there are vibrations, of course, but they are pleasing and not annoying. You can drive at any speed up to the limiter, the only difference will be fuel consumption. However, there is no great need to unscrew the throttle. Traction is good in all modes, from pedestrian to red zone.
The Bavarians have one heavy enduro. And they tried to move the F 850 GS further away from it, so as not to create internal competition between their own models. Its operating speeds are about the same as the R 1250 GS, but the ride is completely different. Not only because of the difference in engines. Behind the wheel of the F 850 GS there is no characteristic feeling of constant stability. The chassis is built in such a way that on a motorcycle you want to change direction as often as possible. Moreover, in three-dimensional space, not only turning, but also going down, going up, or even jumping.
Off-road it feels like a lightweight enduro, manageable and not too tall. You don’t have to think too much about cross-country ability; the “Goose” may not be very fast, but it passes through places where, if you’re not used to it, it can be scary to look at. For him, off-road driving is not a sad necessity that one has to put up with in order to get to the end point, but a great pleasure. You can use it for purely fun enduro rides, but it is advisable to protect it from falls so as not to break the pretty plastic. Fortunately, for BMW, the corresponding parts are supplied in abundance from catalogs.
Even without tuning, many interesting systems and components are supplied in factory configurations. The F 850 GS was the first BMW motorcycle to feature a large color instrument panel. Which not only shows a lot of data and changes many settings, but also broadcasts navigation directions from the smartphone, the names of the tracks playing through the headset and information about phone calls. An excellent thing is the electronic suspension, especially when you often drive from dirt to asphalt and back again or change the load. Press the button - and you don’t have to fiddle with screwdrivers and wrenches, trying to choose a combination of several parameters. In general, the result was a motorcycle that was successful in all respects. It accelerates and handles much better than its predecessor, comes with interesting extras and costs reasonable money.
Sur Les Chapeaux De Roues
It doesn’t matter whether the creators of Sur Les Chapeaux De Roues from Finistère are building a dragster for the Sultans of Sprint, or a motorcycle for lively evening rides commissioned by a neighbor, each of their projects is different from the others. Over the past year, their boss, Manuel João, has spent a significant amount of time and money equipping the workshop with the latest tools and equipment. Thanks to his experience as a mechanic at a factory, he acquired all the necessary skills to do all the work himself, and for a creative approach to work this is an urgent need.
Sparring
In the class of large touring enduros, the BMW plant until this year could not field a direct competitor against Honda. The Africa Twin settled into its niche very well: the F 800 GS did not compete with it because of its characteristics, the R 1200 GS - because of the price. And the F 850 GS was built with the CRF1000L in mind, with pre-thought-out advantages. But it didn't work very well. When we put these motorcycles side by side and rode one or the other for a long time around the city, on the highway and off-road, it turned out that there was no clear winner among them. They are different, with distinct characters, pros and cons.
The BMW F 850 GS is not the most expensive motorcycle, but with a rich range of options. What is not included in the basic package can be ordered for additional money from the factory. Electronic suspension, dashboard, pro modes, quickshifter, keyless start, tire pressure sensors. There are even whole packages of options: tourist, dynamic, comfortable. That is, you can assemble a body kit of approximately the same level as on the R 1200 GS. The majority of motorcycle manufacturers do not deal with such things, including Honda. Africa Twin has basic configurations; if you want more, order spare parts from the catalog and install them at the service center or do it yourself. The dashboard is from the last century, although it performs all the basic functions. But there is a big trump card - a version with automatic transmission, which cannot be installed on a BMW.
The difference in character is best seen on the ground. Both motorcycles are on off-road wheels. The rear is 17″ for the BMW and 18″ for the Honda, the front for both is 21″. These are the most suitable sizes for not only driving on dirt roads, but also driving through more or less serious obstacles. The GS loves turns, hills, ruts, and slippery surfaces. On it you get pleasure from enduronic elements due to both the chassis and electronics. The optional Enduro Pro mode works very well off-road. Traction control allows you to ride like a fan and tightens the traction only when the rear wheel goes very far, ABS allows you to brake effectively and safely even on wet clay. The “Africa” is good to drive for many hours on not too rough dirt roads with heavy panniers. She is stable and resilient, although she does not like difficult areas too much.
The situation in the city is similar. If you want to enjoy constant overtaking, changing lanes and corners, get into the F 850 GS. He loves city traffic, where he behaves almost like a naked bike. The CRF1000L is not as nimble, but more comfortable. If you work hard all day, go to training in the evening and after that, squeezed like a lemon, you want to relax on the road - you need a Honda. At the same time, depending on the mood, you can drive it quickly, either through traffic jams or along half-empty outbound highways. But the character of the motorcycle is a little less conducive to this. With absolutely the same catalog power, the engine in the Africa Twin is faster. This is especially noticeable at the lower end of the range. But it only bothers you when you change from motorcycle to motorcycle, but in general it’s not critical. The F 850 GS itself is quite balanced, and you quickly forget that it has slightly less Newton meters. Despite all the differences in character, they are not so fundamental as to greatly influence the comfort or speed of movement, but they still exist. The BMW F 850 GS is a slightly more temperamental motorcycle that loves revs, turns, hills, ruts and drifting. Honda Africa Twin is a little more comfortable, more stable, and more torquey. And both models have legendary names, which can be a decisive factor in your choice.
For the provided motorcycle Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin we thank,
www.aoyama.ru For the provided motorcycle BMW F 850 GS we thank the Russian representative office of BMW Motorrad, www.bmw-motorrad.ru Gold on blue > January 25, 2021 22:38 Nikolay Bogomolov
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