Honda Africa Twin For The U.S. In 2015?

Rumors abound in the motorcycle universe, and most turn out to be baseless. Some, however, sound so good you really want them to be true. One such whisper heard recently is not only tempting to believe, but tinged with just enough marketing sense to rise above the level of fantasy and approach plausibility. Or maybe we're just being hopeful.

Speaking to an Italian motorcycle magazine, the general manager of Honda Italy let slip that a new Africa Twin is on the way, possibly as soon as 2015. Last offered in 2003, the Africa Twin was Honda’s big trailie, Team Red’s version of BMW’s successful GS series Boxers.

The Africa Twin, powered by a 742cc V-twin, was based on the NXR-750, which won the Dakar Rally four times in the 1980s. The consumer version had softer tuning, long-travel suspension, and dual headlights—pretty much everything an updated model would need to sidle right up to the adventure-class leaders of today.

Of course, Honda Europe already has six ADV (and ADV-ish) machines for sale, none of which appears on our shores. Honda is probably still smarting from the attempt to sell the Transalp in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So the odds of an Africa Twin rework coming here might be on the slim side, but one can dream.