Mod Note: Please continue the discussion on the new thread. Thanks!
I got a short test ride of the bike and here are my 2 cents. Before going on to my findings, 1 disclosure. I am absolutely zero when it comes to dirt/adventure bikes and I find their handling un-intuitive. Its not the bike's fault, its more do with my zero experience with them. Secondly I am a short person 5 feet 6 inches. I know all Africa Twins in India are low seat height versions, but it is still a very tall bike and I find them very intimidating. Honestly because of this I didn't even want to ride it.
But here it goes:
1) The seat height on Low Seat versions is 820 mm. My CBR 650 is 810 mm, so although one would think there is not a lot of difference, but there is. The difference is in the width of the seat around the tank. In the CBR, it is narrower which helps you place the feet on the ground. On the africa twin it is wider which created a bit of trouble for me.
2) The bike is tall and honestly I nearly dropped it twice while taking U-turn. I had to use all the strength my legs had, to keep it from falling.
3) The engine is punchy and smooth.
4) The DCT is pretty excellent. In the normal D mode, it is like ECO Pro mode of cars. It downshifts like anything. I dropped it in S3 mode which I think is the least sportiest of the Sport modes and then it was fine. There were still S2 and S1 to go.
5) There is manual override of gears and works flawlessly and manually overriding does not bring the bike in Manual Mode. It stays in Automatic Mode. There is a separate dedicated Manual Mode.
6) The brakes were exceptional. The best that I have seen on any bike.
7) The automatic clutching and de-clutching is pretty good, however the first gear needs very fine throttle control if riding slow otherwise the bike leaps forward.
8) Overall it is a pretty intuitive to ride.
9) Wind protection felt good.
10) The ride didn't feel as soft as I have seen my friends GS do under him. It hard a slight hard edge to it which might help in handling, but still pretty comfortable.
11) I shouldn't say anything about the handling of the bike because quite honestly I don't know what to expect from such bikes. Plus I was too scared on this one. But I did feel one thing which was similar to what I felt on Himalyan. When you try and lane change on a normal bike, generally the whole bike moves like a feet or two in the direction you want it to move. The front and rear both move in sync. What I felt on the Himalyan and Africa Twin is that of you apply the same forces on these bikes, only the rear tyre moves, the front keeps on going in the straight line it was. I don't know, maybe it is trait of how these bikes ride.
CHEERS!!
Rachit