[abhi_tjet]

Beautiful review of an iconic bike TheVaas. Loved reading your point of view of an absolute allrounder.

I suppose this generation also has CarPlay /android auto ?

I have never been able to explore ‘Hondaverse’ due to their absence in Pune. Here’s hoping that it will change in future

Wishing you a happy and safe mile munching experience buddy!

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by abhi_tjet

Beautiful review of an iconic bike TheVaas. Loved reading your point of view of an absolute allrounder.

I suppose this generation also has CarPlay /android auto ?

I have never been able to explore ‘Hondaverse’ due to their absence in Pune. Here’s hoping that it will change in future

Wishing you a happy and safe mile munching experience buddy!

Thank you for the wishes, abhi_tjet! Your V2 thread is also an amazing read. Envy you Pune guys for being close to so much unexplored trails and spots! Btw I did spot a V2 near Bhor necklace point (two sundays ago) - was it you?

And yeah, this is the Carplay/Android Auto generation. I'm still getting a hang of it - will mention the workings in my future posts! And never say never when it concerns the 'Hondaverse'

[Added_flavor]

I'm late to the party here, but what an excellent thread TheVaas! Loved the storytelling with twists and turns and your reading of the motorcycle! It was high time Tbhp got a detailed thread on AT and this one does total justice to it!

Also, thank you for the mention! It's always awesome to discuss the intricate details and character of the bike with an equally inquisitive (read mad) fellow biker brother! I could see similar OCD levels as I have during our discussions! Keep it up!

[abhi_tjet]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

Your V2 thread is also an amazing read. …..
Btw I did spot a V2 near Bhor necklace point (two sundays ago) - was it you?

Thank you for the compliments TheVaas.

I rode towards Bhatghar dam backwaters and was there on 1st September (Sunday). I too spotted a tiger 1200 during my return at Necklace point.

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

I'm late to the party here, but what an excellent thread TheVaas! Loved the storytelling with twists and turns and your reading of the motorcycle! It was high time Tbhp got a detailed thread on AT and this one does total justice to it!

Also, thank you for the mention! It's always awesome to discuss the intricate details and character of the bike with an equally inquisitive (read mad) fellow biker brother! I could see similar OCD levels as I have during our discussions! Keep it up!

Thank you so much brother! Well, your Ladakh trip travelogue served as a great inspiration (and research material) during my upgrade times. Figured I owed an 'ownership journey experience' to other aspirational riders as well. "Inquisitive and mad" - haha that goes straight into my bio! Thanks!

[TheVaas]

“Hey man! Let’s RIDE!”

Though it seemed like a lifetime ago that I bought the bike home, we were just a month old in the month of May 2024. A point that I missed out in my last post was that the “Tamhini Ghat Circuit ride” was done solo; Prerana had some last minute work commitment, so had to opt out. So yeah, that enabled me to understand the bike closely from a solo rider point of view.

Ok moving on - The most common (and unsurprisingly basic) human instinct after getting a new bike is “LET’S PLAN A LONG RIDE!” The notebook is dusted off, brand new pen is bought (aka ‘Misc. Expenses’), coffee is brewed and the internet browser tab displays ‘Google Maps’. But HANG ON! The bank passbook makes a villainous entry and soon you realise that the coffee’s gone cold. (PS: Believe me when I say “This is a true story!”)

So yeah, true story aside, if you had read through the earlier chapter aka timelines - I had mentioned that post my Tiger sale, I was holding onto the upgrade to the latter (second) half of 2024. This would’ve given us some breathing space to regain our mental health (from the chaos of work along with house hunting-shifting-renovating etc) and also ample time to replenish the severely depleted bank accounts. And to this effect we had also formulated an equation X + Y = MC (where X was ‘budget for the bike’, Y was ‘budget for accessories/spares’ and MC stands for 'MotorCycle').

And with all things life (and mathematics), things DIDN’T turn out the way we expected and we had to celebrate the upgrade earlier than expected. Which also meant, that some zeroes from Y had to be added to X to balance the equation. Because of this divine balancing act - any budgets (or future budget) for touring in 2024 went out of the window (along with the coffee, notebook and the brand new pen!)

But the show (read: RIDE) must go on, right? And with a new bike in the parking lot - the itch to ride kept gnawing every now and then. If you remember, I had made a list of all the accessories that I needed once I get the bike and also got some of them fitted (Rox Risers, Top Box base plate etc.). Only the “Luggage system” was pending (more on this below).

REWINDING BACK TO THE YEAR THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED AKA 2020

A ‘tried and tested’ theory from my Tiger days was that the position of the bike’s tail rack + Top box base plate + Top Box back rest aren’t placed keeping in mind the pillion’s comfort. If you fit them as mentioned in the ‘Instruction Guide’, high chances that the pillion might never ride with you again. For this same reason, I had never opted for the OEM Top box from Triumph because it makes for a very rigid, upright back position for the pillion - unsuitable for long rides.

After researching a bit, had come across a reasonably priced plastic/fibre top box from ASG.

The only time the top box looked like this!


When you fix the base plate onto the Tiger’s tail rack - default setup, you’ll notice that the base plate bleeds into the edge of the pillion seat.


And with the top box, you can see it’s already eaten into the rear seat.

With a bit of modification for the Tiger’s OEM tail rack, I made Prerana sit on the pillion seat and then based on her comfort level - fixed the base plate onto the tail rack at a little distance - not too much as to disturb the overall COG of the bike.

Base plate atop a base plate!


"Oh Lord! When will this ordeal end?!" - Prerana

BACK TO THE FUTURE aka 2024: The Year of the ATAS

Now you’d be wondering, “Wah Vaas Babu! Naya GHAR, Nayi BIKE…but why Puraana TOP BOX?!” Well, I am superstitious for wrong reasons and that’s why I retained the ASG top box from our previous timeline - because it has been a lucky charm on many trips. The practical benefit of the top box is the capacity of 45L - which is a misnomer because we’ve packed almost 100L in it and it’s never given up. The other feature is the form factor - rectangular-oval vs square-boxy shape. Almost all the 45L top boxes in the market are Square shaped, the higher capacity 55L+ ones are rectangular. Yes build wise they are metal as compared to the plastic fibre. But like I said - I am a firm believer of “Functional” over “Aesthetics”. The rectangular form factor helps us pack/stuff a few more things in a flat manner over upright standing. Yes, the metal ones definitely look better in pictures, but if we are seated on the bike - we can never know if the top box looks good or not? What matters is whether it can carry what we pack without making much fuss about space. Ending my justification here - haha!

Stickers for ‘aesthetic’ purpose only!


On the ATAS - Note how it is almost the same distance as was with my T800


One with the bike during a night spin to where else but Marine Drive.

Prerana gave a five star rating for the positioning of the top box - which is a big thing! She was comfortable throughout the ride from our house to South Bombay - mix of open highway, bumper to bumper traffic, ill-timed signals and crowded in-roads.

For my Tiger, I had bought Dirtsack’s CrashBar bags during their clearance sale at a discount. Never got the chance to install them on the Tiger, so decided to mount them on the AT (for any future tours). These utility bags are pretty helpful in storing lot of things for easier access. I usually pack my chain clean lube, brush, rag, rain/thermal liners, tyre inflator, tubeless puncture kit etc. They are fully waterproof and hence a blessing for the torrential mumbai monsoons!

The yellow bag (waterproof) is a roll top that fits into the black bag (not waterproof)


Front view on the bike

The ATAS display is a TFT touchscreen which has Carplay/Android Auto feature. But for the feature to work one needs to :

1. Connect an intercom to the dashboard via Bluetooth
2. Connect your phone via USB (There’s a workaround done by many - installing an aftermarket bluetooth dongle, connecting that to the bike via USB and then connecting your phone to the dongle via BT)

Now I toyed with the idea of using a phone mount attached to the handlebar or alternatively, use a “handlebar bag” with your phone in it. But somehow I’m not in favour of having an expensive iPhone exposed to the elements. I have a secondary Android phone that we normally use for navigation - but the temptation of using Carplay was too good to resist. Enter - OXFORD MAGNETIC TANK BAG. Nothing fancy, I had this during my Z650 days (if you scroll to the first post on this thread, you’ll find a pic of the Z with the tank bag). Again, I am not a big fan of magnetic tank bags because in tricky terrains, there’s always high chances of them getting dislodged and falling off - had lot of such experiences before. Since it was lying around gathering dust, I thought of experimenting with it.

The ATAS tank is metallic and despite the humongous size - the realistic surface for attaching a magnetic tank bag is very less. The tank bags in the market made for the Africa Twin are all designed to accommodate the curve of the tank. Anyway, long story short, this is how the Oxford latches itself -

Left hand view (note the small area where the magnets latch to the tank)


Top view (The tank bag is empty hence the folds)


Right hand view (note the small area where the magnets latch to the tank)

Having gone through the ordeal of finding the tank bag, cleaning it and attaching it - I figured I didn’t have the USB A to lightning port cable for the connection. Also, the ‘how-tos’ on youtube were pretty confusing as well. Enter stage from left - Sir “ADDED_FLAVOR” . A quick tutorial from him on how to connect the iPhone and enable CarPlay and I was good to go. I couldn’t take pics of the same because well, the phone was connected to the bike :/

But initial impressions were okay okay. The fact that you need to enable Siri (or Google Voice) and then, depending on how great your intercom mic is, play an important role in the functioning of CarPlay. The reason your intercom needs to be connected to the bike is that - whilst in motion - you have to access Carplay via voice commands. If you park your bike on the side or when at standstill - you can access via the LHS navigation buttons. It is the same for the touchscreen as well - in motion - the touch features are disabled and you’re supposed to use the LHS buttons to toggle the features. I guess this is a security protocol by Honda - so as to have the rider less distracted and keep focus on the road.

Anyway, while I was busy with all these experiments, an old Whatsapp rider group comprising Pawan, AJ (remember him?), Mahindra & I, hidden somewhere in the depths of chat history since 2021, suddenly came alive. As I opened the group, I could see that the admin AJ had already changed the group name from “Ride to Panchgani 21” to “Ride to Zanskar 24”!

And I don’t know how but the lyrics from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” started playing in my head as I stared at my phone screen -
“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality”

(To be continued…)

**

[Motorfanatic1]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

“Hey man! Let’s RIDE!”

Front view on the bike[/center]

Nice writeup and kudos to you for thinking of the comfort of pillion, in making their ride as pleasurable as yours!

One observation though on the Aux lights... the other day when I was riding my bike at night in the city limits, the same yellow aux light of a bikes traversing from the opposite side, made most of the fellow riders blackout with their widespread and sharp neon color light. While I understand the need of such aux lights for off road or dark areas, but very frequently, some bikers do use it in city which is very dangerous for other riders.

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by Motorfanatic1

Nice writeup and kudos to you for thinking of the comfort of pillion, in making their ride as pleasurable as yours!

One observation though on the Aux lights... the other day when I was riding my bike at night in the city limits, the same yellow aux light of a bikes traversing from the opposite side, made most of the fellow riders blackout with their widespread and sharp neon color light. While I understand the need of such aux lights for off road or dark areas, but very frequently, some bikers do use it in city which is very dangerous for other riders.

I hear you on this. Personally, I wasn't a fan of Aux lights myself - but having toured half the country over the past couple of years, it has become a NEED rather than a want. I cannot comment on other riders' usage but I have actually tilted my aux lights beam downwards (towards the road) and not straight up like the ones you've encountered. Secondly, I do not use the aux lights in city at all - have a black cover that I use to cover it up. Lastly, aux lights are illegal according to RTO rules since it comes under 'modification' which needs to be approved by the RTO officials. OEM aux lights are exempt from these - hence aftermarket Aux lights need to be covered up in city limits.

[TheVaas]

[Cont'd]

So continuing from my previous post - luggage system for us was the last & also the missing piece of the puzzle. Since we tour two-up - a hard pannier system is a comfortable weapon of choice. We had OEM Triumph hard panniers on our Tiger 800 - which served well for the years it did.

With the Africa Twin, I thought of experimenting with soft panniers but after a bit of research, the practicality of a hard pannier set made sense; the fact that it is almost difficult to unlock/dismount them (without keys) in case of an open/unguarded parking spaces - that one usually encounters in different parts of the country. But hold on!

“Why should we be investing in one when we aren’t going to do any long rides in 2024 - and definitely not within months of upgrading!”

One of the most crucial and enlightening lesson that I’ve learnt in the motorcycling world is to “Expect the Unexpected”. Be it a close shave on a blind turn, falling on the side when stationary in your parking space, ‘Google Map navigation’ or something as bizarre as your battery getting drained out after a full day ride! The twists and turns in my own upgrade & ownership experience journey is a living proof of concept. Anyway, the twist in our case was highlighted in my previous post by the group name change on Whatsapp.

All through my life, I’ve mostly been a ‘prep, planning’ guy with little buffer for last minute deviations. So when the Zanskar trip was being discussed - I was fine because we had a month and half to prepare for it and with people who have done the Ladakh circuit mutiple times. (Note: These events are happening in the first week of May 2024. We did Zanskar from June 15 to June 30). So PREP+PLANNING I wasn’t worried about.

The obvious elephant in the room was “Do we need to do Zanskar? Or can we push it for the next year?” The heart said YES! but the mind wasn’t very sure. The X+Y=MC equation had to be invoked again. We had the MC to go take us to Zanskar and beyond! (Ride skills excluded) - so again, not worried about this. But the X+Y had to be balanced again because now a Z factor has been added to this!

And thus we go back to the reason why I started writing this post - Luggage system.

The brand that we were familiar and comfortable with was Givi since they are the original makers of the panniers and cases for Triumph. But the disadvantage of this is that the OEM Triumph panniers aren’t compatible with the GIVI branded pannier stays. This was the sole reason that I had to sell my Tiger along with the luggage system since they were only compatible with the Triumph eco system! So the next obvious thing was to figure out the Givi luggage system for the AT. And that’s where I got the shock of my life! The cost for the ATAS specific GIVI pannier stays and panniers were almost as much the rough estimate budget for the Zanskar trip (estimate included the two of us)! Also, none were available since the dealers were waiting for newer stocks to arrive and they weren’t sure of the timelines - could arrive in 1 month or maybe take 2!

In a way, the cost factor and timelines worked out in our favour, by giving us good clarity and cleared our “Zanskar or Givi?” confusion as well. Work was slow during this time and since both of us freelance - we could afford the ‘time’ for the trip, so that wasn’t a bother too. Decided to listen to our heart in this case, though the mind wasn’t too pleased for being ignored so many times. So to appease the brain, I started to research and reach out to some Indian brands who were coming out with newer luggage options - that didn’t cost your arm, leg, house, wife’s jewellery etc. to purchase! This path further strengthened my belief that the 'ATAS is indeed a unicorn' because most of the Indian mfgs do not make anything specific for the bike - everything is 'jugaad fit'. And top it all, even though the panniers are universal fit, it is the ‘pannier systems and racks’ that are incompatible with this bike! Even in the AT owners group a lot of people tour solo and do not require a pannier based luggage system and those who do, have opted for Givi/SW-Motech soft luggage systems.

Anyway, long story short - I got to know that JV (a fellow ATAS rider and member of the AT owners group) is also the owner of MotoVanguard - an Indian company that makes a lot of motorcycle accessories. I reached out to him and poured out my woe about the lack of aftermarket luggage system when it concerns the ATAS. And as with all things Universe, JV had just started work on a design for pannier stays specially for the ATAS and was in the process of testing them out in the real world. He had one of them on his bike for testing too! “Hard to believe eh?” - exactly what my brain also thought. Their hard panniers were universal - but the stay was specific to the ATAS model (2020 onwards). And the icing on the cake was that the numbers also matched what I had earlier calculated for in X+Y=MC! Placed an order for the 36L black panniers and black pannier stays (they also come in silver) and they arrived within a week. Got it installed at a friend's workshop -

The WIP pannier stays. (Exhaust side)


The LHS pannier in black with the X adding a nice touch!


The RHS pannier in black


Rear view with both panniers. Exhaust side pannier protrudes a bit - not much of a bother while riding in peak traffic.


The waterproof inner-bags that came with the panniers.


They fit snug when packed and are very practical when unloading stuff - without the need to remove the panniers!

Ironically, during our 2023 Kashmir ride on the Tiger, we had purchased a pair of MotoVanguard’s waterproof ‘utility bags’ (aka pannier extenders) which could be fastened onto the panniers. I was aware of the brand’s presence and reliability was something that I had experienced - hence didn’t think twice when I placed the orders for panniers.

This is how they look atop the pannier.


A pic from the future - Zanskar setup with utility bags, panniers, top box, crash-bar bags and tank bag!


A pic from the past - The 'utility bags' fastened over the LHS pannier on my T800!

With the puzzle now complete, friendship with Honda took a backseat because new friendship with Whatsapp, Coffee, MS Excel, Google Maps, Sir Calculator and Sir Notebook had begun!

**

[vishal.joshi]

A bit late to Congratulate!! on the ATAS. Completed the reading in 2 days back to back and it has been an intresting read with you going back in time and coming to the present, sounds just like the movies

Awaiting the next installment

[Thmh]

Excellent write-up and a ton of information for prospective owners. Congratulations once again!
Since yesterday the Africa Twin model has been removed from the Honda Bigwing website. Not sure if that’s an indication of model being discontinued for a few more years or making space for a new one!

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by vishal.joshi

A bit late to Congratulate!! on the ATAS. Completed the reading in 2 days back to back and it has been an intresting read with you going back in time and coming to the present, sounds just like the movies

Hahaha yes and thank you for binging the thread! Sometimes even I lose track of time and space with all the time travel!

Originally Posted by Thmh

Excellent write-up and a ton of information for prospective owners. Congratulations once again!
Since yesterday the Africa Twin model has been removed from the Honda Bigwing website. Not sure if that’s an indication of model being discontinued for a few more years or making space for a new one!

Thank you Thmh! They have a tendency of removing models from their website and then re-uploading the same again (sometimes a maintenance glitch!). But with the AFRICA TWIN - they had the 2022 model spec for the longest time. Even the 650s are off the site. From what I know, there are no plans for the 2024 AT to be launched here. But then anything is possible in Hondaverse!