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26th August 2024, 02:24
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| My Pre-Owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports | Adv Reloaded | Cruising forward in time EPILOGUE: “And they lived happily ever after?” Before you try to pinpoint the OBVIOUS, let me just clear it for you. Unlike your usual “Mystery-whodunnit-Thriller-Killer” stories, this one begins, well, at the end! Straight onto the crime scene then -  CRF1100L AFRICA TWIN ADVENTURE SPORTS (2020 / preowned) That’s my partner in crime Prerana (aka Pre) and me, grinning widely and evilly inside the helmet, about to escape into the wilderness on our getaway ride! Now with the ending out of the way, let the mystery begin! <Rewinds the tape> *** CHAPTER ONE: “Riding Blocks - one CC at a time” I won’t bore you’ll with my childhood dreams, posters and stories of super-bikes, super cars etc. Neither go in-depth with stories of my motorcycling journey - which btw started pretty late in my life circa 2015/16. The cc-game was progressive, starting with the 150cc Bajaj Discover (2014) then to the 220cc Bajaj Avenger - both were short flings as I graduated to the Royal Enfield Classic 500 (2016) - which stuck around till about 2021. In 2018, I got myself a pre-owned Kawasaki Z650 which became my daily driver up until March 2020 - when I decided to basically surprise myself!  The Z somewhere on Kasara Ghat *** CHAPTER TWO: “A small step towards the ADV-kind, A GIANT leap for my bank account!” While the Z650 was an able commuter, it didn’t provide much relief when it came to touring with the pillion. Even though desi touring ‘jugaad’ like adding a tail rack for top box aka support for pillion and re-foaming the rear seat for a comfortable ride - worked for a brief while, the urge to do long distance touring still remained impractical. In parallel, my elder brother was trying to push me towards the ‘touring’ segments and also in parallel, BS4 was being phased out and every brand was running discounts left, right and center right out of the factory. Somehow the universe was conspiring FOR me, so I didn’t resist it for a change! Keeping in mind the budget and my weight lifting threshold, the ideal upgrade (or rather ‘Sidegrade’) for us at that point was the Kawasaki Versys 650 or the Suzuki Vstorm 650. Since I was already in the Kawa Eco System, decided to exchange my Z650 for one of the discounted BS4 Versys 650. Took a test ride at Anzen, Mumbai and sure the bike was imposing and weighed a ton compared to the Z, but once on the road it felt really planted and confidence boosting. There were two dealers at that point in time, Mumbai and Thane - the latter offered me a better deal and also was close to my house etc. Booking amount signed, Z650 washed and kept ready for exchange - waiting period of one week. Looking at my calender and the X marks on the dates, realized it takes exactly seven days for a week to pass and also the maximum threshold of how many days my excitement/patience lasted! But as in the movies, there’s always a twist in the tale. Turns out my booking got transferred to some other person and I was in the wait list for the BS6 version - the launch date for which was a big question mark. Promptly took back my Z650 from the showroom and dejectedly entered home to see my partner, Pre seething in rage. Hold on! That rage wasn’t for me but for the showroom manager and shortly it got transferred onto the Kawasaki plant in Chakan Pune and then to the motherland herself- Japan! *** CHAPTER THREE: “Doogna lagaan dena padega” (“You’ll have to pay twice the amount as tax”) Parallel to the above storyline (yes there are lot of parallels in my life, so please pay attention) - a dear friend of ours was toying with the idea of upgrading from his Ducati Scrambler to a touring bike and hence was in touch with the sales person at Triumph, Mumbai. Even Triumph was offering some BS4 discounts for their Tiger range, namely free pannier sets and some accessory vouchers. “HANG ON! Kaha VERSYS aur kaha TRIUMPH TIGER?!”, I’m hearing you say this out loud. Well, not exactly my thoughts. Because by this time, I was eyeing the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC. Spec sheet wise it was all but a naked version of the Tiger 800 - lesser priced, more powerful, more features, zero creature comforts, one lesser cylinder and a heat management system that’ll eclipse the Sun! What else does an adventure rider want? “Except there are two adventure lovers here, sir. You and your partner!”, said RK my sales person at Triumph interrupting my thought process. What followed was an eventful test ride of the Tiger 800 (more on this later), a 2 hour masterclass conducted by RK and Sherman with 20 cups of chai on “WHY TIGER TIGER HAI?!”, closing the shutters of the showroom with RK and coming back home with a price list & ‘affordable EMI’ options.  The test ride mule - Tiger 800XRx If the ARABIAN NIGHTS lasted 1001 nights, I’m sure our MIDDLE CLASS NIGHTS must’ve touched 10,000 - that too sleepless. Armed with a calculator, notepad and our individual l bank passbooks - my partner and me burnt the midnight oil trying to figure how we could make this mission impossible, possible! After a few days spent in a ‘fugue state of mind’, we found ourselves clicking pictures with our very own Triumph Tiger 800 XRx (2019) - the last white color BS4 in India! Oh and our dear friend also took delivery of his Triumph Tiger 800 XR model!  RK with Prerana and me - grinning game strong!  Prerana doing the needful - warding off the evil eyes!  Three to tango That's my Tiger in the foreground while my dear friend's Tiger is in the back. The black Tiger in the centre was Sherman's prized Tiger 800Xr. He wanted to relive his own delivery day - more the merrier! All’s well that ends well, right? Well, read the first line of this post again! *** CHAPTER FOUR: “All’s well that ends well” The Tiger years (2020-2024) was by far one of the best phases in our lives. I have to admit that I was never a travel guy. Years and years of commuting in Mumbai (school, college, work etc.) hardened my views towards the concept of ‘travelling’. And my wife is the opposite - at any given opportunity, she would travel. Having taken the huge leap of faith in the last chapter, what good is a Tiger if it doesn’t travel? Re-wired my feelings towards ‘travel’ and ended up doing a few Mumbai peripheral trips before lockdown kicked in. As the lockdown opened up, a few more rides were possible with another Tiger rider, Pawan M - who lived two blocks down from our place. As fate would have it - he bought his Tiger 800 XCx two weeks before I did. And down the line, we would end up meeting another Tiger 800 XCx rider, Dominic A - who bought it two weeks after I did. The surprise angle in this story - Dominic also rides with his wife Greeti C as pillion! What are the odds? Makes you believe that the Universe definitely works in mysterious ways! Together (We 2, Pawan M, Dominic A and Greeti C) we have ridden most of the following routes -
Some memories from these trips -  Tropic of Cancer, Madhya Pradesh (North East ride)  Somewhere on the road (North East ride)  A group of ADVs at a secret location (Lockdown rides)  Three Musketeers in Mount Abu  Prerana and me on our trusty Tiger  Pawan's black Tiger XCx and my white XRx raiding some fields Anyway, the “Tiger Years” will make its presence felt in later posts as and when the parallel timelines in my life intersect (remember what I said about parallels!). Also the chapter title suggests, the journey ended well in 2024 when I sold the Tiger at 37500kms on the ODO. Went for a night ride with the usual suspects gang and next morning the bike was sold.  Thank you T800. There'll never be another like you *** CHAPTER FIVE: “Cure for the Itch: Vol 1” Let’s rewind the tape a bit further to early 2022. “Hang on! You meant FORWARD the tape, right?”, I can hear your inner voice say this out loud (all puns intended)! Don’t let the timelines confuse you. Think of it as Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’. The only relevant timeline is the one you’re being placed in! So yeah, there’ll be a bit of shifting here but believe me - it’ll all make sense in the end! (This time read the first line of this post carefully - for the co-relation!) So now with your calendars aligned, let’s go to early 2022. I assume it was around this time that BMW India was launching the new updated 850GS range for the first time since 2020. I remember having taken a test ride back then and was somewhat impressed by it. With some mileage under my belt and decent amount of experience with a big ADV bike - I was toying with the idea of probably ‘side-grading’ to a similar CC ADV bike but with a bit more comfort for the pillion and a good suspension. (PS: By now you’d have figured what the ‘itch’ in the chapter title meant!) The introductory pricing for the 850GSA variant was around 16L (on road) - which to me seemed to be a good sweet pricing considering the feature set it had over my 800, which incidentally had costed around 16L as well. Along with me, Pawan and Dominic were also looking at upgrading but to the 1250 range and also, in different phases of the year. Obviously the only cure for the upgrade itch for anyone in the 800/900 segments was the ultimate apex predator, BMW’s R1250GS. It was also the first time we actually sat on one to just understand “Aisa kya hai yeh bike mein?”  Pawan flanked by the 1250GS Adventure Rallye and the 40th edition GS  Dominic already beaming on the beemer!  That's me waxing eloquent about the plastic handguards  My reaction on hearing the on-road price for the 1250GSA The showrooms didn't have the 850GSA for test ride. There was a delivery happening for the same model - but I didn't want to sit/test the bike without due permission from the new owner. So I let it be. The calculators, notepad and bank passbooks again made a cameo appearance in our lives. Despite everyone suggesting to go for the big daddy 1250, I was content with the 850 platform - given my past trajectory when it concerned CCs. There was nothing wrong with my Tiger and there was absolutely no need for an upgrade too ; I don’t think I need to explain the “itch thought process” to you all here. We’re all part of the same family! No surprises this time around as life happened and I got busy with a long term work commitment and thereby had to put the upgrade plans on hold. *** CHAPTER SIX: “Cure for the Itch: Vol 2” Towards the end of 2022, Dominic injected himself with the cure. Remember how he was beaming atop the beemer! He sold his Tiger 800XCx, jumped ship and was a proud owner of the BMW 1250GS Rallye edition - and till date hasn’t looked back, enjoying his steed like nobody’s business!  Dominic and Greeti with their brand new BMW R1250GS Rallye aptly named 'ZEUS'  All of us trying to dwarf the GS and failing! My work commitment kept me busy into 2023 and that is when Triumph launched the 1200 range. The 1200 Rally Pro caught both, Pawan and my fancy. Again, the all too familiar Triumph eco system played an important part in trying to convince us that this would be a worthy upgrade to our respective 800s - over the RTW worthy BMW 1250GS.  Me on the Triumph 1200 Rally Explorer version (Mumbai launch) (PS: The Zanskar-esque terrain aesthetic) Couple of months later, RK (remember him?) called us over the Triumph Mumbai showroom to test ride the 1200 Rally Pro - that had recently arrived on their doorstep. At this point, I wasn't keen on the GT version since I was keen on trying out the 21" front tubeless spoke setup. Barring the TALL seat height, the ride from the showroom to Bandra Reclamation - braving traffic and congestion ; the experience was excellent. Prerana was super comfortable with the seating and pillion foot peg positioning and I was overwhelmed with the sheer power and suspension! The 850GS was scratched from the list and replaced by the 1200RP - albeit briefly.  A cinematic shot of Triumph 1200 Rally Pro and me Triumph 1200 Rally Pro (Disclaimer: The following are my top of mind, first thoughts about the bikes upon riding in conditions that I want to ride in. Not too long, not too short - just trying to see if I can connect to the bikes and whether they're 'drift compatible' with me) Pros:
Cons:
The height factor was a hindrance. We had just returned from a Coorg trip on our 800 and I had found a lot of places where flat footing the bike helped in stability at slow speeds and bad roads. With the 1200RP - this wouldn’t have been possible (the ride height adjustment feature came later in the year). So the itch continued and started growing worse! It seemed the vaccine was the 1250GS. Dominic was gracious and open hearted enough to lend his prized GS for a short spin in the city and the first time that Prerana (as pillion) and me rode it - we were blown away by the comfort it offered. To put it in a more simpler way - it’s like a hovercraft - it just hovers over anything and everything. The power delivery is in your hands literally - it almost like the bike is telling you “You want to go slow, okay we will go slow. You want to go fast, hang on tight, let’s go fast”! One often comes across comparisons of the GS with an elephant - well, if you ever paid attention to those BBC documentaries you’ll know that Elephants can outrun most of the speedsters! And I am not even getting into their power figures!  A screengrab from the video of us riding Dominic's 'Zeus' BMW R1250GS - RALLYE edition Pros:
Cons:
The itch seemed to be healing itself. Or I thought it was. *** Last edited by TheVaas : 26th August 2024 at 02:29. |
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26th August 2024, 16:02
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| Re: ADV RELOADED: Cruising forward in time with my pre-owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports (202 CHAPTER SEVEN: “We are in the Endgame now!” Around the time that we were testing the waters with the 1200s and 1250s, Pawan got an offer from Ducati, Mumbai to come and test ride the new 2024 Multistrada V4S and the formidable Desert X. With Ducati now in the mix, we were definitely in the endgame of ADV bike choices. There’s only a certain distance that my bank account could leap - which it did in the past - now no more. So off we went to Ducati - Pawan contemplating the Desert X, Prerana curious to find the answer to “What’s so great about a Ducati?” and me just trying to take a pic next to one. We reach the showroom and - No matter how hard I try or describe, words won’t do justice to the feeling you get when you stand in front of a Ducati. Period. I’m sure the esteemed Ducati owners on this forum will vouch on this and empathise with me, nodding their head as if to say “We know!” "I know you both are in the market for an upgrade!," the sales person, Mr. SG exclaimed - interrupting our 'love at first sight' experience. The force is strong with Ducati I thought. SG was the sales guy at Triumph who helped Pawan zero in on his 800; so we assumed he must have got his calculations right about when a biker generally would be on the lookout for a new one. Cut straight to the chase - I find myself on the V4S Spoke wheel edition and PM is on the DX as we make our way towards South Bombay and then back via Bandra Reclamation. If there was ever a 'utopian world' (where money and desires walked hand in hand) - the V4S would have been the endgame for me. Period. (Also the initials ‘V4S’ eerily resembles with my username!)  A quick pit stop to re-energize ourselves!  Unsure whether to ride it or just 'stand and stare' at it  Inline 6 in V formation!  That's me already ahead of the rest! Ducati Multistrada V4S Pros:
Cons:
Poor Desert X got the raw deal from me because once I rode the V4S - I didn’t want to ride anything else. But still rode the DX for a short distance and that was that. In hindsight, it definitely is a great bike - but more suited for those who take the path less travelled. Hmmm. *** CHAPTER EIGHT: “The Dark Horse Rises!” Having ‘Ride’ (read: Done) and ‘Tested’ (read: Dusted) the higher CC ADVs in the market, we were set on the 1250GS as the undisputed king. The bigger question (read: Mystery) was - how and when. There was also a bigger investment (and also that phase of life) that we were part of - buying a house in Mumbai. Though riding didn’t take a backseat (pun intended), the upgrade plans definitely did. In the parallel verse, where everything is perfect - Pawan got himself a spanking R1250GS Adventure Triple Black edition and that meant the group now had two 1250s to play around with.  This time it's Pawan beaming on the beemer!  The near and dear ones manage to dwarf the GSA finally! Now seeing the above picture, you’ll might be patting yourself ‘job well done’ - figuring out why the chapter title is what it is. But I’m afraid - “Picture abhi bhi baaki hai mere dost” (“The film is not yet over, my friend”) In the down time, between house shifting / interior work - Prerana casually asked me whether we have test ridden all possible ADVs in the market. I gave it a thought and reflex action said “Yeah, all of them!” She then asked me “What about the Africa Twin?” and I was like “What about it?” Now you’ll can see where this is leading to. I never included it in my list because - a. Honda hadn’t released any Africa Twin since 2022 b. The 2024 model with 19” front was being circulated on the web (Remember I'm in the market for 21" front) c. Honda Bigwing had no idea when it would be launched and even if they did, it would be DCT (And I was prepared for the steep learning curve associated with it) “Why don’t you ask AJ for his bike to test ride? Let’s just tick all the boxes before we take the final decision”, she interrupted my thought process with these wise words! Now AJ is another dear friend who owns the Africa Twin Adventure Sports 2020 Manual (55k kms and counting) and also has a Honda CBR650F (80k kms and counting). We’ve done a few rides together and though I always silently admired the AT from far - it never struck me to actually test ride one. A few text messages and ‘a few nights later’ - we were under AJ’s building standing in front of his ATAS (Africa Twin Adventure Sports). Now you will have to BELIEVE ME when I say this (and of course you’re obliged to because this is my thread, just kidding) - the moment we sat on it and I pulled the bike out of the parking onto the main streets, I fell in love. For a change it wasn’t the pollution levels that day which was intoxicating - the ride through the crowded streets and then onto the sea facing Marine Drive - it was like those ‘time stood still’ moments, slow motion hero and heroine running towards each other! Dominic and Greeti joined us on their 1250 'Zeus' and it was a great night full of bike talks over some late night cycle coffee! A memorable night it was! The bike, the weight management, the handling, the ergos - all the pieces seemed to fit smoothly without any effort. I remember coming back home that night and saying “This is it! This is the one!”  The Dark Horse - the wild card entrant - the knight in tri-colour armour! Special mention: AJ’s bike was fitted with a full system Akrapovic and oh boy! It's LOUD and WILD when you give it full throttle - despite the dB killer! *** CHAPTER NINE: “The Hunt Begins” The tape is now set to 2024. Life and other responsibilities have taken precedence. Prerana wanted me to hold onto my upgrade plans till now - it is also the year I’ll turn 40. There is an air of melancholy as we jog down memory lane - we met exactly 20 years back in college. And here we are now. I guess you’ll can repeat after me - “The Universe works in mysterious ways!” Having spent the time, in between the test ride of AJ’s Africa Twin till now, in researching and finding out everything there is to know about the Africa Twin; it’s Dakar pedigree, Honda reliability, Cheap service/labour/part costs etc. - the question that was staring right in our face was “Is Honda India going to bring the 2024 ATAS to our shores?” A few calls by AJ to Honda Bigwing (and some other contacts) and we got to know that there might be a select few units that they might be bringing down - but one needs to make the payment and block the bike. The newer iteration was going to be DCT and since I had test ridden a Manual and loved that variant - I thought of going the pre-owned route. In hindsight, definitely a good call. Ironically, the Africa Twin is Honda’s one true Unicorn (pun intended) because to find one in the used market is next to impossible. Such a rarity. I was looking for the 2020 onwards model only - which were the Adventure Sports variant sporting the bigger 24L fuel tank and Manual gearing. No listings on OLX and Facebook market place spots were usually empty. While the search was on, we kept ourselves busy watching Motology Films / Adam Riemann’s excellent series about his 1992 Africa Twin called ‘The Warhorse’. *** CHAPTER TEN: “Heart over mind” The point to be noted here was that I was going for an upgrade purely from the heart’s point of view. Budget was also a deterrent here but we were cross the bridge if we got closer. To sum up our requirements (in order of preference) :
Reading the above requirements, any sane person would have blindly gone for the 1250s. Heck! If I'd put up a poll here, all of you would also have suggested the same. But here I was defying all odds - going for a bike that, on paper, has the least amount of power/torque figures in relation to the CC amongst the competition. Also, strangely, it kind of came close to almost my requirements in an upgrade. If only one could reason with the heart. Sigh. So started the hunt for Honda's "Unicorn" once again! A few feelers were sent via social media and whatsapp group chats. Considering the rarity of it all, I was all set to be patient (not at all my superpower) and was expecting an upgrade in the later half of 2024. The Bombay ADV circle is pretty close-knit and through some ‘small world connection’ from another good rider friend, Ravish - got in touch with a rider from Bombay, who was selling his Africa Twin Adventure Sports 2020 model. The bike had basic accessories installed - Crash protection, Motor Fans Aux light connected via the Hex Ezcan, relatively new tyres but it was ridden 41k kms. A seasoned rider and bike so as to speak.  The first 'look' that the owner sent me over chat In all my experience with ADV bikes and their owners, one thing that I realised is that a good mileage bike usually is less prone to issues than a hardly ridden one. The added bonus here was the engine built by Honda - one cannot go wrong! Checked the service history with Bigwing Mumbai and was given the green light from them. Clearly, this was a sign from the Universe and I didn't waste any time getting in touch with the owner. We met. The owner was/is a great guy and thorough gentleman. Found a few common connections. Exchanged quotes. Agreed on a price. And that’s it. “Pleasure doing business with you” - never sounded sweet! (Disclaimer: When I said "Agreed on a price!", it meant that we had set aside a certain budget 'X' for BIKE and a certain budget 'Y' for the accessories/parts we would need to buy/replace etc. And by no means could we exceed the limits of X and Y respectively. The "Agreed price" was within the X+Y combined - more on this in the later posts!) The other thing that I didn't point out was that this whole purchase process was hidden from Pawan and Dominic. They were aware of my dramatic volte-face from BMW to Honda but unaware of my 'sheer suddenness of the move, the unexpected nature of move, the unpredictability of the timing of the move' Initially, they were sad that the group won't have three BMWs as we had always dream it to be - but they were happy that at least the riding won't stop! The crime scene photograph (in the first post) was in fact clicked by them; they took a holiday from work on a busy weekday for the special occasion! What more can one ask for! *** PROLOGUE And with this, the “search and upgrade” journey comes to an end. After a lot of self doubt, laziness and constant pushing from my better half, I finally managed to consolidate my thoughts and write them down as vividly as possible. I hope you’ll enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it down - albeit in a different narrative style. It has somehow been liberating and therapeutic for me and I am wondering why didn’t I do this before? With reference to the title of this thread, a new ADV has been reloaded for newer adventures, so let’s cruise forward to real-time updates and ownership experience of the ATAS (and also of the Tiger Years- if anybody is interested). It’s been four months now since we got the bike and it has already clocked 7000kms - thanks to our Zanskar Valley ride in June - chronicles of which will follow soon! Special mention to ‘Added_Flavor’ - He was the first person I consulted with before buying the bike (and also after) and he patiently answered all my newbie doubts and queries. Thank you so much for this, brother! |
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27th August 2024, 06:58
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27th August 2024, 11:00
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27th August 2024, 11:09
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27th August 2024, 11:37
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27th August 2024, 11:46
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27th August 2024, 12:05
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| Team-BHP Support  | re: My Pre-Owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports | Adv Reloaded | Cruising forward in time Fantastic write-up and such an entertaining description detailing your entire journey from start to finish, beginning from the finish  ! I thoroughly enjoyed your entire virtual journey to the purchase of this amazing bike. The ATAS is an extremely capable adv tourer and is a unicorn to find even in the used big bike market, so you are truly lucky to land up with a nicely maintained example in manual guise  .Here's wishing you both many years of ownership and enjoyable rides, Happy motoring! We now look forward to your travelogues with this amazing steed. |
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27th August 2024, 13:44
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| Senior - BHPian  | re: My Pre-Owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports | Adv Reloaded | Cruising forward in time Quote:
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27th August 2024, 14:04
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| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
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| re: My Pre-Owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports | Adv Reloaded | Cruising forward in time Quote:
if he still has his prized HJC! Reference link - see 3rd imageQuote:
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27th August 2024, 15:21
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27th August 2024, 15:31
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27th August 2024, 16:43
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| re: My Pre-Owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports | Adv Reloaded | Cruising forward in time “The Day After Tomorrow” Yeah yeah alright alright! I know I said I won’t be making any more ‘time-travel’ statements, but then old habits die hard. The timeline is set to three months earlier, ie, April/May 2024. We took the delivery on the auspicious day of Gudi Padwa (also known as Vishu in KL, Baisakhi in PJ and Ugadi for AP, KA, TL) in early April. The following were already installed on AT during delivery -
The previous owner used to ride and tour solo - so never had the need for a soft/hard pannier based luggage system. Also, like most ADVs the Africa Twin didn’t come with a center stand installed from the factory and the owner also didn’t want the extra weight it brought with itself. Even before taking the delivery, our resident evils - Sir Calculator and Sir Notepad made their presence felt. I made a list and approximate budget of accessories/parts that were needed to be installed on the bike - ACCESSORIES
PARTS
My thought process when it comes to ‘accessories’ is for them to be more functional than aesthetic. As a result, I only end up with things that will help the bike and us on our rides rather than for photographs or peer acceptance. This philosophy helped in the purchase decision of going the pre-owned route because as you can see above I didn’t have much to add (and spend extra on!). Guess this might also be the reason why the previous owner and I had a few things in common! The TIGER YEARS had facilitated the mixing and riding with various like minded individuals - all united for the love of motorcycles. In the later years, we had formed a motley crew of ADV rider friends called “ADVengers” - who were completely unaware of what was happening behind the scene with my upgrade journey. All of them just like the entire Universe around me were convinced that I was going for the 1250GS. As with all things mysterious, our usual monthly night coffee meet-up coincided with the ATAS delivery day. So I decided to do a ‘surgical strike’ on them and showed up unannounced along with Pawan!!  Their faces say it all!  Got nicknamed ‘Agenda Destroyer’ because we were meeting with a few agendas in mind and I completely shattered it! PS: Prerana thinks 'Agenda Destroyer' is a good name for the ATAS! Goes with the infamous personality in my display pic!  Our usual "ADVengers Assemble" lineup: 3 Triumph Tiger 900RP, 2 BMW R1250GS, 1 BMW R1250GS Adventure, 1 Triumph Tiger 800XCa I don’t think they let me leave till I ‘chronologically’ described my entire journey. Till date they are in a state of shock (as am I) about this sudden twist in the tale! *** “And Service for all” So one of the things I had planned, for the very next day, was to show the bike at Honda BigWing Topline SVC to install the ‘OEM Center Stand’ (which luckily they had in stock) and get a look at the service history of the bike. Even though the previous owner had done a major service before handing over - new oil, new brake pads (front and rear) etc. I also wanted to acquire knowledge about the new beast in hand.  Well its true! I am curious, I’ll admit, about the mechanics that go on in these machines and do not mind getting my hands dirty, if and when required. This exercise made me realise the difference between a brand new bike and a pre-owned one. With my Tiger I was in tune with everything from Day 1 - right from oil change, air filters to even a nut or bolt that was replaced. So when it came to the ATAS - I had to educate myself about its history which also gave me an insight on what kind of a rider the previous owner was. When I say “What kind?” what I mean is “One can gauge the kind of riding and upkeep of the bike from seeing the patterns in the service maintenance history. Whether the oil change was done at the interval specified in the service manual or how soon did the steering cone set/wheel bearings give way or what was the brake pad life etc.” Even if the owner tells me exactly the same thing, human tendency is such that we won’t believe it till we see/hear it on our own! So yeah - back to the crime scene, ie, SERVICE CENTER! Luckily for me, AJ (remember him?) had already spoken to the technicians about my bike getting top priority service - despite me having followed the official protocol of ‘booking an appointment’. Cannot mess with the big brothers in the Honda motorcycle circles! Upon checking the service history, they suggested to not replace any fluids or parts because it was hardly ridden since the major service. They connected it to their systems and found all electronics working fine. While the center stand was being installed, I also had them install the Rox Risers that I had carried with me and the base plate for the ASG Top box. In parallel, I went and checked the entire service history of the bike and nothing out of the ordinary. All checked out fine. It seems the ‘Touch Display’ was replaced in warranty and the new screen comes with a 10 year warranty. Since the bike had clocked 41,000km - I wanted to check the chain and sprocket set as well. But turns out, that was done 35,000km so that was also good to know and good to go! They had the OEM rally footpegs (wide and flatter) and the OEM Tank grip pads (imported for the 2024 models) in stock. Enquired with them about the pricing and found it way cheaper than what OEM Triumph used to charge. Since I was saving up on the Chain-Sprockets, I decided to splurge on them instead! Also got the aux light positioning fixed.  (L to R) Before with the Motorfans and Baja / After with just the Motorfans and in downward position which I thought was ideal.  A zoomed image of where the tank grips would stick. The pure white portion is susceptible to scruff marks by the riding pants while gripping the tank.  A top shot of the ASG top box plate (upper) over the base plate that was installed at SVC. The top box can be seen in the lower right of the pic.  The OEM Rally footpegs  All systems go! Breakup (rounded off figures) Honda OEM Center stand: 18k Honda OEM Rally footpegs: 6k Honda OEM Tank Grips: 5k Putoline Chain Spray: 500 [I am very particular about chain maintenance. I usually go with what the SVC suggests. With my Tiger, I used to use Wurth. Honda uses Honda OEM but they asked me to try Putoline, so I bought a can] Labour: 1k Total cost: 30k INR (With some discount) Decided to take the bike for a short spin to gain a better understanding of handling and overall ‘ride-ability’ in dense traffic and on the open highway. Luckily for me - I got a taste of both - since the SVC is located in a dense traffic-prone area of Bombay (Andheri East) and I have to connect to the eastern side of the highway (relatively empty and straight as an arrow) to get home. I did not install the tank grips at the SVC because I wanted to show the bike to a good friend, Chetan N who owns a detailing studio, for his inputs; so would get it installed by him. I managed to dodge school bus traffic and crossed over to the eastern side and to his studio in Thane.  Bike washed and tank grips installed RHS view  Bike washed and tank grips installed LHS view He requested a short spin on the ATAS while I was having coffee at the studio. Upon returning, I only had to see the expression on his face to understand what was coming next - “Is there any other AFRICA TWIN for sale?” Now this coming from someone who’s owned multiple bikes in the past (Hayabusa, Ninja 650 and now the proud owner of a Tiger XCa 800 - 2016 model) - I knew I had made the right call! *** |
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27th August 2024, 17:14
| #14 | ||||||||
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 163
Thanked: 523 Times
| re: My Pre-Owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports | Adv Reloaded | Cruising forward in time Quote:
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27th August 2024, 17:46
| #15 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 353
Thanked: 815 Times
| Re: My pre-owned Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports (2020) | Adv Reloaded : Cruising forward in time Quote:
I test rode the AT before buying my 1250 GSA and the only two things that stopped me from going ahead with the purchase were Honda's attitude of we have no idea when we will deliver and that the India spec AT had the ESA removed. Quote:
Most prospective AT buyers have no idea when and if Honda will ever deliver the bike. The dealers can commit absolutely nothing. Honda acting like it is doing you the biggest favour in the world by allotting a bike doesn't work in the reasonably competitive market that the AT is positioned in. | ||
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