Right, let’s be honest here, the European brands have the large capacity Adventure bike market all to themselves. If anyone is after one of these ‘oversized’ motorcycles they’ll invariably dart towards KTM or BMW, right?
But the Japanese don’t really seem to care, well three of them that is. Kawasaki has nothing in this class, Suzuki has a new 1050 V-Strom that’s directed more towards road adventures and Yamaha’s 1200 Tenere seems to have been forgotten, even though it’s a very commendable machine. So, Honda is the only brand left from the land of the Rising Sun to take on the two, commonly seen brands, mentioned earlier. Not exactly 100% correct because they already had with the previous Africa Twin model with their 998cc parallel twin engine, which has now been bloated to 1,084cc, hence the new ‘1100’ badge stuck on the side of the new ‘Fireblade’ tail unit. For 2020 though they’ve redesigned just about everything to what is now, possibly, the best big Adventure bike on the market, and about time too. 
To roll all the new stuff together and not bore the sand out of you, it’s lighter, faster, better suspended and stuffed with tons of electronics. All splendid additions but I was more interested in the new engine, with a claimed 101hp and 105Nm, so of course a dyno run was in order. Five more horsepower (88), and four Nm more (90), of the torquey stuff was the result, which doesn’t sound too dramatic but the new engine does produce at least 10Nm more up to 4,000rpm, which you instantly feel, and it’s smoother regarding power delivery throughout the rev-range, no matter what rpm. These bigger pistons give a more ‘punchy’ feel to the engine where the previous 998cc motor was a bit soft for hard-core off-road dudes.
Now this ‘base model’ I have here is aimed more towards those off-road riders with its Dakar styled CRF paint job and CRF450 derived Pro-Link swing-arm. Not to mention the best big Adventure bike suspension I’ve come across to date, courtesy of Showa, whom else, seeing as Honda owns them? So Honda has certainly won the ‘springy’ battle, well I believe so but I’m far from any form of Dakar rider.
I prefer the tarmac anyway, and it’s where I spent most of my time on the CRF1100L, and it’s faultless really, for an 1100 Adventure bike that is. Effortless power from anywhere and the ‘lazy’ nature of the new engine is so good it feels you can conquer the world. Dare I say the whole package is so good it can instill a spot of boredom, if that makes sense? A brilliant motorcycle that is, sometimes too good, catch my drift? 
Nothing wrong with that because the CRF1100L does exactly what the label says and throws a massive spanner into the sump of the big Euro competitors. I’ve seen the effect already with trade-ins around dealers exchanging BMs and KTMs for the new 1100 in either form. I say either form because this is the manual 19-litre tank option that’s also available in DCT (auto), and two bigger tank (25-litre) options can also be bought, also with a DCT variant. So four new 2020 models in total, with a massive electronics platform to fiddle with. 
Now here’s my gripe; I think it’s too over-complicated and a ‘pain’ to set up with the wealth of confusing options. The left hand switchgear does many things and I gave up trying to work out what, but I am getting on and prefer just a starter button with indicators, horn and lights switch, don’t you? So, being the base model at R210,000 why doesn’t Honda make this version with no electronics, no fancy TFT screen, saving weight and price in the process, for the hard-core ‘Dakar’ rider who wants a more extreme ride? Let’s not forget Honda’s Dakar winning CRF450 has nothing but the rider and engine, just a thought?
Anyway, the 2020 CRF1100L is a fantastic machine for sure, especially the suspension, and will surely ‘attack’ the sales of the two brands which currently dominate the South African market, and justifiably so. It’s also the best looking and that always sells motorcycles in any class, nice one Honda and Japan.
Go to www.honda.co.za for all the CRF1100L technical information and model pricing.
Images by: 2ft-Stu. 
