What makes a great adventure bike? Well, that’s about as loaded a question as there is in motorcycling. The class is so complex these days that there is literally a bike for every type of riding and rider. But there are a bunch of bikes that can just about do it all—ones that walk down the middle of the road. These bikes that aren’t class leaders off road or on, but that are competent just about anywhere. The Honda Africa Twin has proven to be one of those machines. But even within Honda’s own lineup there are four different Africa Twin models including the base model, the Africa Twin DCT, the Adventure Sports ES, and the Adventure Sports ES DCT.When Honda asked us if we’d like to have a long-term Africa Twin testbike for a year, we jumped at the chance. But which model should we choose? After thinking about it, we asked for the base model for a couple of reasons. First of all, at $14,799, it is the least expensive open-class model on the market, and also kind of a blank slate that we could build up into exactly what we want it to be. Looking at the competition, the Suzuki V-Strom 1050DE starts at $16,199, the Yamaha Super Ténéré ES at $16,299, KTM’s 1290 Super Adventure R at $20,999, the BMW R 1300 GS at $18,895, Harley-Davidson’s Pan America 1250 at $19,999, and Triumph’s Tiger 1200 Rally Pro at $22,995.

Looking at it like that, we figured that we can turn our base AT into exactly the bike we want it to be, and still be ahead in terms of total expenditures compared to most of the competition. Digging further into the bike’s features, we can’t help but notice that the Honda is a real bargain; In terms of standard features the AT is loaded. The chassis features Showa suspension that is fully adjustable front and rear (manual adjusters in the case of the base bike), has cornering-enabled ABS that can be switched off at the rear, and it comes with tubeless spoked wheels in 21-inch front and 18-inch rear sizes. In terms of electronics it has six riding modes (two of which are customizable), a large 6.5-inch TFT display, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, and cruise control, while with some patience you can turn off the TC and wheelie control. The windscreen is easily adjustable without tools, while the accessory catalog offers different seat options, a quickshifter, and a centerstand.

Before we started ordering up some aftermarket goodies, the first order of business was just to ride it and see what we felt it needed. I flew out to the Cycle World office in Irvine, California, picked up the bike, and rode it straight back to Colorado. With just a backpack and no luggage on the bike, I knew right away that we’d have to address the issue of storage on the bike. But otherwise the 1,000-mile ride from SoCal to Colorado was about as enjoyable and comfortable as could be.The first day I knocked out 700 miles riding to Green River, Utah. With the windscreen in its highest position and the cruise control on, riding through a tank of fuel is easy. With Utah’s 80-mph speed limit I set the cruise to 85 and kicked back and let the red rocks and scenery fly by. But the fuel also flew by at that speed; I noticed that fuel mileage dropped down to around 40 mpg, whereas in California and Colorado (both with lower speed limits), the efficiency jumped back up to around 50.

Once I got back into Colorado, I hit some twisty back roads and a few long dirt roads that I’m familiar with. It was then that I realized that one of the first upgrades needs to be more aggressive tires for the dirt. The standard Michelin Anakee Adventure tires are great on road, but are very street oriented.Since the bike has been back in Colorado, I’ve already put another 600-plus miles on it and am starting to get a good idea of what we want to do with the bike. The goal isn’t to make it a full-blown off-road machine, and it’s not about turning it into a road-oriented tourer, it’s really about making it better in both of those areas without compromising its well-balanced nature.

We’ve already addressed a few areas. We ordered a set of SW-Motech’s SysBag WP soft saddlebags and installed them. The installation was fairly simple with everything lining up nicely. The system utilizes a pair of base racks that bolt right onto the stock mounting locations on the Honda. Then you strap the softbags to a fully rigid backing plate, to which also attaches the hardware to connect the bags to the racks on the bike. After we spend some time with the bags we’ll give you a full review, but our first impressions are very positive. The bags themselves appear to be very high quality with excellent features and materials.Next up we ordered a set of Doubletake Mirrors’ new updated adventure units. Not only are the mirrors infinitely adjustable, but the shape of the reflectors offer excellent rearward vision, and then allow the ability to fold them out of harm’s way when you head off-road. The new mirror arms (now designed in-house) have large adjuster knobs that make getting them dialed and snug very easy. With a new universal mounting kit, the mirrors are interchangeable with just about any adventure or dual sport bike, so when you get a new ride, you won’t have to order a new bolt kit.

We also ordered a few sets of tires, including Dunlop’s Trailmax Raid, which have a tread pattern that the company says is designed to offer a 40/60 split between dirt and street. And a set of Metzeler Karoo 4 tires, which are the company’s most aggressive ADV tire (without going to a full-on dirt bike knobby). So we’ll try both out and see what works best for the type of riding we plan to do. We also just ordered up Rabonconda’s brand-new street tire changer, that is designed to easily change street, ADV, and dirt bike tires on one well-thought-out contraption.Now it’s time to stop talking and keep riding, and see how the mods we’ve made work, and figure out what else our Africa Twin needs. Next spring we’ll hit the Colorado BDR and see how our Africa Twin holds up.Total Mileage: 2,215 milesCycle World Measured Average MPG: 48.1 mpgMaintenance costs to date: 0Aftermarket Parts Added:SW-Motech SysBag L/L System (includes all mounting hardware): $1,140Doubletake Mirror Adventure Mirror Kit: $145