The Complexity Question: Unravelling The What Bike Next Puzzle

Honda

Honda has taken this concept in a different direction and given us a choice between the off-road styled CRF1100L Africa Twin (£13,199) and the touring-focused NT1100 (£12,650).

The only difference – that I know of – between the two engines is that the inlet tracts on the NT1100 are different, delivering a wider spread of torque across the mid-range. The Africa Twin produces more peak torque, but it is packed low in the rev range.

The NT1100 frame has a few more lugs on it than the Africa Twin version, but it is otherwise identical. Even the suspension on the AT and the NT is essentially the same, although the AT does have the option to come with electronic suspension if you so desire.

But They All Do That

Well, sort of. There is a difference between taking core components and reusing them in a different model – platform engineering – and offering the same motorcycle with different options.

I once spotted a “cheap” BMW R1250GS for sale second-hand in Chris Walker’s eBay shop. Living close by and thinking I might snag myself a bargain (dream on), I hurried to the showroom in Grantham to take a closer look.

The lower-than-average price was because the previous owner had bought an R1250GS with manual suspension rather than the TE version, which is by far the most popular.

In a brief conversation with Chris, he mentioned their problems when trying to give the seller a fair trade-in value. There was nothing to compare the bike to on the second-hand market, and the BMW Dealers were only interested if they could get what they thought to be an unpopular model at a bargain basement price.

Suzuki and Honda have opted to make distinctly different models from a common platform. The Suzuki GSX-S1000GX is, in Suzuki’s own words – the ultimate Sports Crossover. The GSX-S1000GT looks completely different, and having ridden one 3,000 miles to Portimão and back, it truly is a genuine Grand Tourer.

There is no confusion or “wrong options” to buy at the dealership. Nice.

What Do You Desire

I recently spent a few months refreshing my Ducati Multistrada. Despite being eight years old, it is loaded with technology. True, some of the technology may not be as sophisticated as the recent versions – not all Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) are the same – but it still has one.

Some of the refresh work I could do myself, while for other parts, the semi-active suspension, for example, I opted to take to Parkitt Motorcycles, who specialise in such things.

Had this been a traditional suspension set-up, it would have been straightforward to refresh and potentially a little lighter on my wallet.

When I bought the Multistrada, I bought into the wonders of the electronics, yet having found the settings that worked best for me, I didn’t change them unless I loaded the bike with luggage.

The same was true of my V-Strom. Once overhauled, the treacle that had once been fork oil had been replaced, and the fork internals cleaned up; I set the suspension and only needed to adjust the rear pre-load when I put luggage on the bike.

Mileage

Having added even more miles to my Multistrada, I decided it was time for my love affair with the Ducati to come to an end. Whoever buys it will get a cracking motorcycle if they can get past the fact that it has covered 37,000 miles.

Some people consider this high mileage, but that is often a false impression caused by the number of motorcycles only ridden in the summer months. If a motorcycle has been cherished and has a solid service history, who says 37K is a lot of miles? Only the dealers and the trade-in values they offer.

Our colleague Roger is keeping his Africa Twin. It wants for nothing – not that it ever needs anything – and is now pushing 40K. Other than a trip to the dealer every 16,000 miles for the valve service, he does the rest himself.