AFRICA TWIN
The big thing for me is just how easy it is to ride , all day , anywhere , in any conditions . At around a 100hp , it ’ s not a rocketship , but it ’ s certainly fast enough and you can use all of it in the gravel and still have tolerable tyre life [ it depends on what you call ‘ tolerable ’ - Ed ]. It slides very well , yet is extremely tractable when you need it to be and is very capable off-road despite its size .
UPRATED SUSPENSION I find the steering to be super accurate in all terrain and it never gives me any surprises . On road it ’ s agile , really quite effortless , very comfortable , and it can be pushed along quickly , quite easily . I ’ d say the standard suspension is pretty good although on the quite soft side of things .
But because I ’ m a picky bugger , and stock suspension can always be improved , I purchased an Ohlins shock and full Ohlins cartridge fork internals with firmer springs . Are they better than before ? Yes . They are a great improvement ; I ’ d say a probable 25 to 30 % improvement compared to new stock suspension . It ’ d likely be a massive improvement compared to standard gear that ’ s now four to five years old . In effect , I was looking for greater bottoming resistance and control . The standard stuff is pretty good until you start to push a bit faster off road where it is too soft for modest jumping and easy to bottom out . Then again , in reality , you don ’ t really need and shouldn ’ t try to get dirtbike-style jumping performance out
KIWI RIDER 57