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The adventure seeking segment has gotten a little more competitive with the launch of the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES DCT that now has to deal with the presence of the Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT+, BMW F 850 GS, Ducati Multistrada 950 and the soon-to-be-released Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro.
The Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT+ is the most powerful, churning out 119bhp. On the other side we have the BMW F 850 GS and the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro, both making 94bhp. In terms of the amount of Torque produced, the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES DCT beats its rivals, with 101Nm of attainable torque.
The Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sport is the only one with the DCT transmission. The DCT is an automated clutch and shift operation system that retains the direct acceleration feel of a manual transmission with the ease of use of an automatic. In layman terms, it allows for a stress-free ride as the rider does not have to focus on changing the gears from time to time, which can be one of the greatest unique selling point of this bike.
Not many people know the Kawasaki Versys engine is the detuned version of the very same engine that powers the Ninja 1000, producing 119bhp as compared to the 138bhp of the Ninja 1000.
Coming to the engine layout of the vehicles, the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sport and the BMW F 850 GS are parallel-twin engines. Whereas, the Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT+ has the inline-four engine layout. Furthermore, the Ducati Multistrada 950 comes with a L-Twin (essentially a 90 degree parallel twin) cylinder layout.
The Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT+ comes with a twin-spar frame, one of the most popular frames used by motorcycle brands. The popularity and its success amongst high-performance motorcycles is a verification for its popularity. Both the Ducati Multistrada 950 and the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro have a Trellis frame, which aces the rigidity section and provides lightness, whereas the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES DCT comes with a semi-double cradle frame layout which is an intermediate form of the single and the double cradle frame.
The Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro accounts to a dry weighs of 201 Kg, which ultimately states that it is the lightest machine here. Furthermore, the Honda is stretched to a length of 2,330 mm and 1,563 mm in height making it the tallest and longest bike in this class. Meanwhile, the Ducati Multistrada 950 is the widest here with a width of 995mm. And, for a rider who avoids frequent visits to the fuel station, the Honda accounts the best in economy state for that.
Before the unveil of the Triumph, the Kawasaki is a most affordable bike of the segment with a sticker of ₹10.9 lakh (ex-showroom) and the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES DCT is the costliest, at ₹16.1 lakh (ex-showroom). The others: the BMW F 850 GS and Ducati Multistrada 950 are priced at ₹ 15.4 lakh (ex-showroom) and ₹ 12.84 lakh (ex-showroom) respectively.
