In October 1946, Soichiro Honda founded the “Honda Research Institute of Technology”. The first Honda product was motorized bicycle. The bike had a 50 ccm engine, taken from a radio equipment generator for post-war military trucks. After out of stock situation, Honda made a copy of these engines, thus creating the first model – “model A” later called “Bata Bata”.

The Honda Institute was liquidated in 1946 for 1 million yen and that money was used for creating a new company called “Honda Motor Co.”. Ltd “. At the same time, Soichiro Honda hired engineers Kihachiro Kawashima and Takeo Fujisawa who provided their contribution in the field of business and marketing. The close partnership between Honda and Fujisawa lasted until 1973 when both of them left the company.

The first motorcycle completely manufactured by Honda is “Model D” from 1949. In a short time (until 1964), Honda became the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer.

Since the beginning of the production of motorcycles, Honda has been the largest manufacturer in Japan. As a small company, Honda promoted the Japanese motorcycle market and started the export to the United States. In a short time and thanks to a successful marketing campaign, Honda has sold around 90,000 motorcycles for 3 years.

Honda is a manufacturer that at its peak (1982) produced nearly 3 million motorcycles annually. Today it is reduced to around 550,000, but it is still a figure that is much higher in relation to the main three domestic competitors.

We wanted to join the market of the fastest growing category of motorcycles – enduro/touring. For two years we tested and tried each of the leading motorcycles in this category. Throughout the testing, we were engaged in cross-analysis and took several criteria into account ( engine performance / reliability / fun factor / value for money / design and appearance / offroad capabilities / touring capabilities / accident risk factor …. ). By far in first place, counting index points and subjective feeling when driving, is Honda Africa.

The previous story is told because we found and bought the famous 2025 Honda Africa CRF 1100.

In the early 1980s, Honda wanted to prove its engineering mettle beyond paved racetracks and entered the grueling Paris-Dakar Rally. Honda’s racing division (HRC) built a purpose-made V-twin factory racer, the NXR750. The NXR750 debuted in 1986 and won first and second place on its very first try, launching a streak of four consecutive Dakar victories. European riders and dealers desperately wanted a street-legal replica of this desert conqueror. A European salesman famously declared, “It must be a real Africa Twin if it has the V-twin engine that raced through Africa,” and the name stuck.

In 1988, built on the success of the Transalp platform but beefed up with stronger frames, long-travel suspension, and a 647cc liquid-cooled V-twin engine, Honda released the first true production Africa Twin. The bike received a major overhaul in 1993 with a new frame and bodywork, followed by minor cosmetic and comfort updates until production paused in 2003.

After a 12-year hiatus, Honda revived the Africa Twin name with an all-new 998cc parallel-twin engine, modern suspension, and an optional Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT).

In 2020., Honda bumped the engine size to 1,084cc, added an advanced six-axis IMU electronics suite ( cornering ABS, touchscreens, and riding modes ), and managed to make the bike lighter, faster, and more capable both on- and off-road.

The model that we have included in our sales range is with a manual transmission. This is ( like all our decisions ) not at all a random decision. Namely, we will address the topic of automatic transmissions in motorcycles with large engines in particular on social networks – that is, we will discuss the relationship between manual and increasingly common automatic transmissions.

We will not burden this great story with a special topic of gearboxes, instead we return to the legend about which we can say so much, and all this to bring this great motorcycle closer to you, but we stop here and at the end of the story we present the Honda CRF 1100 Africa Twin, produced in 2025. Through the pictures and specifications, enjoy the offered model.