Going Off‑Road With The Honda Africa Twin

If you’ve ever pondered what it would be like to boss a big adventure bike along a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, then this is for you. The newly opened  Honda Adventure Centre is located in South Wales and they are now offering a two-day course for anyone with a full bike licence to get to enjoy Honda’s new Africa Twin adventure bike in the type of off-road conditions it was designed for.

Now, the first thing to know is the centre caters for every type of rider, ranging from those whose total off-road experience is mounting the occasional pavement, to those who think nothing of slotting the panniers into place and setting the Garmin to ‘Dakar’ in Morocco. If you fall into the first group, then you’ll be put in the ‘level one’ group, while those with more experience will be moved up to the level two group but both groups run together over the same two-days. For the highly experienced rider, there’s even a special level three course, which will stretch you and the bike to the outer limits of your ability and beyond.

Level one and two courses start with a class-room introduction to the Africa Twin bike itself, where the instructors gauge whether you will need the regular or low seat option, while you get your first taste of the controls and learn the correct way to pick up a fallen bike, which you might need to know once you head out to the hills. When I did the course, our group totalled 12 riders, which I was told was about average, the maximum group size they cater for is 15 and with four highly experienced instructors on hand at all times, you get plenty of one-on-one tuition throughout the day.

Once you’re fully kitted out (you can hire all the off-road riding gear you need from the Adventure Centre), you’re allocated a bike and then head out in convoy from their Merthyr Tydfil base to a wooded 500-acre off-road riding area on the edge of the rugged Brecon Beacons National Park. This ride takes around 20 minutes and gives you a chance to get to know the new Africa Twin. The big surprise is how agile this 230kg bike feels on the road; weight is positioned low down and the commanding handlebars make it a doddle to swing through the succession of roundabouts surrounding this town, all of which bodes well for what comes next.

Once you arrive at the off-road facility, you run through series of basic manoeuvres, experiencing how the 3-stage torque (traction) control operates and the effect switching off the ABS makes. Next you move on to a tricky slalom course, which tests out your balance and clutch control and where the instructors get to see if you should be put in the level one or two group for the rest of the course. All this takes up the first morning and it’s after lunch (served at the local pub 5-minutes down the road), you finally get to try out your newfound skills for the first time on the multiple tracks located throughout the facility.

The easiest way to explain how it all works is to think of this facility as being like a ski resort containing the usual mix of blue, red and black ski-runs. But the great thing with off-road biking compared to skiing, is you get to have loads of fun going uphill as well as downhill, with a few cheeky off-piste runs thrown in for fun. There’s a mix of loose stone, hard stone, ruts, soft mud, ditches and jumps everywhere you look but the instructors are careful not to make the route appear too intimidating and on the trickier sections, will teach you how to get through without mishap, well, that’s the aim anyway.

I have to confess to dropping the bike a couple of times, thankfully both at very low speeds. Once on a down hill section where the ABS couldn’t save me from terminal understeer in soft mud and another time where a deep rut brought me to a complete stop. Considering how hard we were pushing and how many miles we covered over the two days, it was a mighty impressive testimonial as to how well this big Honda handles the rough stuff. That on-road agility translates beautifully to the rough and I came away thinking maybe hurling a 94bhp, 230kg bike across challenging terrain wasn’t nearly as mad as I initially thought it was.

If you fancy giving it a go too, then the course costs £499 and that includes the bike, all tuition, lunch on both days and evening meal on the first day. I reckon that’s great value and once done, I’ll promise you will have a new set of bike handling skills that stay with you forever. www.hondaadventurecentre.com 01844 266443