During the evenings around campfires and dinner tables I made a point of chatting to Maurizio Carbonara, the lead designer of the new Africa Twin.
Maurizio told me that he initially wanted a beautiful and lightweight aluminium frame, but that Honda’s project leaders insisted on a practical steel frame.
The Italian relented but asked that a detachable sub-frame be made of steel, but allow him to cast the cradle frame in aluminium.
The answer was still "no" from the Honda bosses.
They explained that despite their intention to build a tough motorcycle, they acknowledge that all metals can break when you travel around the world on a loaded bike – they wanted adventurers to be able to pull into a backwater workshop anywhere between Kinshasa and Krasnoyarsk and have a cracked frame welded up by a local with a oxy/acetylene torch.
