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About the Honda Africa Twin
I came to the Africa Twin - AT - "scene" in 2007, and like many good things in life it was almost accidently:
a good friend of mine acquired such a bike, an RD07 in excellent shape, in my neighbourhood.
She asked me to have a look at the typical weak spots of this bike, and indeed I could provide help with all potential
issues on the bike. Word went round ... and since that time, I provide some useful parts as well as some limited assistance with these bikes, too.
(No, I don't own an AT myself ... its use would be too close to my R80GS!)
This page describes some of the typical problems and modifications of the AT, with an emphasis on the "electrical Gremlins".
Gas Pump |
Alternator Regulator |
Tripmaster
Common Problems ... and Solutions
A common source of problems on the AT is overvoltage. The immediate, visible symptoms are burned-out bulbs, then a "boiling" battery ...
and if the overvoltage remains unnoticed for too long, the motorcycle may end up with damaged electronics such as CDI, Instruments, etc.
An expensive damage - and dangerous, since you cannot get the bike running again without changing several parts!
It is commonly agreed that the root cause of this overvoltage is an under-dimensioned connector. On the AT, the three yellow cables
carrying AC from the alternator lead into a connector with three spade plugs, located under the left side cover.
This connector is apparently too small; the high current load leads to oxidation. Due to this corrosion, the voltage regulator senses a too-low
voltage and will regulate to a higher voltage. This increased voltage means a higher current, higher temperatures, more corrosion in the plug ... you get the idea!
The picture below shows the result of such overheating. By quick visual inspection the connector looked normal,
but it was impossible to separate the two parts since the plastic had melted in some areas. We needed brute force to break the connector housing apart!
As a cure, many people merely change the alternator regulator against another model or type. However, it is also mandatory to eliminate
the problem of the under-dimensioned connector shown above - a common solution is to crimp or solder the three wires together.
In addition, you may find it useful to install a voltage monitor on the bike - something that constantly monitors the battery voltage and that alerts the rider if the voltage gets too high (or too low):
I offer such units for sale. If you are interested, follow this link for more information.
The RD04, RD07 and RD07A models are equipped with a tripmaster unit - a rather sophisticated little computer.
After many years of usage, these units will begin to malfunction - erroneous display functions, loss of stored data
such as time or distance, etc. This will sooner or later affect any tripmaster and is due to ageing of parts (mostly capacitors).
Repair is basically not difficult, but it requires some experience and equipment for SMD soldering.
I offer this service as preventive maintenance service for your tripmaster, for a fixed price of 42 CHF per unit.
At the same time, I can e.g. activate the built-in speed display.
If you are interested, follow this link to get in touch with me
but please do not ask for "remote" diagnostics or repair instructions. Thank you for your understanding.
This price applies only if the unit is still operational. If the display is "dead", things are getting
complicated: I can probably repair it, but it takes more time - consequently, I charge at least 70 CHF.
Yet this is still only a small fraction of the price of a new unit from Honda ;-)
Please note that this offer is primarily intended for people that have a shipping address inside Switzerland.
Shipping from/to addresses outside Switzerland can incur paperwork and additional custom fees, which you will have to pay.
The gas pump of the Honda Africa Twin, Varadero, NTV, CBR900RR, Shadow, KTM LC8 (950 Adventure) and many other models is a standard pump from Mitsubishi.
This pump is known for failing after a while, often somewhere between 30 and 70 Mm. By far the most common reason for failure are burned contacts
inside the pump - an unfortunate "failure by design", which could have been avoided by adding just one part in the factory.
The only repair provided by Honda is the complete exchange of the pump against a new part, which is pretty expensive.
A much cheaper way is the preventive modification of the pump to accomodate a common suppressor diode.
The short video below demonstates "before" and "after" ... note that the high stroke frequency of the pump is realistic:
it corresponds to the state of the pump that is observed on the later models (RD07 and RD07a) just before switching to reserve.
Spark supression effect
I offer this modification as preventive maintenance service for your gas pump, for a fixed price of 30 CHF per pump.
If you are interested, please follow this link to get in touch with me.
Please note that this offer is primarily intended for people that have a shipping address inside Switzerland.
Shipping from/to addresses outside Switzerland can incur paperwork and additional custom fees, which you will have to pay.
