Owner Review comparing Africa Twin & Tenere 700

I’ve owned my 2017 Africa twin since March 2020.

I’ve owned my Tenere 700 since Feb 2021.

I think most people would be super happy to own ether bike. I know what you are thinking, why do you own BOTH? I bought the tenere 700 so my son could ride with me to Alaska Summer 2021 (A trip we’ve been planning for many years).

I will focus on comparing the two bikes for potential decision makers without the “no, that is just marketing”.

I believe Honda went the wrong direction in size/weight. They should have gone smaller, but the govscam emissions likely forced their hand to the larger bike.

Yeah, I spent my OWN money on both bikes.

Tenere 700 Pros

• Good power and agility
• Fun, super fun to ride on/off road
• This bike wants to go fast – seems to have more “fun” factor for weight/power ratio than africa twin
• At my height (6’5″ 215 lbs w/o gear), I really like how my legs/knees lock in under the gas tank, I feel like I could stick with the bike if I needed to

Tenere 700 cons

• Poor ability to deal with high winds
• No cruise control, fixed by atlas throttle lock
• Lower seat height than africa twin, but I did add some foam to my AT seat for more comfort/height.
  • Maybe same seat height or close to it, but the t700 pegs to seat height is less comfortable than crf1000l. Often I feel crunched in my legs/knee and it reduces blood flow. The Africa Twin is better in this regard – peg to seat height is more comfortable on the Africa Twin
    
• Not as good looking as africa twin
• Hard to find one and pricy to buy, in 2021
  
• I wonder if a 300 cc 2 stroke and Africa Twin would be better than a wr450f and a t700 – widen the gap between size/niche.  Having a 300cc and a 1000cc, might be better than a 450 and 700 combo. I DO like the idea of having a crf450l and a crf1000l OR a wr450f and a t700.  It’ll be interesting to see where I FINALLY decide to go. I don’t think I can give up my beloved wr450f, t700 nor crf1000l
  • A 300 CC and a 1000 CC makes the most sense
    • Giant loop bag for the 300 with a fuel canister 

Africa Twin pros (nick name Liberty)

• I LOVE the red/white/blue. Best looking Bike I’ve ever seen
• Great long range dual sport bike, does awesome on dirt roads and logging roads
• Does really good with high winds
• Planted & smooth
• Its a honda, feels like it’d go 200,000 miles with oil changes, sprockets, chains and tires changes

Africa twin Cons

• Having to turn off the traction control….all the time sucks (details, I’ve almost dropped the bike because climbing challenges with traction control enabled, if on its least traction control, its not too bad, but highest level, the bike will just about die/turn off when trying to climb loose hills)
• I HATE HATE HATE the horn/signal locations because ALL other bikes have them in a standard place.
• A bit big/heavy for the type of exploring I like to do. Even 6’5” and 220/pretty strong, this bike is HEAVY to pick up and deal with on rough trails.
• No cruise control, solved by the awesome atlas throttle lock.
• The epa/govgoons seem to have stolen 200-300 CC from the africa twin.