Motorrad Garage Africa Twin

This entry is part 14 of 19 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #30

Motorrad Garage has opened a new store in Sydney with a speccy-looking Africa Twin on the showroom floor. With a nudge, a wink, and the promise of a Portuguese tart at Laguna, the bike was sniggled out the front door and taken for a magical mystery tour.

Technically, this wasn’t supposed to be a magical mystery tour at all, but the editor assured every-one he’d plotted a 200km track on his GPS, and everyone should follow him.

There were some blank looks when he admitted he didn’t know how to get from the store on Parramatta Road in Lidcombe, just to Sydney’s west, 65km out to Wiseman’s Ferry to start the ride, but Motorrad Garage’s Howard and Petra are trusting people, and Howard had that bit covered, so things were off to a good start.

Unfortunately, when TF and Howard met ad man Mitch at Wisemans Ferry, there was no red line on the ed’s GPS. There were no lines of any colour, really. He put forward the view that it was an adventure after all, and what could be more adventurous than not having the vaguest idea where you were going for two days, but it wasn’t a concept that gained a lot of support.

Right where the GPS should be.

On the job

The aim of the weekend was to put the Motorrad Garage gear on the Africa Twin through its paces and see how it stood up to some real-world use, so while Mitch and Howard put their heads together to see what kind of routes their combined knowledge could produce, the editor skulked off somewhere muttering something about ‘photos’.

The bike was a 2017 ABS model Africa Twin, mechanically a bog-stocker, but loaded with some very tasty SW Motech gear. The idea was to flog the bejesus out of it – in a measured and responsible way – through some back country loops to arrive at Cessnock, about 90km to the north, for the overnighter. Petra was to drive to Cessnock in the Motorrad Garage van and swap the soft luggage for hard luggage for the return trip.

Of course, Petra left from the new Lidcombe store, so didn’t know the boys had very little idea on where they were going, let alone how to find their way Cessnock before nightfall.

An Africa Twin kitted out with SW Motech gear makes for a great outfit to escape the city for while.

Not a worry

Mitch was confident of leading to a couple of northern landmarks, so with his mighty Husky 701 carving up the and scape, closely followed by Howard’s much-modified and musclebound HP2, the entourage set off, roosting through a clear, cool, NSW morning, almost as if they were enjoying themselves rather than working. The editor maintained the dignity of the group, his mind firmly fixed on the job in hand, and tottered along behind, frantically pushing buttons and tapping the screen of his GPS as he sailed off the dirt road at most turns.

We saw the Drybag on the Motorrad Garage KLR we rode in WA. It’s a handy storage device that can be strapped on almost anywhere.
Accessory lighting is currently one of our favourite accessories, and the way these ones mount inside the crash bars is brilliant.

The soft luggage on the Africa Twin was perfect for the job. Capacity between the single 30-litre SysBag and SW Motech roll-top bag clipped to the rack was a bit huge, actually. For an overnighter either one would’ve done the job easily, and the tankbag seemed very compact, but took a whole heap of personal gear like phone, wallet, keys, spare gloves, point-and-shoot camera, a couple of maps, cough lollies and a stack of other things that always seem to end up in tankbags.

The RotoPax fitting on the pannier rack made carrying fuel and water a breeze.

The GPS mount was set up for Howard’s regular Garmin Zumo, so the ed’s Montana – useless on this occasion – was on a RAM mount on the ’bars.

Pro Side Carrier pannier racks accepted adaptors for all kinds of things. The RotoPax make carrying fuel and water safe and easy.

Roughing it

As the day progressed the trio ended up at the popular motor-cycle destination of Laguna, where an amazing array of tarts and coffee made for a scratch snack – Howard had some carefully prepared rolls for ‘real’ lunch on board the HP2 – and chatting to some local dirt riders set the Motorrad Garage crew on its way to a difficult-to-find, rocky trail that wound it’s way back to a main road and an easy run into Cessnock as the sun was fading.

The Africa Twin wasn’t dropped or crashed, but the bashplate copped a pizzling on the rocky trail and the spotties
were a gift when the light faded. We almost wished we’d been out after dark so we could’ve seen what they could really do. The luggage stayed snug and tight on the bike and everything, riders and clobber, arrived in Cessnock in really excellent shape. The centrestand had a tendency to make contact with the ground landing from erosion mounds, but a little less throttle dealt with that situation, and the roll-top bag slopped around a bit until we moved gear from the pannier to the bag to give it some shape, but after that it was solid. It was a tough bag, too, we couldn’t help but notice, and the clip system snugged everything down nicely.

All in all, the ancillary gear added considerably to what was already a very capable and comfortable tourer, and unpacking at the motel underlined just how much luggage the bike had hauled.

The hard panniers with inner liners and top box were the TRAX Adventure gear.
An expansion bag fitted straight to the lid of the hard panniers. It’ll fit most hard panniers.
SysBags had big capacity, were tough and didn’t flap around. We liked them a lot.
Of all the fittings on the Africa Twin the sump guard probably copped the most punishment. We were glad it was there.

Good gear

Adventure Rider Magazine has a fair collection of SW Motech gear accumulated over the past few years, and it’s all been tough, well-designed, ready-for-anything kit. The gear on the Africa Twin was the same.

Back at the Motorrad Garage store with the coffee machine churning out its creamy, smooth goodness, another tough weekend’s work was crossed off the list.

It was a great couple of days.

Lid netting made for great convenience.

The SW Motech gear on the AT

• Quick-release GPS mount which will fit handlebar crossbrace or screen-frame. It’ll accept most GPS models
• Driving lights/fog lights on mounts specific to the SW Motech crash bars. There are also mounts available which will mount straight to the bike or to other crash bars
• SW Motech crash bars available in black or stainless steel
• Adjustable EVO footpegs which mount on an eccentric cam. They can be set to the standard position, lowered 15mm, or moved forward or back 7.5mm with removable rubber inserts
• An adjustable gear lever with 30mm of length adjustment and an extender on the toe
• Skidplate
• Sidestand foot enlarger
• Chainguard extension
• Pro Side Carrier pannier racks which take a variety of different luggage possibilities. On this occasion we had a new SysBag 30 with inner liner on one side and RotoPax on the other. The hard panniers with inner liners and top box was the top of the range TRAX Adventure gear. The top box was a 38-litre unit and the panniers were 45 litres on the left and 37 litres on the pipe side. A really neat little bag on the inside of the lid of one the hard panniers was brilliantly convenient. One key fitted all, of course, and the hard luggage could all be removed and replaced with just a turn of the key and lift of a tab. It was a great system and very stable
• An expansion bag fitted straight to the lid of the hard panniers, and that bag will fit most hard panniers
• A new Adventure rack which will take a variety of options like a top box or soft luggage
• A Dry Bag 80 was strapped to a crash bar, but could be strapped almost anywhere
• A City tankbag on a tank locking ring
• SW-Motech handguards
• Brake reservoir guard
• 12-volt power outlet
• Centrestand