Honda Africa Twin with 265,000 kilometers

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Honda Africa Twin with 265,000 kilometers
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Honda Africa Twin with 265,000 kilometers

Desert (s) stories
Honda Africa Twin with 265,000 kilometers

It was eating sand in the Sahara, it was flooded with water in the Australian bush and only the cheapest oil was available for lubrication. To find out why the battered Honda engine is still running after exactly 265,107 kilometers, MOTORRAD dismantled the two-cylinder. A portrait of a man and a machine.

Werner Koch

03/15/2012

 Harry is always at the meeting point a little earlier. Because Harry still has to add more oil. A barely liter per tank filling has to be there if the old Honda gets its spurs. With the 24-liter tank, this is the equivalent of about 1 in 30. Only poorly adjusted two-stroke engines run this fat – or Harry’s Honda XRV 650, which he acquired in 1988 with 3500 km on the clock. Before that, the Stuttgart adventurer was also on the road with a robust twin: the Kawasaki Z 750 B, which he pulled ashore instead of a Triumph Bonneville. In retrospect, it was a stroke of luck for Harry because he was able to cycle 140,000 kilometers with the robust Japan twin without any problems. After that he wore out a whole range of Yamaha XT enduros, from the small but fine 350 to the 600 Tatara. So it was only logical that Harry said goodbye to the capricious single cylinders and put a solid Honda XRV 650 in the yard.

But unfortunately the engine had “already” worn out after a mere 130,000 kilometers. Compression in the bucket and oil consumption like a ’new Yamaha RD 350. Harry then bought the latest XRV 750, model RD 04 from 1990, as an accident damage and implanted the three-valve engine in the most beautiful of all Africa Twins, the RD 03 from 1988. Since then, Harry has only done the bare essentials. Readjust the valves (“after 100,000 kilometers nothing changes”), add more oil and refuel. Even cleaning is not Harry’s thing. His Enduro was foamed, washed and blown dry only once. That was in 1996 at Australian customs when the “Quarantaine Officer” in charge refused entry to the clay-encrusted stalls. The shipping company took him an impressive 40 Australian dollars for this. The Swabian saved that again in the remaining 16 years. After all, Harry was and is still about traveling, as far as possible, as long as possible and ideally to the last corner of the planet. There is no time to clean.

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So for the Africa Twin there was only water when it was raining or in the jungle. But then right down to the last crack. Despite the high intake line, the engine sucked water into the combustion chamber through a leak in the makeshift snorkel. Slap, and off. When the brown liquid shoots in fountains from the spark plug hole, Harry never believes in the survival of his engine either. And minutes later I was surprised by the almost unbreakable Honda technology – it was running again. For three months it crosses the continent over a distance of over 25,000 kilometers without having to turn a screw.

Five years later – the Honda has long since passed the 250,000 kilometer mark – Harry digs his way through one of the largest sandboxes in the world with his RD 03: 7800 kilometers of the Algerian desert. When trying to cross the great eastern erg of El Oued to the south, the accessory air filter slips out of its seat, whereupon the engine consumes a handful of the finest desert sand, but hardly shows anything.

After this internal sandblasting, the two gallop around half the globe, celebrate the 300,000 kilometers in Laos and cross the south of the African continent on a 9400-kilometer tour.


Honda Africa Twin with 265,000 kilometers


fact

Harry’s Honda engine has undergone six and a half times around the world. It will be interesting to see what it looks like under the clay-encrusted housing.

Finally. When Harry has gurgled the oil – “always the cheapest” – poured it into the old engine, it can start. No, not to Albania, only to the Alb, the Swabian Alb. Together with a colorful group from the Africa Twin Forum, Harry wanders through Germany’s wild south.

For Harry almost as beautiful as the most distant countries he has traveled to during the past 30 years. When asked where it was most beautiful, his forehead wrinkled: “Actually in South America. But standing on the Stelvio Pass at the age of 18 was at least as phenomenal as it was 20 years later at over 5000 meters in the Andes. “You can tell from his eyes and his mischievous grin: The wanderlust doesn’t diminish even at 50.

Well, now his Honda is getting at least a new engine with 880 cc – and that would have to “suffice” for Harry, as they say in Swabian so aptly. Until then, he gondolas through the countryside in his old Suzuki DR 650 SE.

Will Mr. Spielvogel have a new motorcycle in the yard? “I’ve already looked at it and tested it, but the bottom line is that there is no suitable new motorcycle for me. Not yet.”

Wear after 265000km


Honda Africa Twin with 265,000 kilometers


fact

Exhaust valve with a cracked valve disc. Possible cause: Overheating due to insufficient valve clearance.

After 22 years and 265 107 kilometers without mercy, one can be curious what will come to light when the V2 engine is torn apart. Behind a cocoon as thick as a finger made of waste oil, Sahara sand and reddish Australian clay, the most hidden of all housing screws are unearthed. A paradise for every biology professor: the rich collection of force-dried insects, African grains and Far Eastern herbs and grasses under the electric starter. Harry himself guessed an internal total loss, although according to GPS the Africa Twin was still well in the feed with a top speed of 150 km / h. The compression when the engine is cold fluctuates between two and four bar – even an old bicycle air pump is more effective. “The wind blows through all the cracks in there,” the hobby mechanic suspects.

In short, a dozen new components and the Honda engine would keep running. It is clear that the compression works. At the rear exhaust valve, the fresh gas whistles unused through an accurately broken wedge into the open air. That must be new, without a doubt. The slack piston rings (joint clearance 9/10 to 11/10 mm) together with the piston (clearance 13/100 mm) are included. While the valve guides on the inlet valve with a shaft clearance of 8/100 mm are loosely in the green area, the guides are widened conically by up to 15/100 millimeters on the outlet side. Pitting, small breakouts on the surface of the third gear pair, can be ignored or not. Everything else, from the main and connecting rod bearings (5/100 mm) to camshafts, rocker arms has clear tracks and signs of wear, but no breakouts on the surfaces or nasty grooves. Almost as good as new, the shift forks can also cover the next 300,000 kilometers. And that even though Harry didn’t have too high demands on the oil: “Regardless of whether JASO, ISO or API specifications, I put everything into the Honda that looked like engine oil and smelled of engine oil. The main thing is that the oil level is correct. “Well, maybe Harry should try a nicely written warranty claim at the friendly Honda dealer.

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