Comparison of the new Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES, BMW R1250GS Adventure, KTM 1290 super adventure R and Ducati Multistrada 1260 Enduro
For several days, since the new 1100cc Honda Africa Twin was released, everyone has been talking about it. When the prices for this model were published, I remembered the eternal discussion about which Big Adventure Bike is cheaper, which is the most expensive, and so on. There are many preconceptions when it comes to this aspect; many say they don’t buy BMW because it is the most expensive, others say that Ducati is expensive or that Honda is the cheapest.
So we set out to try to clarify the problem a bit. We chose for comparison, the main competitors in this segment and compared the top of the range: Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES, BMW R1250GS Adventure, KTM 1290 super adventure R and Ducati Multistrada 1260 Enduro. There are other models that may have deserved to be included but for the purpose of this exercise I said that they are sufficient. I hope their fans don’t get upset.
Prices are taken from the official websites of importers for Honda, BMW and Ducati. For KTM the price of the model with standard features I took from the site www.1ktm.ro and the prices for the optional equipment are taken from ktm.nl. there they had a motorcycle configurator and you could see the separate price for each item. For the sake of comparison, at Honda we added a quick shifter from the accessory catalog for Africa Twin 2018.
I made a table comparing the main features of each model as well as the main features included as optionals. As you will see below, it is difficult to compare the basic models because some manufacturers choose to include very few features on these models and others like Ducati have almost everything included. Eloquent comparison can be done at the prices with all the facilities included.
There is no point in going into debates about each specification in part because there are many subjective opinions here: which is the best engine configuration, with cylinders in V or in-line, which has a larger front wheel or which has better electronic settings, which has the best saddle position and so on. We let each one decide what suits him best.
Honda AT Adv. Sports. ES | BMW R1250 GSA | KTM 1290 Super Adv. R | Ducati MS1260 Enduro | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Engine type | 2 parallel cylinders | 2 boxer cylinders | 2 V cylinders | 2 L cylinders |
Capacity (cmc) | 1084 | 1254 | 1301 | 1262 |
Power (CP / RPM) | 102 | 136 | 160 | 158 |
Torque (Nm / RPM) | 105 | 143 | 140 | 128 |
Fuel consumption (l/100km) | 4.9 | 4.75 | 5.5 | 5.2 |
Transmission | chain | driveshaft | chain | chain |
Weight (wet) | 238 | 268 | 240 | 235 |
Tank capacity | 24.8 | 30 | 23 | 30 |
Seat height (mm) | 850/ 870 | 890/910 | 890 | 880/840 |
Ground clearance | 250 | 185 | 250 | 168 |
ABS | yes | yes | yes | yes |
EPS | yes | yes | yes | yes |
TFT | yes | yes | yes | yes |
LED Headlight | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Cruise Control | yes | no | no | yes |
Height adjustable windshild | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Heated Grips | yes | no | no | yes |
Engine protection | yes | yes | no | no |
Topcase support | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Hill assist | no | yes | no | yes |
Crash bars | yes | yes | no | no |
Ride modes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Cornering lights | yes | no | no | yes |
Projectors | yes | no | no | no |
Tyre pressure sensor | no | no | yes | no |
Adjustable suspension | no | yes | yes | yes |
Price no optionals (Euro including VAT) | 16490 | 17300 | 18780 | 21657 |
Adjustable suspension | yes | yes | - | - |
Tyre pressure sensor | no | yes | - | no |
Heated Grips | - | yes | yes | da |
Quick shifter | yes | yes | yes | no |
Ride modes | - | yes (+2) | - | - |
Projectors | - | yes | no | yes |
Cruise Control | - | yes | yes | - |
Hill assist | no | - | yes | - |
Crash bars | - | yes | yes | no |
Engine protection | - | - | yes | yes |
Cornering lights | - | no | no | - |
Full price (Euro including (VAT) | 19190 | 20995 | 20530 | 23364 |
Note: in the second part of the table, for optional equipment I marked with “-” the features that are already included in the basic package.
As you can see the prices with all the included options reach somewhere around 20.000Euro. Let’s see next, what you receive and what you do not receive for this money.

Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES – 19,190 Euro
Honda has chosen to make for the Adventure model a standard version with almost all the features and then there is the version with electronically adjustable suspensions (ES) and the automatic transmission (DCT). So for the sake of comparison I chose the version without DCT and added a quick shifter.
Thus Honda CRT1100 Africa Twin Adventure sports ES costs 19,190 euros including VAT. Indeed Honda is the cheapest, but let’s see what comes in at this price and what doesn’t. First of all, Africa Twin has the smallest engine compared to its competitors and therefore the lowest power and torque. The rest has pretty much everything the others have with minor exceptions: tire pressure monitoring and hill start assistance.

KTM 1290 super adventure R – 20,530 Euro
The KTM model came almost on price with BMW. It just comes with a slightly larger engine, and about 24HP more, less weight and a larger front wheel which makes it better on the off road than on the asphalt. Like BMW, KTM offers plenty of accessories for this model and manufacturers of motorcycle accessories and protections seem to prefer these two brands more than the rest. Also the KTM model, like the one from BMW offers great flexibility in customizing the motorcycle, meaning they have most of the optional features.

BMW R1250GS Adventure – 20,995 Euro
BMW has been a pioneer in this segment of large-scale adventure tourers and aided by well-thought-out marketing campaigns as well as a motorcycle that delivers what it promises, they have managed to retain their leading position in the number of units sold. For this reason it is probably the most commented model on the market, with many haters and many who praise it and has often been labeled as the most expensive on the market.
As you can see, things are not quite the so. Apart from Honda, where the difference in price is justified by the difference in size of the engine, BMW comes at almost the same price as its rivals, the differences in equipment being minor. What BMW has and the others do not have, and from the comfort point of view, I say that is a big plus, is the final transmission, the driveshaft, which is not found in any model in this comparison.

Ducati Multistrada 1260 Enduro – 23,364 Euro
Unlike the rest of the models, Ducati Multistrada comes with all the important features included. Basically the only thing you can choose is the color and you can add the Touring package that includes a few accessories. Ducati is probably the least offroad-oriented model among competitors and is the most expensive.
In conclusion, if you look at the model you can buy with the least money, the answer is probably Honda.
But I say that things are not so. If you are one of the buyers for whom the 1000-1500 Euro difference is not really such a problem, I think the prices are pretty much all there, maybe with the exception of Ducati which is a little more expensive. And then you have to look at what suits you best, think about how you will really use your motorcycle: more on the asphalt, offroad, through the city, etc. The differences are in cycling, power, torque, gearbox, electronics, etc.
There are small differences and in the optionals, you have to decide which is more important to you and which you want to have, because I say that the price differences are actually too small to really be a criteria. These differences can disappear if you get a good discount or watch when a promotion appears.