Honda Transalp and Africa Twin

The Honda Africa Twin is a 650cc (RD03) or 750cc (RD04, RD07) cousin of the 600cc Honda Transalp. The earlier Africa Twins are very similar in construction to the Transalp, and many parts can be put onto a Transalp. Potential improvements include a larger fuel tank, an aluminum swingarm, taller suspension, and a rear disk brake.

Model Designations

Model designations become very important when purchasing parts, so it's important to understand the meaning of PD06, RD04, RD04, and RD07.

The Transalp imported into the US is the PD06 XL600V.

There are several models of Africa Twin. The important thing to remember is that RD07 parts are cannot be used on Transalps. Many RD03 and RD04 parts, however, bolt straight up to a Transalp. The following chart shows years and models. Note that only models relevant to the US-spec Transalp are shown:

Year	Africa Twin	Transalp
1988	RD03 XRV650
1989	RD03 XRV650	PD06
1990	RD04L XRV750	PD06
1991	RD04M XRV750
1992	RD04N XRV750
1993	RD04P XRV750
1994+	RD07

For a full breakdown of Transalp models (PD06H, J, K, etc) see Deti's page.

For a full history of the Africa Twin (RD03, RD04L, M, N, P) see this page (Japanese).

Fuel Tank

RD03 and RD04 fuel tanks, which are identical apart from color scheme, will fit directly onto a Transalp frame. An RD07 has an entirely different frame, so its tank will not fit a Transalp.

Interference

Without the support bracket, the RD03/RD04 tank's petcocks may interfere with the Transalp engine's oil lines. This does not seem to be an issue with later Transalps, which may use a different oil routing more similar to the NT650 Hawk.

Support Bracket

The Africa Twin tank requires a support bracket, which is mentioned here (image).

This item may be listed on [http//www.ebay.de Ebay Germany] as "Verkleidungshalter" (translates as "Fairing bracket"). It certainly appears to be the exact same part as what is commonly listed as "Kühlerhalter" ("cooler holder").

It appears in the XRV650K microfiche as:

64209-MS8-000 PIPE COMP., COWL MOUNTING

and on the XRV750N microfiche as:

64209-MV1-000 PIPE COMP., COWL MOUNTING

Fuel Pump

The Africa Twin tank needs a fuel pump in order to pump the last few gallons.

Stock Africa Twin

The Africa Twin's OEM fuel pump is electric, and it's prone to failure due to internal electrical contacts which arc and destroy themselves. The pump itself can be hardwired and controlled by an external relay, which prevents the arcing problem.

Substitute Pumps

Many people run vacuum-operated fuel pumps.

Another alternative is an electric fuel pump from Spruce Aircraft and Supply.

Swingarm

The Africa Twin has an aluminum swingarm which is is longer than the steel Transalp swingarm. It can be fitting with relatively few problems. Notably, the drum brake stopper has to be ground to fit the Africa Twin swingarm (assuming an Africa Twin disc rear wheel hasn't been used as well), and a 124 link chain is needed.

• Translated "Transalp with Africa Twin swingarm" (from transalp.de).

Interchangeability

These parts diagrams indicate the compatibility of many of the swingarm parts between the Transalp and the RD04 Africa Twin. Green indicates that the part numbers are the same, while red indicates that the parts differ. Yellow indicates that the part numbers are different, but the parts may be compatible nonetheless.

Rear Brake With Africa Twin Swingarm

The stock drum brake housing can be machined to fit into the slot on the RD04/RD07 swingarm.

Alternatively, an Africa Twin rear wheel can be used to get a disc brake. This post provides the following information on rear brake disks:

Model	Rotor Dia.	Internal Dia.	Bolt Center Dist.	Bolt Dia.
PD06	240mm	105mm	125mm	10.5mm
RD03	240mm	105mm	125mm	10.5mm
RD04	256mm	144mm	166mm	10mm
RD07	256mm	144mm	166mm	10mm

He finishes with:

brake caliper brackets are absolute interchangable between RD03, 04 and 07 regards their place against swingarm. If you have 240mm disk, use bracket from RD03, otherwise from RD04, 07 regardless which AT swingarm you have. I tested that caliper from PD06 '94 fits in RD03 and RD04 caliper bracket perfect, I guess, same with RD07 bracket.

Buying Parts

Ebay

Ebay is a good source for used Africa Twin parts. I recommend Ebay Germany since shipping prices from Germany are reasonable, and German sellers have proved very helpful. UK sellers have either refused to ship, or charge exorbitant rates, and Italian sellers want nothing to do with me.

Payment

Traditionally, German Ebay sellers accepted only SWIFT money transfers. Ask your bank if they can perform an international money transfer. Get a copy of the transfer form, and look for "SWIFT" in the routing number area.

More recently, some German Ebay sellers have begun accepting PayPal. This makes the process much simpler and faster.

Make sure to get a shipping quote before committing to purchase!

German Terms

Finding parts in German can be tough without any language skills.

English	German +-	Verkleidung +-	Verkleidungshalter ("fairing bracket") Kühlerhalter ("cooler holder") +-	Schwinge +-	Bremsscheibe +-	Kettenradträger

Substitution

Honda reuses parts whenever possible across models. It's worth finding part numbers on the microfiche and looking them up online. Ron Ayers has an excellent parts lookup facility.

Petcock

According to this page, "the left AT petcock is the same as the petcock for a 1990 NT650 Honda Hawk" ($55 at BikeBandit.com).

Microfiche

The Honda parts microfiche for Africa Twins is an absolute necessity. I have made PDF copies of pages which are particularly relevant:

• Swingarm
• Rear Wheel
• Gas Tank
• Rear Suspension
• Front cowl