Honda Africa Twin RD03 & Marathon review. The classic bikes that won Dakar. Part 4 of 6
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- The Honda RD03 650 was the first of Honda's iconic Africa Twin series of Adventure bikes and Honda won the Paris Dakar Rally four times with it's competition cousin, the RX750. Here's I give you a guided tour around both the regular RD03 and also the Marathon Edition, which was created by Honda France for private enthusiasts who also wanted to enter the Paris Dakar Rally on a Honda Africa Twin. www.nightwings....
This video was created with the support of:
www.footmanjame...
bit.ly/Magnitu...
www.silverston...
www.ctek.com
chargestorm.se...
Follow me on
/ harrysgaragevids
/ harrym_vids
seeing this dude get out and rip that bike around is so cool hes a true enthusiast
The evolutionary progression in this series is so valuable as a history lesson. You really get a sense of how Paris Dakar developed over time.
Coming from a completely non bike guy, I've really enjoyed this mini series. It's a great addition to your already brilliant channel. Thank you
check
Not going to try to convert you. But I'll share something I really didn't expect before I started riding: just how much I enjoy the "enforced solitude" of putting the helmet on and going for a really long ride (multiple thousand km). No music, no video, no phone, nobody to talk to... just the world washing by, as fast or slow as I want it to.
Horse Polo Practice - First Stick and Ball of the Season | Equestrian ua-cam.com/video/wVw330ONUpY/v-deo.html :)
Since 2020, the Dakar riders have gone back to this old style road book. They get the roadbook on the morning of the race so the teams can’t analyze it. The gps on board is not a map, it’s only used to register if the rider has passed each checkpoint on the rally.
Brought a smile to my face....Harry's a bit of a lad at heart!! love it.
Absolutely beatiful bike. Some ppl admire super-sports like r1, haya or ninja, to me dakar/enduro bikes are most beatiful machines.
Specialist tools like super sports bikes and off road bikes are all beautiful because they're honed carefully to meeet a specific demand.
It is all down to your riding style, where you live ie road conditions and if you use it for pleasure or touring. The old saying 'horses for courses'.
After watching the end of year round up and the disappointment that the bike videos didn’t get as many views. I thoughts I would rewatch to try and get the figures up as I loved them so much!! Love the channel Harry.
Watching Harry review cars is great but watching Harry reviewing his “toy” collection adds a whole new level of entertainment.
I was never particulary interested in bikes, but thanks to your films, about Dakar bikes, I have become a real enthusiast of them.
Another great video. I used to watch the Dakar on Eurosport in the early 90s as a kid but it's only now I appreciate the magnitude of the challenge.
Starts up ebay, search: Africa twin. Search history, XT500, XL500R.. just love these bikes and the series you are doing about them
Loving this recent stream of bike content!
Cheers Harry :)
It’s a pleasure to see such a civilized chap enjoy throwing some roost!
Thanks for the compliments on the marathon i spent a lot of time and money creating the bike i miss it
Thanks for watching and the great comment, much appreciated. The Marathon is terrific to ride, when I bought it, I wasn't away of the engine tweaks but it's nice it has them as it adds to the character of the bike. I'd love to chat to you about the bike and find out how you went about building it and sourcing all the rare parts. Any chance you could drop me a message via Instagram, so we could keep in contact?
@@harrysgarage will do
Yes horsepower when on the dyno came back 52 hp i think as opposed to the standard 45hp
I have absolutely zero intention of buying or even riding a motorbike. Yet I enjoy the videos just as much as the cars. Top job.
Not really a bike person never having ridden one but that looked fun and I'm a real Honda fan. Nice one your lordship.
I'm in the process of converting a US spec Transalp to RD03 Twin spec. Love these bikes!
Love the Dakar Bike Series! You should definetley do more Bike Videos!
Every time Harry jumps a dirtbike an angel gets its wings
What you on.....
You are having fun Harry.Wonderful.CHEERS!!
This (and the Cagiva) is what I think of when it comes to Dakar bikes :)
Love these bikes, memories of watching Paris Dakar on tv when i was at school. What a beautiful sound they make
I found the channel after talking to you in the field the day you were filming this, and have really enjoyed this series so far. That shot trailing dust across the field at high speed is quite evocative I must say. Looking forward to seeing the big bikes in action :-)
Watching these videos inspired me to start riding bikes six months ago…. My brother had an Africa Twin already, so I bought a Yamaha Super Tenere exactly like the one hiding in the background!
I have very little interest in bikes but I've been loving this series. Harry has such enthusiasm and knowledge that it's always interesting 👌
Agreed. My dad said I will kill myself if i get a bike. So stayed on 4 wheels except these days when i ride ebikes. 98km today. Proper bikes rather than thoses very noisy huge Harley's for people who need a lot of noise to compensate for their small apendiges...
Shout out at 1:28. Pretty sure this is a photo of Roberto Boano, who is an Italian cousin who raced multiple Dakars, as privateer and factory rider. Incredibly talented and kind man. Taught me to ride dirt bikes when I visited during the summers. Love seeing this, fond memories of his race bike displayed in his shop.
Love seeing these reviews on the older bikes
Love this bike, a classic example of function defining form and it still looks amazing as well. Thanks for sharing Harry
Love the bike videos... Such fabulous machines
Nice to see Harry can get excited by his collection of motorcycles, all be it expensive collection as well as 100K plus cars 👍
I have a 1997 RD97 with 35,000 miles, which I have owned for the last 12 years. Original colours, but in 2019 I uprated the front fork internals. put an Olins rear fully adjustable shock on and lightweight wave discs front and rear. It also has an Arrow race exhaust. Awesome bike.
I was waiting for the video on this bike as I’ve bought an original Rd03 Marathon, it’s #20 of the 50 series 2 bikes and did the Pharaohs rally in 1990 and the Dakar in 1991. But it’s stuck in Italy due to COVID and I’ve not seen it yet let alone ridden it. So I’ll just watch this video a few more times....
Wow, well found! Could you share what sort of value an original Marathon is today? I expect it to be circa £30k, depending on condition but could be wildly out as I've never seen values discussed anywhere before..
@@harrysgarage values are hard to know as so few change hands. However, there are basically 3 types of bikes:
- totally untouched and in the condition they finished the Dakar.... usually owned by the guy who raced it, appear at shows occasionally
- bikes that were returned to road spec after the race and sold by Honda as a standard Rd03 road bike, these turn up occasionally and I found one on Leboncoin in France last year for 5,000 euro. I tried to buy it but the guy didn’t want it doing to the UK and wouldn’t sell to me. It had the race number etched onto key parts but had none of the Dakar kit (large fuel tanks etc). I regret not being able to buy that bike and restore it to Dakar spec, although the Dakar kit is very hard to find
- bikes as above but later found and returned to Dakar spec with old stock Dakar or replica parts. These are most common and the night-wings website has photos of all the restored bikes
Mine is an unrestored bike bought at a Honda auction after the Dakar race in 1991 but never restored. It’s spent it’s time in a basement and once I get my hands on it I’ll sympathetically restore it. It didn’t pay anywhere near £30k, but then mine hasn’t run for 30 years.
I’ll happily share more info if you wish. BTW we met at the London concours last year.... I have the Lamborghini Silhouette.
Harry and classic bikes. Complete ambrosia!
Great to see that Honda getting a good thrash across the field also the jumps, well all of it really well done,, thank you for the videos ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️from Northern Ireland greatly appreciated
Lovely to see you in action on the old Africa Twin, sold my RD07 last year with great respect to the best bike I have ever owned (actually in Africa and repatriated to the UK). This video sums up everything I felt about my one. Needed room for my CBX servicing and restoration business, so we both know and owned two of the most iconic bikes Honda ever produced. Great videos you are producing and glad to see bikes in the mix.. thanks for all your efforts.
My Dad always wanted an Africa Twin but had instead a Trans Alp and a Dominantor. Love the sound of those engines, brings back good memories!!! 😊😊
first time I saw one was in my friends dads garage, had no clue what it was, but my first reaction was wow I didnt know they made bikes that big, how does one even wield this lorry around, also I noticed brakes with plastic shroud and funky stiker that says africa for some random reason, but you still can somehow tell even if you dont know what it is, that it is indeed something more special
I've had a couple (04,07a, and a 2018 AS.) seeing people walk past your bike and look *up* at the dashboard will never get old :)
More FPS would make your videos look even better - especially when doing slomos. Thanks for showing the classic Dakar bikes!
Harry, Warmest greetings from Australia in these, the weirdest of times. Thank you for your channel, always fascinating veiwing.
I am the proud owner of a 1988 RD03 originally sold in Japan, imported to Australia sixteen years ago, one of possibly four in this country and showing less than 36000 genuine km on the clock. To my knowledge, RD03's were only made in Japan during 1988/89 and were manufactured on a limited scale by HRC. Once satisfied that there was a market for such a bike and leveraging their Paris-Dakar successes, Honda re-engineered the concept for mass production, resulting in the RD04 and subsequent models.
Loving this Series on Dakar bikes , it’s so good to see a decent review of the Africa twin and it’s Dakar history.
I owned both these machines ( RD 03, 04 ) and I must say there was nothing before and probably there is nothing today, that can come even close to these motorcycles. I rode the world behind the handlebars of these magnificent motorcycles. And if I see one go past today, all I do is stand @ attention and salute !
Brings back nice memories of the BMW GS 800 I once had and a guy I knew now passed away who had the 750 version of that Honda and he wasn't keen on it as a road bike and went over to a BMW R1150GS, he continental toured it to bits! Good videos Harry.. 👍
Really like this series. Enlightening to get the technical advances of Dakar bikes in sequence.
Thanks for sharing this Harry. Just amazing
Best video yet. Love watching you use those bikes for what they were intended to do.
Got to love Harry ! His enthusiasm and knowledge are awesome. Africa Twin...m'mmm, yes please !
Should get the 44 teeth guys to the farm to have a go. They are preparing to do the Dakar rally now. Would be a funny video.
Brilliant idea 👍
That would be a dream collaboration right there
Are they?! I might go back to watch some 44 teeth. Baz Von Jaz was always entertaining but 44t seemed all sports bike and track orientated. Thanks!
You're awesome Harry! Loving this series!
I love the Africa Twin Series. Got one at home with 140.000km on the clock. Still runs flawlessly never had any big repairs, even tho it was ridden a lot offroad in the Sahara Dessert.
It's an RD07 tho.
That clip at 17:30 was just sublime. Absolutely FANTASTIC video. Your passion is so palpable. Great stuff.
It's interesting that you ended up with this bike. I was speaking with the original owner during the build and almost bought it two years ago.
I love the bike stuff! This bike started me on adventure bikes... an icon. Thank you! Mxxx
Great series! The Africa twin is a stunning bike and one of my personal favourites
As a huge Dakar fan, these videos are brilliant. Thank you so much.
I just love the story behind these bikes. Proper no nonsense kit, at they look amazing too. That last clip of you going full throttle in the field..fantastic sound.
your collection is really awesome, Sir!
I love my Africa twin, and anybody who ever owned one always says how much they loved theirs too
Sold my RD07 last year, those who have owned them understand exactly where Harry is coming from.
Looking forward to the Super Tenere👍
I’ve got the baby baby one in Yamaha colours. XT350 from 1993. Had it since new. Taking it to Loch Ness tomorrow for a second spin of 2021.
Fantastic video.... The compass looks like one that goes inside an aircraft!
This is THE Pari-Dakar bike for me! Awesome Harry, cheers 👍🏽
Really nice collection you got there.
Fun to hear the history of the old dakar-bikes.
Rides a Harley normally but got hold of an Rd04 from 91 recently and it's a really fun bike to ride along gravelroads and bigger paths in the forrest.
Good work with the videos👍
I just love anything Dakar, and this series has been fantastic, as i usually pay more attention to the cars than bikes. There's something truly magical about old Dakar, the ones that actually finished in Dakar. The south American and Saudi Arabia might be just as difficult, but there's something missing that the original race had. I do hope one day they will be back to Africa, maybe for the 50th anniversary of the race, that would be amazing.
Good to see Harry getting a work out with these bikes 😃
As an owner of a '99 Africa Twin I was waiting for this episode. Bought mine last summer and it is amazing on gravel roads and forest paths, any more offroad than that and the weight starts to work against you. I especially like how it just swallows potholes and ruts at speed. Riding 80 km/h on a poorly maintained forest service road is no problem, it's almost like riding on the motorway. They're still a great bargain too, I payed ~2000 euro for mine.
I fully agree - and all the best for both of you, always a good and enjoyable ride!
May i say? By chance i bought my RD04 about a year or two before COVID, and because of the new Africa Twin 1000 out that time, nobody was after the older ones. I payed as well just 1500 Euros for mine, and i didn't regret it a single second.
... As you said, not for extrem offroad use but good for all sorts of onroad and offroad bike hiking. My son owns a Transalp and i we did the Assieta Kammstraße together in July then for instance - of course a day to remember!
I love all the Harry's garage videos but these bikes reviews are really top draw, really enjoying the Dakar series 👍
Love the “ Harry’s White Bucket Sprint” at the end of these !
Back when I was a kid, all the older guys had the Aprilia Tuareg Wind 600 which looked similar to the Africa Twin.
The teenagers rode around on 125cc Tuaregs wishing they had the Wind 600.
I'd still love a Tuareg 125. The blue with yellow accents one.
Great video Harry. I can’t ride a bike but now strangle find myself looking for a Dakar bike.
I would love having Harry being my uncle.. he is freaking amazing ❤
Absolutely loving the bike content Harry! Fascinated with Dakar, and your original bike collection run down was so interesting. I don’t think the Dakar rally gets enough coverage across motoring media. I’ve since added a 1992 Super Teneré to restore as a result of these videos! It’s such a fun contrast to go alongside my Triumph Thruxton R. Looking forward to the rest of this series, thank you!
Thanks So much, amazing diversity to your content .
Another good bike video, very informative, looking forward to the next one
Hats off! You obviously know how to describe a ride! Thanks! A pleasure to watch. Once again.
Brilliant little series your doing Harry; thank you 👍🇬🇧
This is an absolute joy. Cheers from the 'Not Gear' team...
Loved the days when Hondas were sponsored by Rothmans. There was something about that colour scheme that just looked right! I used to smoke Rothmans cigarettes as well. Who says advertising doesn't work? Really enjoying this series as well. Congratulations. Like a lot of people I love cars and motorcycles so this is right up my street.
Had the AT RD07. Absolutely mint bike and I loved it to bits. Could stare at it all day long. But I could just never get comfy on it. The seat was just torture, peg to hip distance to cramped and despite being a 'large bike', was quite small when riding with a pillion. But everywhere I went on it, people would stop and stare at it. So did I eventually because I just couldn't put my ar$E through any more pain...
Having owned an RC33 650 Revere, i know how quick the bike was going across the field when the had the revs that high. Transalps are legends.
Really enjoying watching you go through your bike collection. Love the Hondas, I've got an AT in my garage.
Throughly enjoyed the video series so far.
Thanks for sharing your passion with us.
Honda penned an absolute design classic with the AfricaTwin and in 1988 it looked like a spaceship from the future. It really was the off-road design equivalent of the Ducati 916. I came so close to acquiring one of these things on at least three occasions and bottled it each time. Easily my favourite bike in Harry's collection...I mean, just look at it. That massive aluminium sumpguard was a statement of intent and fully spelled out the true rugged purpose of this monster machine that was designed to do just one job; win Paris-Dakar just as Ford had won Le Mans with the GT40 years earlier.
The new Africa Twin retro machine also looks brilliant too, the original DNA is that good. High adventure on two wheels, but also fantastic for bristling down a twisty b-road and onto a destination pub...crowds will always gather round this piece of nostalgic performance kit.
Superb set of video's! Really enjoying this series
I'm 27 and I've chosen the rd03 as first bike. Best choice ever, I'll never sell it
Bello il servizio su questa fantastica moto, io ne possiedo una e sebbene ci faccio solo passeggiate tra monti e mare, trovo sia una esperienza inebriante montare in sella a questo vero mito del motociclismo.
Really informative Harry, I love how you know so much about the AT. Coolest grandad around getting air over those jumps!!
Any bike built specifically to tackle the Dakar, the toughest motorcycle race on the planet IMO, is going to be very special. That Marathon edition is just that, typical of Honda's approach to motor racing helped no doubt by there huge R&D budget! These bikes can also make very good road bikes if you're not into the latest hypersport crotch rockets and a more nimble alternative to a full sized adventure bike.👍
Love the sound of that v-twin engine.
One of my bikes is a Deuville 700 and I believe the engine in that is a derivative from the Africa twin and I can confirm that the engine is ultra reliable and unburstable , its been around for years and I think it may still be in production in some form ( but don't quote me lol ) The Africa twin is legendary , love this video .
I had 5 years of riding sports bikes and loved it. Not ridden for about 10 years but do fancy getting back into it but adventure bikes this time. Grabs coat and heads off to ebay 💨
very much enjoying the Dakar Series.. Its just brilliant seeing these giving more fun than the £££££££££s supercars. A treat every time i watch them, 4th watch for this already. :)
Great series, Mr. Harry. That's a beautiful collection there and impressive riding!
May I suggest shooting in a higher frame rate for some smoother slow motion footage. Those external maneuver clips would look much better! Thank you for the quality content!
Great series Harry and loving this particular one, but I’m very very biased! I have an early 88 RD03, my favorite bike in my mini collection. Bought in 1999 for €1000 Euro when nobody really wanted them.
You’re so lucky to have such a great private playground to exercise the collection and always impressed by your riding skills.Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. Emmet.
Excellent choice! Weird the RD03 went overlooked for so long. My Cagiva is my favourite but next would be the RD03. Feels unbreakable!
@@harrysgarage That’s because it is, carry a spare points for the fuel pump with you and you could take it on a RTW trip no worries, would not like to attempt the same thing on the Cagiva but yes agreed, god it’s a looker for sure 😍
And a quick tip for you Harry, if like me the RD03 doesn’t get used all the time they can take quite a while to start as fuel evaporates from the carbs very easily. Disconnect the connection for the fuel pump relay ( sits under the Speedo in the front fairing and very easy to get to, no panels removed) and when disconnected from relay bridge the wires ( middle and yellow/ black wire) with a piece of jump wire. Pump now turns on and primes when ignition is switched on, give it 5 seconds or so to do its job and then hit the starter button, bet if fires right up in an instant 👍
This is a very interesting series Harry thanks
Love the bikes. Especially the Dakar ones.
Fantastic series! Thank you.
I'm really enjoying these videos! Looking forward to the rest of them
I'v just bought an RD03 with 30 000km on it. Perfect
Petition for Harry to keep these fields permanently available for biking adventures
Loving the motorbike vids!
Fantastic series of videos these, love it.