For a while now, there’s been talk of an imminent update to the Honda Africa Twin. Now, several motorcycle websites are claiming to have stats for the new bike, indicating a new engine and other changes.

At this point, it’s unclear exactly where the rumors were sourced from, although Cycle World appears to have possibly been the first mag to publish the details.

In any case, the basic gist of the gossip is that Honda’s going to introduce a 1087 cc version of the Africa Twin, called the CRF1000L. Cycle World and other sites believe the existing vertical twin engine will get a longer stroke, instead of a bigger bore. A simple bore job is an easier way to build displacement, but with Euro5 pollution regs around the corner, Honda’s got to be thinking about reducing tailpipe emissions. A longer stroke increases displacement without the added pollution that might be expected from larger pistons, since larger-diameter pistons often result in increased emissions.

Cycle World also posits the new Africa Twin will see both the standard and Adventure Sports models with the larger 6.2-gallon fuel tank, instead of the standard model sticking with the current 5-gallon tank. Although both bikes are supposed to be lighter, there isn’t as much difference in their wet weights as in the past, and Cycle World suggests a shared, larger fuel tank may be the reason.

Many of the other dimensions (height, width, wheelbase) are more or less the same as the current model, although we’re sure there’ll be other interesting additions to the machines revealed later. There is supposed to be DCT and non-DCT versions of both the standard Africa Twin and the Africa Twin Adventure Sports models, just as there is now.

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