If you’ve ever crawled through traffic on a long motorcycle trip, Honda wants to take some of the work out of it. At EICMA in Milan, Honda introduced Honda Sensing Ride, a radar-based safety and rider-assistance system for motorcycles. It builds on the Honda Sensing suite found on its cars. The first bike to get it is the 2027 CRF1150L Africa Twin Adventure Sports.
What It Does
According to Honda, its millimeter-wave radar units at the front and rear of the motorcycle watch the surroundings, then warn the rider or help with braking. The list is long: adaptive cruise control, adaptive cruise with stop-and-go, a mode that helps riders keep spacing in a group, forward collision warning, emergency brake assist, blind-spot information and rear collision warning, which flashes the indicators at following traffic. A “Brake Pulse” function adds an alert alongside the forward warning.
Honda
What It Means For Riders
The big benefit is fatigue. Honda pairs the system with its dual-clutch automatic, which removes manual clutch and gear work, so stop-and-go cruise control can handle both throttle and braking in traffic. Honda says that should reduce rider stress and fatigue. It won’t be universal: the system is an option only on the Adventure Sports with the dual-clutch transmission. Honda has not announced a price, an on-sale date or which markets will get it.
Not The First, But A Big Name
Honda isn’t first to this. BMW, Ducati, KTM, Kawasaki and Yamaha already sell motorcycles with radar cruise control. But Honda’s scale matters, and it says it will add the system to more models over time. The company ties the effort to its goal of cutting traffic fatalities involving its motorcycles and cars per 10,000 units sold by 50 percent by 2030, compared with 2020.
Honda
The Fine Print
Honda warns that each function has limits, that riders shouldn’t overestimate it, and that road, weather, and vehicle conditions can affect how it works. That’s a reminder that this is rider assistance, not autonomy. The Africa Twin itself is all new, with a 1,131cc parallel twin that Honda rates at 117 hp.
