The Africa Twin Adventure Sports' comprehensive abilities start with its engine, which has to perform in off-road situations as well as on-road, over long-range tours, short commutes and all points in between. As such, it provides an optimum balance between power, torque, mass and physical dimension.

The four-valve 998cc parallel twin Unicam unit's tractable and usable all-day performance belies its extremely compact dimensions. They are the result of clever packaging touches such as housing the water pump within the clutch casing, and using the engine's balancer shafts to drive water and oil pumps. As a result, longitudinally, it is the same length as Honda's popular 500cc engine, and its short height contributes to the Africa Twin Adventure Sport's 270mm of ground clearance. For 2018, a modified airbox improves the power unit's mid-range response, as does a lighter balancer shaft weight. A revised exhaust serves up an even more evocative howl as revs rise and contributes to the improved performance.