Well done, gents. Great review and comparison. Having owned the Africa Twin Adventure Sports for a couple of years, I can attest that the Tuareg is a much easier bike to ride and its ride modes actually change the quality of the ride (throttle response, ABS, traction control and engine braking) in a much more noticeable way than the Honda.
I wanted a T7 very badly, but had issues finding one.. after riding a Tuareg I found that the OEM suspension on the Tuareg was better sprung and just felt better overall. While I would have preferred the simplicity of the T7 in terms of electronics, the way Aprilia does it is the next best option, plus the Aprilia Electronics Package gives you engine braking settings for your two customizable rider modes (off road and individual). While I would still like to have a T7 in my garage, I have not regretted my decision to buy the Tuareg. I've put 7000 miles on it in 4 months with no issues. Aprilia did a really good job with this motorcycle. Having cruise control is worth every penny of the extra cost. I'm sure if Yamaha offered that option for the T7 then those owners would pay that same amount for it too.
The extra heat coming from the Tuareg might be that high compression engine - 13.5:1 I used to play with compression on my old KTM, and sure higher comp gives more torque and moore heat. I have been a couple of times in Nigeria, and that red sand looked familiar. Nice review, i also have a soft spot for the AJP PR7, which probably would be a moore dirt oriented bike than these 2.
