Winter Bike Husqvarna 701 Enduro

[rugbyleague]

Current bike is a Gen3 Hayabusa which I don't want to use in the winter months.

Considering a winter bike for the 1st time.

The time and also the number of days of my commute has changed recently and although I live in the Lake District the new timings are adding time to my journey that can be reduced if I commute by motorbike.

Now in the Lakes we have quite a few green lanes which I'm keen to try so I'm thinking of a bike to commute on as well as opens options to green lane (hence the bigger cc than the usual 250, 300, 450).

Am I being sensible?

So far Pistonheads has been successful at choosing my last 2 bikes so I'm hoping you come up trumps again on maybe my 3rd?

[Bob_Defly]

It's a nice bike for sure, might need a few mods to make it winterproof. Personally if I was going to commute on it I'd get the Tenere 700 just for more peace of mind reliability-wise.

[gareth h]

I’ve had a 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R for a few years, they are -pretty good on the road with the right tyres, headlight isn’t great which may be an issue with winter commute, but can be sorted with an led upgrade, brakes are adequate but not upto modern road bike standards (but you don’t want twin radial Brembos offroad!).
Oh, and they’re pretty tall, mines got a 25mm lowering link and it’s manageable (I’m 5’8”) but you have to think about it, just in the process of selling mine, they seem to hold their value quite well, although the bikes that have been used offroad can look a bit tatty.

Edited by gareth h on Monday 19th August 09:17

[Biker 1]

I had a KTM 690 Enduro on 2017. The brakes were simply not good enough on the road - nice powerful single cylinder, but scary attempting to stop in time!! Spokes were fine over winter, but some of the fixings on the bike furred up badly.
More recently I had a SMC R with a proper front brake. Maybe get the Husqvarna SM & stick on some adventure tyres??

[gareth h]

Biker 1 said:

I had a KTM 690 Enduro on 2017. The brakes were simply not good enough on the road - nice powerful single cylinder, but scary attempting to stop in time!! Spokes were fine over winter, but some of the fixings on the bike furred up badly.
More recently I had a SMC R with a proper front brake. Maybe get the Husqvarna SM & stick on some adventure tyres??

Or stick decent pads in? It’s what I was considering if I was going to keep it.

[KTMsm]

What roads and how far is the commute ?

690 / 701 is the ultimate road / green lane bike as they are the closest to an enduro bike and fine on the right roads (twisty A and B roads)

Currently own a 701, no idea what those complaining about the brakes were doing - they're fine, the tyres are a bigger compromise IMO

I admit I prefer a big V twin on the road but I have to choose the green lanes carefully for my 990 Adv

[rugbyleague]

Thanks for this commute is 21miles each way across a lovely mix of twisty B roads merging into 60mph A roads and dual carriageways.

Happy for a tall bike, I'm not a small chap, interested about the brakes and tyre choices.

[KTMsm]

Obviously they're not great for dual carriageways

Tyres for on / off road bikes is always a hard choice

In the Midlands it's deep mud 80% of the year so anything less than 80:20 Off road:Road will be a disaster off road

I'm guessing yours will mostly be stone so you might get away with a 50:50 or even an 80:20 Road:Off Road

Knobblies are surprisingly good on the road (relatively speaking) but they wear fast

[Biker 1]

I forget which tyres I ended up with on the 690, but they were similar to OE tyres.
I must admit it was laugh out loud riding a dirt bike on the motorway!
Regarding the brakes: I suppose more aggressive pads might help, but with that little disc & caliper, it's not anywhere close to the Brembo system fitted to the SM....

[gareth_r]

The 701 as a trail bike gets a passing mention in this video from PHer jumpingloci (at about 20 minutes)

https://youtu.be/hyRt8FUY4Do?si=PLap3J1kLtNyGhor

[Hugo Stiglitz]

rugbyleague said:

Thanks for this commute is 21miles each way across a lovely mix of twisty B roads merging into 60mph A roads and dual carriageways.

Happy for a tall bike, I'm not a small chap, interested about the brakes and tyre choices.

Your not describing that bike for that commute.

Get something like a Honda NC750X for reliability and not caring about how the road salt treats it and buy some decent winter tyres.

[gareth h]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

rugbyleague said:

Thanks for this commute is 21miles each way across a lovely mix of twisty B roads merging into 60mph A roads and dual carriageways.

Happy for a tall bike, I'm not a small chap, interested about the brakes and tyre choices.

Your not describing that bike for that commute.

Get something like a Honda NC750X for reliability and not caring about how the road salt treats it and buy some decent winter tyres.

Yeah, but he won’t be riding any trails on that

[carinaman]

N+1

It's two more bikes. A commuter bike for commuting and a trails bike for green lanes.

CB500X?

CRF250L and a commuter bike for the road?

[Neal H]

I know you said bigger than 450, but I’ve been impressed with my Triumph 400 Scrambler performance on the road. It’s no rocket ship but it’s fairly punchy up to 70 mph and will cruise happily at that speed, so something like that or the RE Himalayan 450 could be worth a look as a dual commuting and trail bike.

[PT1984]

Check the latest Bikeworld video. Chris gives the Himalayan 450 a big thumbs up.

[rugbyleague]

Thanks for the replies, the brief is a bike suitable for commute and green landing through the winter.

21 mile Commute is 2 miles of dual carriageway, maybe 12 miles of fast straight roads with the rest being Country lanes.

I only want one bike.

Love the looks of the Husky and it does get good reviews.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

That's a massive compromise though. A bike that'll do 21miles a day with occasional green lanes?

You'll be knackered and won't want to ride on none work days plus it's too compromised for what you need IMO.


In an ideal world you'd have two bikes.

[gareth h]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

That's a massive compromise though. A bike that'll do 21miles a day with occasional green lanes?

You'll be knackered and won't want to ride on none work days plus it's too compromised for what you need IMO.


In an ideal world you'd have two bikes.

I’d happily do 20 miles a day on a 690 / 701, if the trails aren’t too technical (or your an offroad god) it will be more than happy off road too, it’s probably one of the lightest adventure bike you can buy

[rugbyleague]

Thanks again for this I'm definitely not an off road god......in my defence I do have use of a car aswell as bike, so bike to work will not be everyday.

Lights will be important because most of journey will not be street lit.

[KTMsm]

701 is more than up to it

I think people forget it's a 70+ bhp bike, there are loads of cars with less than that !