A continuation of the info dump from Pierer Mobility, where an investor presentation is spilling the Austrian company’s future plans for the KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas brand, our next news items concerns the bikes from Husky.
Like with the KTM news, the big headline revelation is the coming 490 platform, which for Husqvarna will be called the 501 lineup.
As we saw with the orange bikes, the blue and white bikes of Husqvarna see a wide range of uses for the upcoming twin-cylinder 500cc engine.
Since we know now that the Husqvarna Norden 901 has been given the green light to go into production, I thought I would share this small gallery of the ADV concept from the EICMA show, and provide my thoughts from the trade show floor.
One of the most talked about machines from the Milan trade show, the Norden 901 is Husqvarna’s first adventure-touring machine, and helps marry the brand’s extensive dirt biking history with its more recent street bike offerings.
Saying that, it is perhaps surprising that the Husqvarna Norden 901 is so late in its arrival, as one could easily see how an ADV machine would be a more palatable motorcycle to begin Husqvarna’s straying from the dirt.
If the Husqvarna Norden 901 was one of your top picks from the 2019 EICMA show, then we have some good news for you, as the adventure-touring bike has been given the green light for production by the Swedish brand.
The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to astute ADV fans, as spy shots of the new Husky have already been spotted in the wild, and Husqvarna has a strong track record of bringing its EICMA concepts to reality.
What will be interesting though is where Husqvarna lands on the feature list, and more importantly, how the Husqvarna Norden 901 is going to be priced against its competition.
Do not adjust your computer monitors, you are not seeing things incorrectly. This KTM Moto3 bike is having a bit of an identity crisis, as it is now known as the Husqvarna FR 250 GP. Yes, the Swedish brand is making its re-entry in the grand prix racing next year.
Set to be campaigned by Max Racing, which is the team name of former world champion Max Biaggi, Husqvarna’s push back into the Moto3 series is sure to make waves, and that’s before we tell you that the named riders are Romano Fenati and Alonso Lopez.
As you can imagine then, the news made waves when it was announced at the EICMA show in Milan, though perhaps there is some hope that Biaggi’s veteran status can ease the rough edges found on Fenati.
If there is a complaint to be made about the Husqvarna 701 Enduro, it likely has to do with the bike’s 3.4 gallon (13-liter) fuel tank.
The size of the tank isn’t unreasonable, mind you, especially since the Huqvarna 701 Enduro does pretty well at sipping fuel, despite its big single-cylinder engine, but if you really want to explore where the trail ends, there just isn’t enough go-juice on the bike…until now.
Say hello to the Husqvarna 701 Enduro LR, and as you can probably figure out for yourself, the two-letter designation stands for “long range”.
Every year, for the past five years, Husqvarna has worked like clockwork at the EIMCA show in Milan. This is because the Swedish variant from KTM has been steady in its approach of releasing one new street bike in Milan, and one new concept model for possible future production. For 2019, this trend continues.
Behold the Husqvarna Norden 901 concept, a uniquely styled adventure-tourer, with an 899cc parallel-twin engine, and plenty of styling cues to keep your pouring over the high-resolution photos below.
As the name suggests, the Norden 901 gets the upgraded “890” engine from the KTM 890 Duke R, but fit into a package that is similar to the KTM 790 Adventure platform.
Remember that day when KTM bought a struggling dirt bike brand? No, we’re not talking about Husqvarna again, because today Stefan Pierer and his team acquired 60% of the shares of Spanish dirt bike marque GasGas.
The acquisition is actually an interesting one between KTM and GasGas’s owner, Black Toro Capital, as it sees the Austrian conglomerate “partnering” with its Spanish counterpart, primarily on electric dirt bikes.
Their home Grand Prix is traditionally the place where KTM announce the racing plans, and this weekend’s Austrian MotoGP round is no different.
There is to be a shakeup in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes, while the Austrian manufacturer has extended its commitment to MotoGP for five more years beyond 2021.
KTM will stop as a chassis manufacturer in Moto2, but bring back Husqvarna as a separate team and bike in Moto3.
If you are a loyal reader of Asphalt & Rubber, then you know that we love us some supermoto motorcycles. As such, we bring you today the only factory-built race-ready supermoto for the next model year. Say hello to the 2020 Husqvarna FS 450.
Before you put your 2019 model up for sale, we should note that the changes for the 2020 model year aren’t terribly large.
The Husqvarna FS 450 got a pretty good update last year, with more torque and less weight (thanks to the changes made to Husqvarna’s 450cc motocross bike), so the 2020 machine remains at a claimed 63hp and 220 lbs without fuel.
Husqvarna’s first electric motorcycle just went into production, as such say hello to the Husqvarna EE 5 – an electric dirt bike aimed at young riders.
The 50cc equivalent machine will go on sale in July 2019 worldwide, except in the North American market, where “Autumn 2019” is listed as the expected arrival date.
To that vein, European pricing is set at €5,000 and £4,500, and this should mean a US price of around $5,750 by our calculations.
It feels like the longest rumored machine in KTM’s future lineup. We are of course talking about the KTM 390 Adventure.
The missing link in the Austrian brand’s adventure-touring model range, which we have talked, rumored, and speculated about for well…quite a long time.
About a year ago though, Bajaj SVP and KTM India boss Amit Nandi tipped that we would see the KTM 390 Adventure in 2019. Well, that time is now, and rumors are once again heating up about this small-displacement ADV.