First ride: Husqvarana 701 Enduro review

TAKE the badge off this Husqvarana 701 Enduro and what have you got? A KTM 690 Enduro R LC4.

I'm not speaking figuratively. You can literally take the seat off, with its Husqvarna badge, and find 'KTM LC4' written underneath on the air-box.

We've known since we saw a prototype in 2013, not long after KTM's acquisition of Husqvarna from BMW, that the new model was based on a KTM 690. There's also a new Husqvarna 701 Supermoto, based on the KTM 690 SMC R. The plan is to build a whole range of KTM-based Huskies in what the once Swedish marque is calling its 'new era'.

But it's not just a change of branding, Husqvarna maintains. Its machines will be more ‘user-friendly’ than their Austrian counterparts, ‘less extreme’ according to product manager Justin Maxwell. In the case of the 701 Enduro, ‘more for travel,’ he said. To that end, the tank, which is also the polyamide sub-frame, is one litre bigger than the KTM’s, meaning a 13-litre capacity.

In a presentation at the launch in Lagos, Portugal, our attention was brought to the new, ribbed seat, extending virtually from handlebar to tail light, and to the narrowness of the new bodywork, allowing the rider freedom to move around.

The words 'user-friendly' and 'travel' weren't ones I found myself saying as the launch test ride got underway. With a claimed seat height of 910mm, the same as the KTM's, this bike is tall. I'm 5'9" and my feet were dangling if I tried to get both down at once. Even my tiptoes didn't bridge the gap. So instead I had one foot flat on the ground and my bum half off the seat. Kicking the side-stand up from that position is impossibly awkward. You've got to do it before you get on. That's all fine I suppose. The clue's in the name: 'Enduro'.

I'm comfortable riding off-road but a long way from expert. Happy on trails but not likely to enter an extreme enduro race ever in my lifetime. For me, the height of the 701 threatened to be inconvenient off-road too. If I came to something particularly awkward, that I wanted to paddle over with my feet, I wouldn't be able too. Notice these thoughts still didn't include the words 'user-friendly' or 'travel'.

A road leading to a trail was flooded. A couple of Husqvarna's riders found a way of bypassing it, but it involved a near-vertical descent of about 50 metres down a slippery, muddy hillside onto the road on the other side of the water. One journalist attempted it and arrived at bottom on his arse. Another, one of the most experienced off-road, looked down from the top, made his excuses and turned back. I saw the descent and said: 'Are you f****** kidding me?' So another route was found.

But as we eventually arrived at some trails, climbing, dropping and twisting through wooded and grassy hills along the coast, the 701 Enduro quickly inspired me with confidence. There’s no need to worry about reaching the ground when you’ve got loads of low-down torque and a 21-inch front wheel that seems to float over anything in the way, the upside-down fork, with compression and rebound damping adjustment, soaking it up like it’s not there. Both the fork and shock are from WP and offer a claimed 275mm of wheel travel (compared to a claimed 250mm for the KTM).

Now the 701 Enduro did take on a dimension of user-friendliness. The gear selector is stubby and fat. It folds back, so it’s less likely to bend if it goes down, and that fat profile also makes it easy to feel and operate with the side of your foot, even through a tough off-road boot. That made it easy to shift up a gear while standing on the pegs. The six-speed box seemed to resist finding neutral when I stopped, though.

Although the 690cc twin-spark engine has strong, helpful torque from way down in the range, the throttle response is forgiving, not too aggressive. The throttle is ride-by-wire and there are three fuel maps to choose from – soft, standard and advanced – using a switch located under the seat. The test bikes were on the standard setting.