Sadly, we are not blessed with the best riding roads in Gauteng; to find those, we have to ride east or south for a few hours, something that is not always possible in the course of a Sunday morning. A weekend, maybe, but how many of us have time to do that every weekend?
I used to think it was the same for adventure riding; the flat veldt surrounding Johannesburg not providing much in the way of hardcore trails and hills. Thus, it was always a problem when adventure bikes came up for a test to really put them through their paces without taking a couple of days off, which just wasn’t possible, both financially and time-wise.
I laboured under that impression for a long time, whilst being aware that people did seem to come back with dirty bikes from a morning’s riding: which I just couldn’t fathom.
Then the opportunity came to ride the Husqvarna Norden 901 over a weekend and I was determined to make the most of it, to actually take it off-road and not just confirm what I already knew: that it is, in line with all adventure bikes, great on the road.
The problem was where? A chance conversation with a friend revealed that a friend of his rode off-road virtually every weekend with a bunch of mates. Typically for a fellow motorcyclist, the invitation to join in, despite being a total stranger to them, was instantly forthcoming. All I had to do now, was to remember how to ride off-road!
That might sound strange coming from someone who does this for a living but you have to remember that, by and large, we journalists are jacks of all trades and masters of maybe one or two. Our lives are filled with many different bikes but rarely do we have the time to ride any one bike for longer than a few days and, equally rarely do we have a succession of one type of bike, not to mention access to the type of road, trail or track to get the best out of them.
Adventure riding is one of my favourite two-wheel disciplines but I simply don’t get the chance to do much of it, so the prospect of heading out into the unknown with a group of talented riders was just the ticket, despite my own personal lack of talent.
Of course, there was no cause for worry. In my experience, no one who rides bikes resents passing on some hard-won knowledge and makes no fuss about helping out a less-experienced rider if asked, or waiting patiently while the tortoise brings up the rear.
So, to finally get to the point of this article: where did our route take us? We headed north out of Bryanston and up past Broadacres, towards Lanseria. Then we turned off the road and proceeded to wend our way further northwards towards Hartebeespoort, alternating dirt with tar and, from there, we simply followed kilometre after kilometre of irrigation canals, all of which have an access road running alongside.
Now, that doesn’t sound terribly exciting but it was such a revelation to find off-road trails along which to ride, a stone’s throw from where I lived. Ok, so the going was largely flat and not very technical but, still, it was off-road and thankfully dry: it would have been a different story if it was muddy!
Eventually, we popped out onto the R511 heading towards Thabazimbi and headed for a roadside eatery for refreshments. With that came the chance to assess the Husqvarna and the first thing that came to mind was how different it feels to the KTM 890 Adventure which, of course, is essentially what the Norden 901 is under the skin.
I have no idea how they have done this and, in actual fact, it doesn’t really matter. Maybe we should think along the lines of being happy there is another choice of an adventure bike. It might seem strange that the KTM Group would launch a competitor to its own bike but I doubt the Husky will take sales away from the KTM and I only hope that it is a sales success in its own right because it deserves to be.
It was nothing but confidence-boosting off-road, being beautifully balanced and wearing its weight down low. The engine has a broad spread of torquey power and the quick-shifter gearbox is light and precise, although some care was needed to not snick inadvertently down a gear when standing on the pegs.
The Norden 901 is an excellent adventure bike and it is the existence of models such as this, the KTM 890 Adventure and the Triumph Tiger 900 that begs the question: why would you need anything bigger? Compared to these middleweights, the litre-plus adventure bikes seem so incredibly large and heavy.
These middleweights lose nothing to the bigger bikes, whether on tar or off-road: you can cover huge daily distances in comfort and, of course, the lighter weight and reduced bulk pays dividends off-road.
Comfort: good, performance: good, ability: good, appearance: good, equipment: good, brakes: good, suspension: good. Yet another glowing report in a sea of glowing reports: not just for the Norden but for the vast majority of bikes on the market today.
Having said that, while it is not a criticism, there is something that you need to be aware of. The Norden 901 is a handsome bike but those good looks are exposed to disfigurement. The main culprit is the large bodywork panel that stretches from the headlight all the way along the flanks to meet the seat. Because of its convex shape and the positioning of the apex of the curve, even the mildest lay-down will scratch and damage that panel. To protect it would take crash bars of such size and expanse that you might as well build a roll cage around the bike and have done with it.
I can’t imagine that replacing that panel would be cheap, either. Given the company’s experience in building off-road machinery, it is a strange design feature, even if it is attractive.
Is it a deal-breaker? In a word: no. The Norden 901 is just too good for this to be a barrier to ownership. What is a more pertinent question is how do you choose between the 901 and the KTM 890 Adventure? For once, you can buy based solely on looks, safe in the knowledge that both bikes will not only flatter the novice but satisfy the expert.
The Husqvarna Norden 901 will cost you R246,999 or thereabouts. This compares to the KTM 890 Adventure R at R249,999, while the base model 890 Adventure is R229,999.
Husqvarna Norden 901
For more information on the bike featured in this article, click on the link below…
