Say someone handed you a massive dirt bike, and told you it was a touring bike.
Would you:
A). Think it was a touring bike, despite the looks of the thing?
B). Think you were being misled, and this motorcycle really was an overgrown dirt bike?
That’s the choice you get with the Husqvarna 701 Enduro. It looks like a massive honkin’ enduro bike, but Husqvarna’s website says it’s a “Travel” bike. So what’s the story?
That single-cylinder engine is far more advanced than anything Japan currently sells in the 650 category. Photo: Zac Kurylyk
Not your average thumper
The defining feature of the Husqvarna 701 Enduro is its 693 cc single-cylinder engine. This is the most advanced big-bore single on the market. It’s the most powerful production thumper ever built, rated for 74 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 54 pound-feet of torque at 6,500 rpm. The engine has a four-valve head, dual counterbalancers and dual spark head, with both sparks receiving individual ignition timing, for optimized fuel burn. There’s even a quickshifter (Husqvarna calls it Easy Shift)非常诀窍.
Of course, this all adds complexity. It’s great to have lots of muscle, it’s great to have leaning-sensitive traction control and two switchable riding modes. However, this means a lot of extra electronics on-board. This isn’t your old-school simplistic KLR/DR/XR. It’s not as complicated as a modern adventure bike with a twin-cylinder engine, but it’s definitely not a Keep-It-Simple-Stupid design.
However, it’s refreshing to see KTM develop this engine as far as it has (remember: KTM controls Husqvarna now, and this 701 engine is the same as KTM’s latest-generation 690). While the rest of the mainstream motorcycle manufacturers have done little or nothing to improve their big-bore singles since the 1990s, KTM continued to pump R&D into the LC4 platform.
It’s not just a thumper it’s an, uh…. super thumper. I wish all the OEMs made a single-cylinder that was this fun. Photo: Laura Deschenes
As a result, the 701 Enduro is a very fun bike to ride, if you like thumpers. You’ve got gobs of torque off the line; the bike lugs along smoothly at low rpm. However, where other big single-cylinder engines used to run out of steam at higher rpm, the 701 just keeps pulling hard. It’s got fistfuls of roll-on power at extra-legal speeds on the highway, where your older carbureted 650 would be wheezing and asking for a break. I last rode a 701 in 2017, and remembered it as the most enjoyable thumper I ever rode. Four years later, aboard the 2021 model, I still feel the same way.
The beauty of the 701’s power curve is, on the street, you run out of steam at roughly the same speed that a ticket would getreallyexpensive. Up until that point, the 701 is mega-fun. After that speed, who cares? You’re not going to be riding around forever at speeds much over 100 mph without losing your license, your bike, or both. Getting to that danger-zone speed is where the real fun is in motorcycling. That’s how I see it, anyway.
Offroad, the traction control system is a handy helper on gravel roads; you can switch it off, if you want to use the rear wheel to powerslide around corners. It’s a bit less convenient than the easy interface on KTM’s adventure bikes, but it’s not too tricky.
Open gravel like this is lots of fun for the 701. For the tight stuff, you need to know what you’re doing. Photo: Laura Deschenes
However, the motor is so torquey that if you have crappy dirt riding technique (like I do, alas!), the 701 is a handful once you get into bumpy, rocky terrain, and I suspect it would be very tricky on tight single-track (unless your initials areScott SummerS，也许）。ham拳的方法可能会导致威士忌油门的停止案例。我的意思是：如果您是专家，则可能会在701上越野越野。如果您是菜鸟，最好从更轻松的东西开始。
Unfortunately, due to local laws, I wasn’t able to try any dunes or sand with the 701. I suspect the motor would prove to be ridiculously fun in those conditions.
An aggressive chassis
Typically, when you see a dual sport or adventure bike oriented for touring/travel usage, you see the chassis is softened a bit around the edges. The Japanese duallies come with downright soggy forks and shocks; the Euros keep things a bit stiffer, but still, you don’t expect dirt bike performance from a heavy street-legal ADV. Road comfort is the priority.
The 701’s suspension is instead biased towards dirt use. Hairy-chested enduro junkies will tell you it’s a compromise, but when you’re riding the 701, you feel like you’re riding a dirt bike, not a tourer. Again, if you’re an inexperienced dirt rider, you might find the stiff suspenders make the 701 a handful, and I would not recommend it to learners.
The gas tank is hidden away inside that rear subframe, meaning the mass is centralized. Photo: Zac Kurylyk
Personally, I found that some tinkering with the rebound adjustments made the machine much more enjoyable to ride.
One thing I was happy to note: The 2017 model I tested would go into a wobbly headshake sometimes, on quick deceleration. The 2021 model didnotdo that. I presume Husqvarna has changed some part of the design here; whatever the engineers did, it worked.
该机器的其余部分呢？Husqvarna使用了相同的铬淀粉框架布置，并带有相同的塑料副车架，并带有3.4加仑的燃油箱。这可以减少重量，并允许质量集中化。这也意味着，在座椅后面和下方燃油箱中，很难增加额外的燃油容量，而抛弃的软行李也带来了挑战。这意味着毕竟这可能不是一个有趣的“旅行自行车”。
I played around with the clickers and was able to quickly get the front end where I wanted it. Other past reviewers have had the same experience; this bike does not come dialed in for a “One Size Fits All” experience. Photo: Zac Kurylyk
The seat is just as user-unfriendly as before, at a sky-high 36.2 inches, with plank-like padding. You don’t buy this bike expecting all-day comfort, though, and that seat stretches very far forward, almost to the headstock, making it easy to move around for maximum control.
Finally, there’s basically zero wind protection on this bike. I think that’s a good thing; extra plastic would make the 701 heavier, bulkier, and more breakable in the woods. However, if you’re behind the handlebars on this at high speed all day, the windblast will wear you out.
Conclusion
综上所述,我不认为我会购买the 701 specifically as a travel bike—but I do think it makes an excellent dual sport, especially if you’re riding in an area with lots of wide-open offroad riding spaces. You can purchase aftermarket fuel tanks, mini-fairings and other bits to make travel easier, but I’m not sure I’d do so. If I was traveling to a place like the Sahara, maybe, and I wanted a powerful dual sport when I got there—but in that case, I might want a bike that with less electro-mechanical complexity.
时髦的现代设计将701与650级同行区分开。照片：Zac Kurylyk
If I lived around Baja? Or SoCal, or somewhere else with big sand dunes? I’d love a 701. Even here in the northeast, with much tighter trails, the 701 definitely makes a great backroad blaster, and it’s mega-fun on woods roads. If I could find a beach that’s legal to ride on, this machine would be a gas.
知道我想什么?我认为这将是very cool if Husqvarna built a real travel bike around this engine, with some concessions towards comfort and street handling. A 19-inch front wheel, maybe; a small fairing, a bit more fuel capacity. Something along the lines of KTM’s 390 Adventure, but with less compromise.
Without that option, I must confess that if I could only own one motorcycle, the 701 Enduro would still be a strong contender. It’s the thumper that the Japanese OEMs should be aiming for, instead of letting their 650 designs stagnate. Even if it isn’t a great travel bike, I could travel on it, and if I needed to used the aftermarket to improve the bike’s long-mileage capability, well—that sounds like a fun project.
Husqvarna wants $12,099 for the 701 Enduroin the US, and $13,399in Canada.
