So just back from the 2016 Husqvarna Dealer meeting and we got a glimpse of the 2016 Husqvarna 701 Super Moto that we knew was coming but they also rolled out the new 2016 Husqvarna 701 Enduro. We are not allowed to take pics but we all saw it! Alright....go!
They have a worldwide press "embargo" on that unit until I believe October, we are told to expect them in the dealership in Feb. 2016.
Based on the sumo, I wouldn't expect anything other than a KTM 690 Enduro with different badges on it.
There are a number of differences between the KTM 350/500 EXC & the Husqvarna FE 350/501. They aren't "white" KTM's. Based on sure, but not badge engineered carbon copies.
I don't care what color it is as long as it means we get more! We cannot get enough 690 Enduros as it sits so if this gives us more to sell then I don't care even if it is identical! Unfortunately for the all of 30 seconds they let us see it, tough to tell the differences but definitely carried the Husky look.
Rubbish - tiny tiny differences - same bike For this to be anything worth celebrating, Husky will need to have addressed some of the 690R's fundamental design flaws - short gearbox / ratshit suspension / etc
Buddy of mine works at a husqvarna dealer. He told me back in July that there were plans on a 701 Adventure. I've been trollin looking for more info on here. Patiently waiting..
I must admit I am lurking the Husky sites looking for specifications on the 2016 models. Interested to see just what the differences are between the KTM and Husky versions
Can you tell us what the actual color is? Most photos online show it being Hi-Viz yellow, but some photos I've seen show it more as the normal Husky yellow. Which is it ? Is the Enduro model the same color scheme or different in some way? Thanks !!!
I'm certainly no tycoon and don't play one on the internet, but I just don't get the business logic of KTM moving established KTM models to the Husqvarna brand. Assuming the 701 is, for all practical purposes, the 690 Enduro, and the KTM version is to be discontinued, then my preferred dealer (and the only KTM dealer in my area) will simply not carry them, despite the 690 having probably been his most successfully-selling among all street-legal KTMs. I'm sure he's still not going to set up an additional separate Husky dealership just to continue selling the 701. I can understand, for example, Honda's requiring separate dealerships for its motorcycles and its power products or watercraft. But the whole KTM/Husky thing is, in my mind, more akin to Yamaha/Star or Kawasaki/Vulcan or Suzuki/Boulevard, at least from the potential buyer's perspective. I mean, it looks like KTM wants to eventually brand its off-road race bikes KTM, and its non-competition bikes Husky, just to keep a marquee alive (or merely resurrected). In the US market, it seems to me to just confuse the customer; always an impediment to sales. I'm not a dealer and no one has told me this directly, but I've come to suspect from reading between the lines that a KTM dealer can't just order n bikes of a particular model he that he knows he can sell in his market area; he has to select multi-model "packages" which offer minimal flexibility. He ends up with a glut of expensive models for which there just isn't any interest in his primary market (his area of expertise, not KTM's). Maybe all brands have similar requirements to some measure, but if so, I suspect to a much less restrictive degree. I wonder if that's not part of the evidently wide-spread "shortage" of available 690 Enduros. JET
Looks like the enduro version has real WP forks on it. Might be just for testing though. What they need to do, is finally fix the rocker issue.
Yeah but then they'll create a new issue that we don't know about and have to learn the hard way. I kinda like knowing where to look especially close during each maintenance.
I assume the Husqvarna idea is simply to duplicate the success of KTM at a higher price point with a different story to tell. They might not get us (the adv nerds), but there are 8 billion others. Maybe in 2019 it will become hip for investment bankers to cycle on a e-Husky through Manhattan. If it does not work out, KTM has spend - beside marketing dollars - the lowest possible amount due to plain 1:1 product copies. If it works, they can start to setup a more differentiated product line ... or even not.
Yeah, BUT the 7 billion others are more interested in the latest I phone and talking absolute nonsense in facebook... IT IS us ADV riders that IS their target audience. This Husky thing is PURELY MARKETING. (one of the oldest and legandary MC brands out there) It is funny/AND telling, how fast they have buried the Husaberg brand... Which has put the actual HUSKY engineers jobless... BUT if they finally bring out the 690 ADV, i can forgive them, maybe... And fix the self imploding rockers will YA KTM! I mean the engine is only 9 years old...