If you’re a road rider then CCM Racing out in west Dublin may not be on your radar. All that, however, is about to change. The Husqvarna range of road motorcycles are now available to buy from the off road specialist. The one we really want to own, keep and never give back is the Husqvarna 701 Supermoto. For its class, this is a very large-displacement machine. And one which has set the benchmark in terms of agility and performance, tech and outright power.
Supermotos have their origins in the nineties when off road riders fitted their machines with road wheels and tyres. Some of them had little more than a wonderfully casual acquaintance with the requirements of the road traffic act. Some of us here at the office have very fond memories of riding two stroke 250cc machines on slicks around Mondello back in the early noughties.
The big advantage that they had was their power to weight ratio was off the scale! While they may have had a lot less power that the 600cc bikes that dominated the tracks at the time, they had such easy handling in the corners that even a moderately well ridden one would upset the average CBR600RR rider through the ‘Tarzans’ each and every time the opportunity presented itself.
For the most part all that nonsense is over. And the Supermoto, much like the Streetfighter, is now a fully factory finished piece of kit with people like KTM building a reputation on the things over the last decade or so. Now the 701 from Husqvarna is available in Ireland and things just got a whole lot more interesting.
Having a long and glorious history of making off road machines, the people at Husqvarna were perfectly positioned to make one. And while there is a whole range of them, the 701 is the big bike of the bunch and therefore the flagship. Now, in the Supermoto, we have a bike that will make short work of a technical track as easily as it will make a Sunday morning breakfast run a lot more fun than it has any right to be. As for the daily commute, we’d be hard pressed to find anything that would be more fun on a wet Tuesday on the Stillorgan dual carriageway.
Powered by a mighty 74 hp single cylinder engine, sitting in a chassis that has a weight of just 145 kg, makes for a whole lot of two wheeled fun. Add in a ride by wire throttle, Brembo brakes, WP suspension, Bosch ABS and a long list of extras available from the dealership this is a long way from something built in a shed back in the day, and out performs it in every way.
For more details give any of the team a call on 014526170.
