stantly rave about off-road on the Adventure
R. Second, it enters a new range of unique
suspension travel, down from the "R" and up
from the standard Adventure offering from
the family.
We don't hate this direction. And while
we're clearly going to (and did!) max out
the components of the Norden
off-road, the comfort on the other
end of the spectrum is a welcome
touring companion. We do have
comfort issues with the Adventure
R's 48mm Xplor fork and rough
paved roads or even those that
seem not-so-rough. It simply bites
in the hands and wrists over the
miles as its aggressive (race!)
nature shows its teeth. Norden has
no poor manners here. It smooths
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 48 NOVEMBER 30, 2021 P91
out the roughest roads. It
gobbles up the most annoy-
ing chop. It makes washboard/rut-
ted roads a buttery affair.
The fact that I'm comparing it to
an Adventure R is a compliment, as
this bike is way ahead of the "stan-
dard" Adventure model and other midrange
offerings, in my opinion. We got plenty rowdy
on the volcano rims and jungle roads and
water crossings that make up Azores
Island riding. We were warned by the
Norden that we were pushing the limit, but
we didn't stop until the third or fourth solid
fork-bottoming "clank!" Then, we got the
message that this bike has limits, and they
are very responsible ones at that.
But this is still a compromise. The
Norden doesn't have the off-road jump-
ing, jamming and oh-sh*t-I-didn't-see-
that-coming performance of its cousin.
And as the bike heads out west from our
exotic testing location in the Atlantic, this will
continue to show as speeds increase and
obstacles hit faster and harder. We're excited
to see it perform on our home turf. But as a
true touring adventure model with off-road
chops for the majority of the riding public's
needs, we like it.
Up next is ergonomics and styling, as they
go together here. Norden comes to the ADV
(Right) The suspension
spec on the Norden
901 is WP Apex series
with comfort settings
selected over aggressive
performance. The shock
(shown) has rebound
and preload adjustment
only. The fork has
full compression and
rebound adjustments via
hand clickers. (Below)
Call it an 890 or 901 or
whatever you want, we've
seen and loved this
engine before.
