HUSQVARNA 701 SM
QUICKSPIN
P96
tech review on the 701 range
can be read HERE, but I wasn't
going to miss out on a date with
the white and blue demon, so I
twisted Husky's Andy Jefferson's
arm into giving me a quick two-
week blast around the places
that make up my motorcycling
life: work commuting, weekend
twisties, date nights, y'know,
the usual stuff. Suffice to say,
my license is thankful I gave the
Husky back to its owners.
The 690cc KTM Duke engine
nestled in the 701 SM's 18-pound
chrome-moly-steel trellis frame
is a great little motor for zip-
ping around town. But the Duke
chassis doesn't make you want
to rev the ass off the engine at
any given opportunity. This is
not the case with a 701 SM. The
701 demands to be ridden like
it was stolen. Half throttle riding
has that massive 102mm-wide
piston feeling like it wants to es-
cape out the sides of the bore;
it's far more comfortable either
accelerating hard or stopping.
No in-between pussyfooting is
allowed.
This is precisely why this bike
Rennie contemplates his
next destination.
is no good for highway tour-
ing. On my 23-mile commute
to the Cycle News office, the
Husqvarna is nothing short of
horrible. The vibrations sent
through the chassis by that
big ol' piston are, shall we say,
rather unpleasant. The plank
dirt bike seat doesn't do the
situation much good at all, and
there's no escaping the fact
that this is a drawback of the
machine, considering many will
buy a 701 SM for commuting
and thus a bit of freeway work.
Your body acts like a massive
sail on the freeway, but this is
not a criticism of the 701, just
a characteristic of any dirt bike
"IF YOU DON'T RIDE
THE 701 SM LIKE
IT WAS INTENDED,
YOU WON'T GET
WHAT MAKES IT A
GREAT BIKE."
