We loved the Husqvarna Nordon 901 when we tested it last year. Now, Husqvarna is offering a new version known as the Nordon 901 Expedition.
Highlighting the new features is the premium WP XPLOR suspension with increased travel. The new bike will be in dealers later this month, according to Husqvarna. Here is the full press release:
Husqvarna Motorcycles North America, Inc. is excited to unveil the Norden 901 Expedition – a new and highly capable touring machine designed to offer endless exploration. Expertly crafted with a selection of premium Technical Accessories to enhance its outstanding capabilities both on- and off-road, the Norden 901 Expedition comes complete with long travel WP XPLOR suspension to ensure all riders can explore further for longer. As a finishing touch, the new travel motorcycle features a striking new color scheme to signify its world-traveling intentions.
Guaranteeing the Norden 901 Expedition excels across the roughest terrain, the new offroad-specific WP XPLOR suspension with 240 mm of travel is fitted to both the front and rear of the motorcycle. This premium, fully adjustable suspension gives riders the opportunity to fine-tune the compression, rebound and preload settings to create a personalized setup based on their individual preferences.
Contributing to maximum rider comfort on all long-distance adventures, the Norden 901 Expedition is equipped with many of Husqvarna Motorcycles’ Technical Accessories as standard. For early morning starts, and especially beneficial for riders exploring colder climates, the adjustable heated grips and rider’s seat provide much appreciated warmth. Additionally, rider fatigue is reduced considerably with the fitment of a new Touring Windshield. Deflecting wind around the motorcycle, particularly at higher speeds, riders are fully protected and able to discover new worlds in complete comfort.
Turning journeys into expeditions, this well-appointed new travel motorcycle is built to begin any adventure straight from the showroom thanks to the pre-fitted Side Bag Set. This neat luggage solution integrates perfectly with the bodywork and offers up to 36 liters of storage capacity.
Powered by an 889 cc parallel-twin engine featuring an offroad-focused torque curve, the Norden 901 Expedition offers a broad spread of smooth, controllable power, which is particularly efficient across challenging offroad terrain. Housed inside the steel trellis frame, the versatile engine works together with the chromium-molybdenum chassis to provide exceptional agility, rider feedback, and comfort throughout the longest of riding days. Tailored power delivery and corning-sensitive traction control intervention are controlled by four selectable ride modes (Street, Rain, Offroad and Explorer). The advanced Explorer mode allows for nine levels of adjustable rear wheel slip and reconfigures the information displayed on the dashboard during more committed offroad riding.
Completing the build and improving ease-of-maintenance and protection on the longest of riding days, a new center stand, engine guard, and Connectivity Unit are fitted as standard to enhance every adventure. With the Ride Husqvarna Motorcycles app installed onto a smartphone, and with the device paired to the motorcycle’s Connectivity Unit via Bluetooth, riders will benefit from downloadable maps, Turn-by-Turn+ navigation, Call-In, Call-Out and view real-time traffic information. Music selection and volume can also be controlled easily while riding using the handlebar-mounted buttons.
Technical highlights:
- WP XPLOR suspension offers longer travel (240 mm) and full adjustability
- Heated grips and rider seat for cold weather comfort
- Touring Windshield for reduced fatigue on extended rides
- Side Bag Set offers convenient storage
- Center Stand for easier maintenance
- Heavy duty Skid Plate for enhanced protection of tank and engine
- Connectivity Unit provides Turn-by-Turn+ navigation, Call-In, Call-Out and music selection from the rider’s smartphone
- Ride Husqvarna Motorcycles app available from Apple AppStore and Google Playstore
- Chromium-molybdenum steel trellis frame with engine as stressed member
- Compact and powerful 889 cc parallel-twin engine
- Four selectable ride modes (Street, Rain, Offroad, Explorer)
- Cutting-edge, switchable cornering ABS with Offroad mode
- Easy Shift function
- Cornering-sensitive traction control allows for nine levels of adjustable rear wheel slip (in Explorer mode)
- Power Assist Slipper Clutch (PASC)
- Tubeless spoked wheels in offroad dimensions and Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tires for maximum performance on the street and offroad
- Large capacity 5-gallon (19-liter) fuel tank provides an extended range of up to 248 miles (400 km)
To be fully prepared for all conditions, the Functional Apparel Collection features riding gear produced for the Norden rider that delivers the highest levels of protection, functionality and comfort. In addition, further customization of the Norden 901 Expedition can be achieved with the extensive lineup of Technical Accessories designed to add protection, performance and visual highlights.
Husqvarna Motorcycles’ 2023 Norden 901 Expedition will be available from March 2023 onward at authorized Husqvarna Motorcycles dealers.
This is the bike they should have come out with first. The same thing happened with the early KTM models. All dealers could get were the S model bikes and the R models were in short supply. I think the got the formula backwards. Most of the buyers here in the states are looking for the whole enchilada and not the base models. Maybe its a sales ploy to get the base models purchased and then build a trade in upgrade path for another purchase. Simply the base models are decent bikes but I think most would agree for $1000 more you get a lot more bike. Sure shorter riders and street only riders are out this is the bike I think we all hoped for back in the early leaked video days. I went with the ugly KTM 890ADV-R Rally which fell into my lap. But if this was out I would have gladly sprung for its all inclusive features and better styling than the KTM.
What’s with motorcycle badge engineering these days? You can get this now as a KTM, Husqvarna, or CFMoto. It’s hard not to think of bikes like this as their least common denominator, that is, as a Chinese bike with all the attendant reservations in terms of quality and in terms of supporting a repressive, expansionary, genocidal authoritarian ethnostate.
Where is cruise vontrol???
According to specs on totalmotorcycle it is equipped with Cruise Control.
ORT
Weight without gas is 473 lb or in communist units 214.5 kg, according to their website. Five gallons of gas adds 31 lb for 504 lb, still quite low for a big bike, big displacement.
Meanwhile the sweet country cousin KTM 890 R – she with the longer athletic legs for rugged riding – is claimed to be 432 lb. dry, though because riding dry doesn’t work we add 5.28 gallons or 32.7 lb of gas for 464.7 lb, plus 5.5 lbs of lubrication and she’s now at 470.6 lb.
I think your autocorrect replaced “clever” or “sensible” with “communist.”
good point. I was in elementary school during that brief period in our history when any measurement unit shared across Europe and Asia was strictly caused by godless communism. Though kgs contributed to the destruction of the moral fiber of rural Minnesota youth, I must admit metric is far easier to work with!
🙂
I think that if Genghis Khan were to be re-incarnated, he would ride this bike.
Not even close. Mongol hordes need reliable transport.
Heck, I’m happy I can get it off the kickstand, but loading it without a ramp is Herculean indeed! Mick, you’re an animal.
I couldn’t load this bike without a ramp even if they gave it to me for free.
This is the kind of thing that I would use for a two up bike. The wife picks those out. I always consider the two up bike as her bike. She has a Mulistrada. Guess who is going to check the valves on that baby some time after I get back home. I’m wintering at Copper Mountain right now, then I’ll be dirt biking in Utah for a while.
Retirement baby! Get some.
The number of Youtube videos of heavy adv bike owners getting hernias trying to pick these things up is unbelievable. Big bikes with the full the Mosko catalog jammed full is not fun. Of course the guys have to haul full kitchens, drones, tons of camera gear as well. Just not my cup of tea. A 701 with minimal gear gets me where I need to go and I can pick it up by myself.
Get off my lawn
.. or attempting to ride them up mild 2-tracks made seem impossible by a small amount of moisture or gravel. Don’t get it..
I’m fairly confident a 701 would out perform this bike in every way except seat comfort.
I roll my 890 ADV-R up onto its feet like a barrel. Those tanks down at the bottom do a great job of giving you some leverage to get the bike into a position that is not a straight dead lift flat off the ground. I have done it enough to think that’s part of their function. 🙂
That’s one heck of a bash plate considering it’ll spend 99% of its time on the street like most ADV’s.
Well stated, sir! These “Adventure” bikes are the new “touring rig” for those that also own and drive/use SUVs on an everyday basis. Or those that just plain ol’ like their looks.
Nothing, absolutely NOTHING is wrong with that. The sooner people realize that the world is filled with “Walter Mittys” all living vicariously through whatever means that appeals to them, the sooner the online poseurs (“fauxsuers”?) can let people be happy in their lives.
If you took a 40lb. steel, Schwinn single-speed coaster brake equipped bicycle and gave it to a just discovered tribe of primitives that had never before seen such a thing as that bicycle, they would be overcome with joy and pride in learning to ride and use it. They wouldn’t give an airborne intercourse about how much it weighed or the lack of suspension (except the sprung saddle!), the single speed or the coaster brake. Talk about an “E-Ticket”? Damn straight, my friend! 🙂
The same bike given to modern morons would illicit nothing but laughter and derision because they “need” every modern convenience. “How far does it go on a charge? How long to charge? Top speed? How far on a charge? Does it have traction control and ABS? Android or iOS interface?”…Ad nauseam.
Every new year has the potential to be the best ever from a technological standpoint regardless of whether or not we choose to participate in it by buying something new.
ORT
But this isn’t an equivalent to a basic, steel bicycle. It is a premium, powerful motorcycle that’s probably not very good at the jobs it’s marketed to perform (touring, off road riding), kind of like the oversized SUV that it’s target demographic supposedly favors.
I believe the Walter Mitty Syndrome that ORT is referring to applies not only to ADV’s, but also to Sport bikes, Harleys, 4×4’s, Ferraris and any other contrivance purchased to help build an image or persona.
We see the rider in the video do all these amazing things on the bike in the dirt and causes us to dream about being THAT guy with those abilities, even though we’ve never even been off-road on our MTB, much less a +500# ADV. We can, however, park it in front of Starbucks and enjoy the outdoor seating, appearing mysterious while sipping our decaf-double-latte-Venti with our $700 helmet displayed on the table for all to see. Or so I’ve heard….
Hi Dave –
I know this is not the same as the steel Schwinn I used but that comparison is meant to show how jaded many of us have become when it comes to technology.
We often want more than we need and while there’s nothing wrong with that holding out for a feature you will probably never use is kinda dumb because it can deprive you of the joy of a new motorbike, car, TV what-have-you.
Some of us want less than we can afford and by that I mean WEIGHT. 😉 Street legal means standards must be met and since Unobtainium®™ has yet to be invented there’s only so much that can be done.
Thanks!
ORT
My issue with off the rack street bike is that a Kramer GP2 890 R has the same engine, the frame and exhaust are made from the same materials and it is a fully functional race bike at 309 pounds. Some Led lights and a couple of mirrors later and it’s an electric start street bike weighing under 325 pounds.
Yeah yeah, it’s hand made, safety wired and has a fairly expensive set of wheels so it is a rather expensive motorcycle.
But KTM could make bikes in that weight range a whole lot cheaper than Kramer can because the mass produce motorcycles every day and they don’t have to buy engines. They make them. And last I checked, and I check often. They also prove that they can make light weight motorcycles every single day. In fact, that’s all they used to do before they started making street bikes.
So if KTM really gets the TBI sorted on their 300XC I might buy another one. I didn’t like the TPI bikes at all. One of their street bikes? Nope. I know they can do much better. They just won’t. So, neither will I.
Mick, we’ve been over this. None of that stuff is anywhere near as lightweight as you think it is, especially not when considering D.O.T. legality.
I look at this feat of impressive engineering and think . . . Scram 411 please.
Visuals are very serious looking PD retro, pretty sharp. But mentioning a 19L fuel tank like it’s asset instead of a liability. Street wise 19L is fine but mix in extended off road tracks is just cutting it pretty close. KTM sourced engine is powerful and this actually looks better than the donor. Still cursed with tube type tires, even the Moto Guzzi V85TT has tubeless spokes.
It says tubeless spoked wheels in the specs above….
My error on the wheels, I didn’t read deep enough. I was going by the picture, which still looks like tube rims. Okay I’m giddy with excitement now. Thanks for correcting me.
The wheels likely are the same as on the KTM where a rubber center strip in the well is used. I hear mixed reviews all the time. For many it works fine, keeping air in. Others have some air bleeding issues. I prefer not having any holes at all where there’s air to be held in.
Well I’m deflated if the rubber seal is used, the system has issues and the added cost because they recommend changing the seal, tube, and tire in unison. BMW, Moto Guzzi, Honda, and even the Suzuki DL 1050 SE uses a cross spoke tubeless tire on the rear.
Re the video, this seems to be the perfect bike for scaring wildlife! But who cares about such things?
I stopped watching those videos a couple of years ago. But I recently watched the Indian and this one.
Never again. Selling images to those who are more shallow than a Windex streak.
The Indian video is irrelevant. But KTM made this one. Yet it makes me want to avoid this bike because I feel, judging by the video, that it radiates insanity. Like even being near one might get you committed.
You are way too sensitive Mick, just watch the motorcycle and ignore the silliness.
I only watched them to see what marketing looks like now days. I don’t watch television, so I am seldom exposed to video marketing.
None of the actual equipment impresses me at all. That ship sailed almost thirty years ago. I’ll keep waiting for a revolution. But I don’t think that I will ever see it.
I’ll buy a new street bike when I can load it into my truck by myself without a ramp. I can still do that with one of my current street bikes. But I had to build that one myself.
All, and I do mean ALL, marketing for any product now is a LIE.
Motorcycles now are great in a hedonistic manner, more fancy, more complexity, more performance, more money, and more weight, however in my world less is more.
A Triumph T6 with a capacitor replacement for the battery and a see thru frame is the most, always.
“All, and I do mean ALL, marketing for any product now is a LIE.”
You don’t really believe that, do you? It’s just what you say to avoid going shopping with your wife, isn’t it. 😉