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Bare necessity - Husqvarna Nuda 900 / 900R

It looks like a concept bike still, barely different from the oddity doing the rounds at last year’s shows. But those angles, edges and unusual volumes have made it onto the Husqvarna Nuda, the company’s first pure road bike since it concentrated on off-roaders at the beginning of the 1960s.

The move has been driven by new owner BMW, which is keen to position the Italian-based, once-Swedish then Cagiva/MV Agusta brand, as its dedicated off-road division, but at the same time driving up sales with a broader range of machines, including road bikes.

So the Nuda borrows plenty from BMW, including the engine and the tubular steel frame, although both have been modified to suit their new home.

What’s new?

The engine is a very different beast to the 798cc parallel twin which powers various F800 models, and not just because the capacity’s been taken up to 898cc via a 2mm bore increase to 84mm and the stroke stretching 5.4mm to 81mm.

Husqvarna’s engineers (and most of the development was carried out by them, with some input from Munich) have also skewed one crank throw around by 45º, giving firing intervals of 315º and 395º (the same as a Harley, oddly enough).

The idea mainly is to simply give the engine a more interesting character and further differentiate it from the BMW versions, although the slightly reduced inertial torque also means the drive train should have a less lumpy feel. The engine has a unique counterbalance system, where a slave conrod drives a bobweight beneath the crank. Even on the BMWs this was offset slightly so the weight’s bottom dead centre position was a little out of phase with the pistons at top dead centre: on the Husqvarna it’s set to hit bottom somewhere in between the two pistons at top dead centre.

Other changes are more conventional, including 1mm larger valves, a higher compression ratio and revised cam timing, all of which has resulted in a 103bhp output with 74lb-ft of torque, at 8500 and 7000rpm respectively.

While all the bodywork is clearly Husqvarna’s own, the frame is loaned by the F800GS, although it’s modified to lose 50mm of length, with a stiffer steering head region and steeper head angle for more agility.

There are two versions, the stock 900, which uses Sachs suspension front and rear, with preload-only adjustable forks and fully adjustable rear, while the 900R wears fully adjustable Sachs forks and an Öhlins shock which adds a ride height adjustment facility. Up front is a pair of Brembo monoblocs where the 900 has stock four-piston Brembos. The R also gets carbon fibre add-ons and a red, white and black colour scheme where the 900 is available only in black, and the R’s seat is designed to allow the rider to move around more easily. There’s one tooth fewer on the 900R gearbox sprocket to lower the overall gearing and add some punch, otherwise they’re the same, engine included.

It does look good in a lean and dramatic way, while the flame red cam cover and rough finish grey side covers disguise the engine’s roots well.

But then so does opening the throttle: the motor is absolutely packed with midrange muscle, shoving the lightweight machine at the horizon with fierce acceleration and a flowing, liquid feel to the power delivery. For all the odd directions the internals are whizzing around in, the engine is beautifully smooth with a free-revving sensation and torque spread generously across the rev band. It kicks in hardest at 5000rpm, and the motor revs out to the limiter just the far side of 9000rpm, although mostly you do better for grabbing the next ratio 1000 revs earlier.

The sound track is rewarding too, an offbeat bubbling that suggests V rather than parallel twin, and which loans the bike an extra dimension of character. But it’s the character of the bike in a different sense that lets it down: it’s difficult to know exactly what the Nuda is, or who it’s for.

How does it perform?

The press presentation in Sardinia gave us the chance to ride the 900 on the road and the 900R on track, and rather than comfortably straddling both disciplines it falls between the two.

That’s not to say it isn’t fun: that engine combined with the low weight and wide, supermoto-style bars mean enjoyment is almost inevitable, but start to push the chassis hard and you discover it’s not as willing to change direction as you’d hope. Try to wrestle it through a left-right flick and halfway through the bike will writhe in protest, and might even flap the bars if you’re really going for it, while the forks will dive down too eagerly when you’re braking.

Talking of which, the R’s monobloc brakes are absolutely ferocious, too much for the bike even on a dry track; I can imagine on wet roads they could be downright scary. Husqvarna dealers can fit less aggressive pads if requested (and I would), although they might charge you for it.

On the road, the 900’s stoppers offer a better balance of power – strong enough to deal with sporting tendencies but not so you have to wear kid gloves to use them.

The standard suspension is softer than the R’s though (and that’s not especially taut), to the point where the bias appears to be comfort more than performance. This leads to something of a numb feel to the front end and an uncertain feel at higher speeds – nudge the bars at 90mph and they take a long time to settle down again.

Nothing wrong with this per se, but it’s at odds with other aspects of the bike. The seat, for example, is most definitely not designed for comfort: an hour on board is plenty thank you, even though Husqvarna was so keen to highlight the bike’s touring potential, half the test machines were supplied with small, solid panniers, expandable items borrowed from the K1300S accessories catalogue. You won’t find a passenger forgiving you for leaving them on the back for any longer either, as they get less seat than you and a lot less room generally.

The size of the fuel tank hardly favours distance work either, although its 13 litre capacity (yes, that’s all you get) is mitigated by exceptional fuel economy, at least according to Husqvarna’s claims (and the original BMW twin is outstanding in this respect so there’s no reason to doubt them). At a steady 75mph for example the 900 is said to achieve 53mpg, although the R’s lower gearing increases this to 47mpg.

That’s gives you a 150-mile range, but real world economy, and the range with it, will be less than this. Use the R hard and you’ll be lucky to clear 120 miles on a tank, restrictive for a sports bike, let alone a tourer.

The small dash does its best to help with a constant readout of the number of litres left, so you can at least stretch out what you have to the maximum, but for many riders after some versatility, a tank this size is a deal breaker. The seat doesn’t help either and you also find at higher speeds the small deflector in front of the clocks doesn’t do much to tame the windblast, it’s just too close to the rider to have much effect.

It’s not a great touring bike then, nor is it the hottest naked machine around a racetrack. It’s enjoyable skimming a sinuous stretch of Tarmac, as long as you’re not pushing too hard, but there are plenty of sharper tools for this, such as a Ducati Hypermotard or the most obvious rival, the KTM 990 SM-T. The Austrian bike is a genuine all-rounder too, with far better comfort than the Nuda, and it copes well with a passenger – it’s difficult to come up with rational reasons why you’d choose the Husqvarna instead, although fortunately bike choice is emotional as much as logical or life would be terribly dull.

The Nuda will play a part in Husqvarna’s growth, but it needs a stronger focus on exactly what it’s supposed to do and be. It lacks the comfort or range to be a tourer and the sharp handling agility of a true sports machine. It looks great though and the engine is a peach, so it won’t bomb. But it’d be better for taking its touring side more seriously.

Words: Kevin Ash
Pics: Milagro