SWM SUPERDUAL 600 X
Forthose missing their KLR and DR650s
Lmuchast but not least the SWM, another resurrected brand,
like Benelli, that stands for Speedy Working Motors and which originally went out of business in 1984. The company is now back and based in the old Husqvarna factory in Varese, northern Italy, previously closed by KTM when they bought Husqvarna from BMW in 2013. Many of the engines used in the SWM range are old Husqvarna engines updated to pass modern Euro emission tests. The engine in the SuperDual is the old TE610 engine, which SWM also supplies to AJP to power the PR7, and also to CCM to power their Spitfire range. The company is 90% owned by Chinese firm Shineray.
SWM was originally imported into the UK by HQB, but when they went out of business in 2018 the range was quickly picked up by Three Cross Motors in Woodbridge, with some 25 dealers across England, Wales and Ireland.
The SuperDual was originally launched in 2017 in its more road-biased 17/ l 9-inch wheel configuration, sold complete with Givi Trekker panniers for just shy of £8000. I first rode that bike up in Scotland when the now defunct Moto Scotland off-road training school had them as training bikes. It was a superb machine; plenty of smooth power and on the well-graded forest tracks outside Inveraray it was in its element. A year or so later this X model emerged, now packing the proper dirt-friendly 18-inch rear, 21-inch front wheel configuration, lending itself, in theory at least, to more rugged adventures.
The appeal of the SuperDual is that it was a resurrection of the classic large capacity trail machines of old, such as the Suzuki DR650 and Kawasaki KLR650. A true dual sport motorcycle that could be used onand off-road and designed to withstand sustained adventure motorcycling abuse. It's a style of bike that the big manufacturers have long since abandoned, arguably due to the cost of developing a modern emission-friendly single-cylinder motor. It's easier to stick a smooth, efficient twin cylinder engine instead, and to be honest, it's probably what the average customer prefers.
A wet weight figure of 169 kilos for the SuperDual X is around 20 kilos above that of the AJP,but the SWM doesn't feel a heavy machine; in fact, quite manageable and easy to manoeuvre. The additional weight is largely down to the swell of standard equipment that comes with the SWM, including centre stand, rear rack and engine guards, as well as the standard fit spotlights. The bike has also received a price drop in recent
months, with this X model available without panniers for a remarkably good value £6399, or another £400 if you want it with Givi Trekker panniers included, that whilst made from plastic, do seem to suit the style of the bike nicely.
Despite sharing the same engine as the AJP, it feels a very different unit. The punch is still there in the mid-range, with a strong surge all the way to the redline, but the power feels a touch less sustained or urgent. There are also a few more vibrations through the seat on the SWM, perhaps a consequence of a difference in gearing or engine mounting. It's not terrible, just more apparent than on the AJP, which is probably cheating a little bit as with the Performance Pack fitted to the PR7 it's likely to be sidestepping stringent emission regulations that can make it tricky for a large single cylinder engine to run smoothly on part throttle where it tends these days to run lean.
Once moving, everything comes together nicely. There's a nice commanding riding position and the saddle has the sense of being all-day comfortable. The suspension is on the firm side and that makes it handle competently on the Tarmac, with rebound damping adjustment on the FastAce front forks and preload and rebound adjustment on the rear shock. The Metzeler Enduro 3 Sahara tyres give a healthy amount of grip and strike a nice balance between on-road refinement and off-road grip, and ultimately there's a lot to like about the SWM.
There are a few gripes, however.
The seat on the X model is strangely sculpted rather than a bench seat, forcing you a touch further forward than you would like, almost to the point at which the peak of your helmet is directly above the top of the windscreen. It'd be nice to get back a bit in the saddle. Then there's the centre stand which, whilst handy to have, is tucked away behind the pillion peg hanger, making it almost impossible to get to. Ditch the pillion hangers and it'd be fine. The ignition barrel is also buried away behind the top yoke, making it difficult to get the key in and turn it, especially if you have a few other keys on the fob.
They're just niggles, which would be easily rectified on future models.
As a bike to ride on the dirt I didn't find it to have the same deftness of touch, or supple ride quality of either the AJP or Fantic. There could be some fine tuning to be done on the settings, but it just lacked the long-stroke plushness found on some of the dual sport bikes of old, which took the shine off it on gnarly UK trails where it never seemed to settle over rough terrain. It would, however, be perfectly suited to the flowing pistes of North America or Australia, where the bike finds many rave reviews. Ifyou were sticking to the Tarmac then it wouldn't be an issue at all, and with the long legs of that strong and surging engine, and the sure-footedness of the chassis, not to mention the handy 18-litre fuel tank,
the SWM would make for a great long-distance exploration machine.
Bolt on the panniers and away you go.
With fond memories of the more road-biased T model of the SuperDual it could perhaps then be concluded that it isthe T,rather than the Xmodel, that makes the strongest case for
SWM. From memory, the 19-inch front-wheeled T model is more engaging on the road, yet still more than capable of tackling the kind of rough roads you'd likely encounter on a far-off adventure. As it is, the
Super Dual is more relaxed and less demanding than the AJP PR?, lighter and easier to manage than the Benelli, and better suited to longer distance riding than the Fantic.
Only something like the Royal Enfield Himalayan offers any sort of alternative, but that's a bike with less than half the power of the SWM, and that's not going to be enough bhp for everyone. As one of the last big thumpers, the SWM is proof that there is life in the old engine format yet.