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Husqvarna, Bimota, electric BMW, electric start Indian and a custom.
‘The Norden will be more accessible in terms of comfort, wind protection and power delivery’
Husqvarna’s new Norden adventure bike is a more comfortable, powerful yet milder version of KTM’S 790 Adventure parallel twin. Given how good that is, this is a seriously enticing prospect.
The bike you see here is a working prototype, and though Husqvarna are being cagey about when it will appear, the Vitpilen and Svartpilen timelines suggest it should be in showrooms next year.
‘When I unveiled the bike [at a show in Italy] there were cheers and clapping,’ Husqvarna’s global marketing director Federico Valentini tells Bike. ‘ That was a pleasant surprise. Given that reception we would like to have the Norden on sale tomorrow, but our R&D department is working on a lot of different projects.’ Sadly the bike wasn’t named after comedy writer Denis Norden; Norden means ‘north’ in German.
‘We started the Norden at almost the same time as the 790 Adventure started its development [around 2016],’ says Federico. ‘KTMS are “Ready to Race”, so our objective is to make the Norden more accessible to a wider customer base in terms of comfort, wind protection and power delivery. It’s based on a 900cc parallel twin so it’s more powerful and torquey than the 790 and so more tractable and easier to use.
‘The designers went into a lot of detail in the front end to increase the wind protection and to dissipate the heat better around the engine. The ergonomics are similar to the KTM’S and the chassis and electronics are similar too. We’re working on the engine now. We always try and give our bikes their own character – that has worked well in motocross where our competition bikes have a different power delivery. We’ll be doing this kind of thing on the Norden.’ And that foxy styling? ‘Everything we do is based on the KTM platform, and we modify it to our core values – more progressive, more modern-looking, and a simpler design language with more clear lines.’
After Harley’s Livewire hauled a Jedi and his mate up America and Zero launched more models, BMW have revealed this prototype electric supernaked to demonstrate they’re not far behind. In an exclusive interview with Bike, the leader of BMW’S E-roadster project Rainer Bäumel said: ‘We presented this bike to show we are not sleeping, and that we are progressing with E-mobility. We now know what is important and what components we need. BMW are ready.’ Well… they’re ready to progress. The bike you see here is a prototype built to test components – hence its bitsa look – and is three years away from actual production, according to Bäumel. And the project has now stopped while BMW management decide whether to proceed.
The bike is made from a mixture of bits: the front-end is S1000R, the shaft is from an R1200RS, the battery is from a 2 Series (car), and the motor is from a 7 Series. The frame was designed and made by a group of students doing work experience at BMW.
‘We are ready if our bosses tell us to make an E-roadster with 120 miles of range and
100kw (135bhp) and a fast charge of 30 minutes,’ says Bäumel. ‘It’s a concept that shows we can meet those targets. But we’re not sure if we would use these kinds of batteries, motor or electronics in the production version.’
He is sure about the type of bike it would become though. ‘The prototype feels like an S1000R to ride [BMW claim the acceleration figures are very close] and if we do make an E-roadster, it will be a musclebike. I don’t think we will have E-bike tourers going into the Alps for days. For a muscle bike you don’t need a long range to have fun.’
The project follows on from the DC Roadster, which showed what BMW’S styling department would like to do with an electric motorcycle.