Husqvarna 701 Enduro 2,000 mile update

 

I have now gone past 2,000 miles on the Husky and still loving it.  I bought this bike new last fall from a local dealer, Carter Powersports.  I made a few upgrades and rode it over 1,000 miles before having an accident on it in January which preventing me riding it for several months.  I started riding it again in June and now have 2,076 miles on it, mostly off-road.  

Here are some upgrades I have made so far:

• Rear luggage rack.
• Rear bag that I bolted to the luggage rack. I also have Velcro straps bolted in to keep any luggage from moving around.
• Front bag that I custom mounted between the seat and key switch area.
• Doubletake mirrors.
• Cycra hand guards and mounts.
• I tried 2 different windshields.  First a small Puig. Later I installed a large Madstad (22" size). I would get the 18" instead.  I also drilled a second set of hose so I can drop it way down out of the way when off-road.
• NiceCNC gas cap.
• Upgraded the headlight bulb to LASFIT high power LED.
• LED marker lights and driving lights to improve visibility.
• Upgraded the turn signal bulbs to brighter LED.
• K&N air filter.
• Rear brake master cylinder guard.
• Custom made a kickstand sensor guard and also bought a Vanasche side stand dongle I keep with me just in case. 
• T-Rex skid plate and crash bars. 
• USB charger.
• I bought a cheap 1.3G gas can with center mount.  I had to modify the mount that came with it since it broke off quickly. I cover this at the end of my 1,000 mile review. 
• I also added a cheap dash camera mostly for insurance reasons.  It records all the time. I may upgrade to a proper dual camera motorcycle recording system later.  With so many poor inattentive drivers out there I think it is important to record everything.  

I keep a small 12V air compressor and a pump-in tire slime kit, zip ties, extra tie down straps, basic tools, etc., in the rear bag. I also added a 12V connector under the seat to connect the compressor.

The license plate holder and part of the rear fender broke off on my last ride (a rough rocky gravel road).  It appears that the metal frame holding the side reflectors caught the knobby tire over a bump, breaking it off.  I always thought that looked a bit flimsy.  I cut the rear fender off square and just mounted the license place to the rear of my bag.  

Taken just after my license plate mount and chunk of rear fender broke off

This bike has no problem cruising down the highway.  The issues is the wind is noisy and fatiguing after a while. I tried 2 different windshields on the bike. The first was the small Puig.

It just mounts to the plastic around the headlight.  It had some effect in reducing the wind pressure on your check but almost no improvement at the helmet.  After a ride that included many miles of freeway, and into a headwind, I decided I wanted more wind protection so I ordered the Madstad windshield in the 22" model.  Here is what that looks like installed.

Enormous, right.  It is adjustable and it does cut the wind from the helmet area as advertised.  I did a long highway segment with this and found myself cruising along at high speed in more comfort. However, off-road it is bulky and you can hit your helmet on it over the rough stuff. To address this, I drilled another set of mounting holes in it and use thumb screws so I can switch it easily with no tools.  Here is what it looks like in the off-road position.

  The Madstad mounting system also has a significant amount of adjustment.  In hindsight, I should have ordered the 18" windshield instead of this 22" one.  I may trim several inches off the top later.  I can also just remove it completely with the 4 thumbscrews depending on the type of riding I am doing. It takes about 2 minutes to switch the mounting position. I also added a Ram camera mount for my Insta360 action camera (photo above that last one).  

Here is a video playlist from one of my more recent rides (before the Madstad windshield): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fbh594JYO5ftFDV-qHEImyT  

After 2,000 miles and all kinds of dual sport riding, I continue to love this bike.  I still have the original tires on it but the rear is getting fairly worn at this point. Here are a few thoughts on pros and cons from my perspective:

Pros:

• Excellent flexibility.  Does both on and off road very well.
• Good fuel range.  Can go about 165 miles on a tank with mixed riding, more if on-road.
• Excellent electronics.  The traction control and ABS work well and can both be switched off for more aggressive off-road riding.  I do turn OFF the ABS off-road.
• Rear fuel tank leaves the front seat area wide open.  The more flat seat make it easy to move around as needed.
• Love the motor power! No need for any power upgrades in my opinion.   
• Great having 6 speeds in the transmission.
• Love the clutch.  Easy and smooth hydraulic operation and a very long engagement range.
• Love throttle by wire too.  Easy and smooth.
• EFI is fantastic.  Even after you drop the bike (which I have done plenty) it starts up immediately every time.  I average about 50mpg with mostly off-road riding. The rev limit is also great especially since there is no tachometer.
• Great maintenance schedule for a bike like this.  Oil changes are 10x longer than many dual sports.

Cons:

• Weight. Although for what it is it is very light actually.  Off-road we just always want lighter.  This bike weighs about 350lbs full of fuel and gear.
• Engine noise.  As many articles also mention the LC4 engine sounds like a rock tumbler.  I have a friend with an earlier version of this bike but with an aftermarket exhaust which is loud.  That really helps because the exhaust sound is great and covers over the engine noise.  
• Seat height.  It is a bit high but this is of course a trade-off.  There are lowering kits but I don't want the downsides of that either.  
• Seat firmness.  It is to the firm side and the padding is very thin.  Again, a bunch of trade-offs here because thicker padding would make the seat even higher. You can get aftermarket seats.  I just added a cushion on top and that worked pretty well.
• Key and gas cap.  The chipped key is great for anti-theft.  However, I broke mine very easily and had to get it replaced, which is expensive.  To make this worse, the key is needed for the factory gas cap and in that cap the key turns very hard.  This is why I installed an aftermarket non-locking gas cap.
• There is no fuel level indicator and you cannot see into the tank.  There is a low fuel light at least. I had it come on only 1 time after 154 miles of riding.  I put 2.6 gallons in it to fill it after 154 miles.    
• Very basic display with no actual gear indicator (only a neutral indicator) and no fuel level indicator (only a low fuel light).

Many summarize this bike like this.  If you want to have just one motorcycle for all your on-road and off-road riding, this is it. There are lighter more off-road capable dual sports, but they are not as good on the road.  There are more comfortable dual sport motorcycles for longer adventures, but they weight much more and/or don't have nearly as good of off-road suspension.  Motorcycles are all trade-offs, especially dual sport and adventure bikes.  The Husqvarna 701 Enduro (and KTM 690 Enduro or GasGas 700) is an excellent choice for the 70% off-road, 30% on-road crowd (those percentages based on time, not miles). You can ride from your house without hauling a bike, and having to have something to haul it with. Just hop on and go right from your house.  I love that about this bike.  You can also use it as an adventure bike.      

Here is a video playlist with many other reviews of this bike: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fZjtowskb2w3vPZASbti7Hn

2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro T-Rex skid plate and crash bars install

After searching the internet for the options on skid plate and crash bars for my 2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro I decided to go with the T-Rex kit (Part Number: N167-16EG + N167-16SP). This kit did not claim to fit my bike exactly but rather KTM 690 Enduro/Supermoto and Husqvarna 701 Supermoto of years prior to mine.  I contacted the company and asked about it fitting my bike.  I worked out a deal to try it out.  

Before installing it I weighed the components so I could later compare to what I removed.

• Skid plate - 53.5oz
• Left crash bar - 32.5oz
• Right crash bar - 34.7oz
• Attaching hardware - 22.2oz

142.9oz or 8.93lbs.  I also weighed the factory plastic skid plate assembly and it came in at 25.4oz and 8.7oz of removed mounting hardware for a net weight gain of 6.8lbs.  The added weight is fairly low on the bike, the skid plate being the heaviest single component and also the lowest. 

The install was very easy and straightforward.  It took less than 20 minutes I would guess.  Here is a video of the install.

It fit the bike well and offers the protection I was looking for. The crash bars are simple and don't go as high as others but will likely take most of the hit if I drop the bike on either side, protecting the radiators. 

The skid plate has extensions on both sides that help protect the side cases from objects from the front.  They even offer some protection from dropping the bike on the side depending on the surface.

While it would have been convenient to use the original sockets to catch the back of the skid plate, the T-Rex design is much more robust.

Between the skip plate and crash bars, the water pump looks well protected now.

I like the lower position of the crash bars, both to keep the weight down low, and since this is a much stronger design than other bars.

I like the design of these crash bars compared to many others I have seen.  The cross bar is positioned well to prevent branches and other things from getting captured by the bars when riding.  It will tend to deflect them away.  

Off-road Trails in Southern Nevada

 

I ride electric mountain bikes and a dual sport motorcycle in southern Nevada. Luckily, over 85% of Nevada is public lands, and there is lots of off road riding available for both motorized and non-motorized machines. I wanted to create this blog post to make others aware of some great resources to find all these available trails.  While many of these resources claim to have maps for both, coverage of motorized versus non motorized varies quite a bit within each of the apps/websites. Some have free access levels and others support both subscriptions free access levels.  I will say that none of these mapping tools has complete coverage.  Most are less than half the actual trails in most areas.  

I also use an old smartphone for navigation for both mountain biking and motorcycling. It is very important to keep your eyes on the trails to avoid an accident, like this one: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2024/02/oops.html .  Stop to view the navigation.

Apps & Websites

Trailforks - This is my go to app for Electric Mountain biking, and any mountain biking. While it also supports motorized off road trails, it is not particularly good at that. For mountain biking, it is great because crowdsourced trails are available. I have found the coverage in my area to be better than any other apps I have found for mountain biking. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.  Part of Outside+. Here is my Trailforks profile.

GAIA - This is a pretty decent app in general for finding trails. I have used it for both motorcycling and electric mountain biking, but I tend to find other apps a bit better and so it is not my go to app.  GAIA is more of a mapping utility and navigation tool than a way to find existing trails. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range. It is one of the few that support off-road turn-by-turn navigation.  Part of Outside+. Here is my Gaia profile.

OnX - There are several variants of OnX. I use the off road version. It seems to be the best in my area for motorcycling. It is a subscription only app and website and has no access without a subscription. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.  

AllTrails - The AllTrails app and website claim to support all kinds of off road trails and activities. It does but I have found the coverage to be not as good as trail forks for biking or for onX for motorcycling, at least in my area. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.  

Kamoot - Supports hiking and biking.

Strava - This is more of a social networking app for bicyclers, but you can look up other people's ride segments and find some routes this way.

Garmin Explore - Garmin explore is an application used with many Garmin products. Garmin has other similar apps to Garmin Explore as well, depending on the product that you are using. It supports offline maps, navigation, and integration with several Garmin products such as InReach satellite messenger.  

Google Maps - Google Maps actually has features for navigating off-road too.  Well, somewhat anyway.  It has biking and walking modes that include trails.  While it is not a main feature it can work surprisingly well at times.  Often you will need to put it in biking or walking mode and also add some stops along the way to enforce your desired route.  Here is an example taking a Jeep trail over Wheeler Pass.

Google Earth - Google Earth has some great tools for searching the Earth for all kinds of detail. It also includes some great measurement tools that will show you the elevation profile. Another great feature is tilting the map to see a perspective from ground level or anywhere in between.  You can also import GPS data from Garmin Connect and other trip trackers. The satellite imagery is good enough to spot many trails that may not yet be mapped.  

RideWithGPS - created as a bicycle route planner it is generally a pretty good route planner.  

Local and national government sites

Each local area likely has its own resources for specific parks and places where there are trails. things like the U. S Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management cover many parks across the United States. Below are just a few that I use around Southern Nevada.

US Forest Service mapping 

Bureau of Land Management and BLM maps landing page

USGS mapping store

Off-Road Nevada

Nevada Trail Finder

Related Resources

Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR). Back country discovery routes are specific routes that have been created by the BDR community. They connect multiple trails together to make a long route, generally through part of or an entire state.

Once you find places to ride on the map, the next thing you wonder is how challenging and fun will it be. I generally search the trail name in YouTube where many people have posted some great videos of their rides/drives so you can actually ride the trail before you get there.  I contribute many ride segments on my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@jimroal .

Rider to Rider Communication

 I bought an adventure bike to explore off-road.  I also bought a helmet intercom system from Sena (actually mine is branded HJC but it made by Sena, it is an HJC 10B).  I rode with some friends that also have helmet intercoms.  This is really great, pretty much a necessity once you have had it.  There is no going back.  You can hold a conversation while riding.  The front person can also warn the people behind of upcoming obstacles, vehicles, hazards, etc. You can also discuss where you want to ride, what turns to take, do you want to stop, etc.  

The two leading helmet communications makers are Sena and Cardo.  These 2 both have mesh systems which allows the communications to use multiple riders to relay messages across the group.  This also allows for larger groups of riders to all communicate at the same time.  These 2 mesh systems are not compatible though (although Cardo now offers a bridge feature).  This intercom approach is great for street riders who ride close together.  However, off-road the intercom approach has some issues.  Off-road we have things like dust, gravel, and rocks getting kicked up by the tires, narrow trails, and other issues that make us ride much farther apart.  We also have hills, canyons, mountains, and other obstacles that interrupt the communications.  If the person in the back drops their bike, communication is lost pretty fast as the other riders increase the distance.  Just when you need it most you lose communications.  Mesh helps some as it daisy chains all the riders but you can still break the chain at any time.

I did some investigation into options.  I found this great YouTube video going over this same issue and several solutions. 

I looked into these options and decided to go with the BTech GMRS-Pro and the push to talk (PTT) button.  This works slick with my HJC/Sena helmet system, as well as the Cardo Packtalk (and likely most others).  It pairs to the helmet intercom as a second phone.  This way you can still use the intercom via Bluetooth and mesh as normal until you are too far away and the intercom drops.  Then you simply use the PTT button to contact the other riders.  If and when you get back in intercom range you can switch back.  Switching back and forth is automatic really.  The intercom is much preferred as it allows continuous 2-way communication and is lower power (less radiation). I prefer to use the radio only when needed (which happens on many rides).  This BTech is really the only GMRS radio I found as of writing this post with Bluetooth profiles to support this configuration.  I found others that support Bluetooth for app integration but this device also supports profiles for hands free communication and the PTT remote. This radio is also waterproof making it a good choice.

My first attempt at mounting the radio was on my rear bag.

I stuck the PTT button on the left grip at first.

This radio is a 5 Watt unit which is not something you want too close to electronics or your body really.  I don't really need to see or touch the radio when riding since I have the PYY button and the mic and speakers use the helmet intercom system.  I set the channel and volume and forget it.  I decided to clip it into my rear pack, as far from me as I can.  I zip the pack on the clip which retains it very well.  The radio is waterproof so no worries there.   

That all seemed like a great idea until we tried it while riding.  The PTT button would only work sometimes, maybe half the time.  I suspect the EMI from the motorcycles ignition system interfered with the Bluetooth signal from the PTT button.  I decided it was time to mount the radio on the handlebars.  I made a mount on the left side which is also only a few inches between the PTT button and the radio.

I found that having the PTT button on the grip was a problem since it would sometimes get in the way of the clutch level.  I moved it to the mirror mount using a strip of Velcro tape and the strap it came with to keep it in position.

This worked OK but you have to reach for it and it can slide along the strap a bit.  I finally moved it to the clutch lever.

Look closely and you can see one zip tie on each side of the clutch adjuster so it can't move at all.

I used 2 small zip ties to retain it in place. Now I can use my index finger to press the button while riding without having to reach.  It is also in a place where I would never hit it by accident and it does not move at all. This works perfectly!

The GMRS radio can also communicate with FRS and Ham radios.  This means others can have an array of different radios and they can all work together.  You just have to chose the same channel.  FRS channels 1 - 7 appear to be the best choice for compatibility with both FRS and GMRS at 5W.  Channels 8 - 14 are limited to 0.5W so not great for our purposes.  Channels 15 - 22 would also be good as GMRS can go to 50W here but because of that high power capability you might pick of many other radios that are very far away.  

Here is how I setup my system.

1. Pair the BTech radio to your phone via Bluetooth.  This is used to simplify configuration, not communication really. The Btech app uses this connection to communicate with the radio so the app can be used.  Follow the instructions in the app.  
2. Pair the BTech radio to the push to talk (PTT) button.  Follow the directions that come with the radio and PTT button.
3. Pair the BTech radio to your helmet intercom via Bluetooth setting it as a second phone.  Follow the instructions for putting the radio in paring mode.  Then put the helmet intercom in pairing mode to pair to a phone.  Treat the radio as a 2nd phone in this case. With HJC/Sena you enter the configuration menu using the helmet intercom buttons until you hear "pair second phone".  Somewhat similar with the Cardo. On the Cardo hold the phone button until you hear "phone paring" then roll the roller forward and you should hear "second phone pairing".

I upgraded to the Cardo Packtalk Edge after initially writing this article. In general it works very similar to the Sena as far as radio integration.  

The Cardo Packtalk has a weak microphone in my experience.  I made this document to help make it better: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pSw99DGPqQlbnlzCCxGzZUEQYRWzhN-yGs87ZEK4pRw/edit?usp=sharing by optimizing mic and speaker placement, as well as settings through the Cardo app. I also found the speakers are best placed so they actually touch your ears.  I stuck them to the helmet lines on the outside.  Sound is way louder this way.  

If you are going to have just one of the systems, I would use the GMRS radio.  This works for much longer distances which you will need off-road.  When you space out to keep out of each others dust, and you begin to worry someone behind needs, help, you can always just call them and check in. 

One downside of the radio is that others may use the channel you are on.  Your group will all need to switch channels to find a clear one, which can be a moving target. Since it is analog communication you also get background noise and poor reception at times. Also you need to use a push-to-talk button of some sort. Using the one on the radio while riding won't work out. Most GMRS radios are compatible with wired remote PTT buttons. I use the BTECH GMRS-PRO since it can use a Bluetooth PTT button.  

I bought a Husqvarna 701 Enduro

 I really enjoy riding my electric mountain bike off-road around here.  I go every weekend.  However, there are more places I would like to explore that are too far to go on it.  I do have a rack to carry it with my SUV but that takes work and still the riding range is limited (by me).  I started riding with a friend who is also into dual sport motorcycles.  He convinced me to get a dual sport bike.

Back in the 80's and 90's I had dirt bikes.  My first was a 1982 Honda XR250.  It was not very powerful so I upgraded to the XR500, then a 1986 XR600.  My last dirt bike was a 1989 KTM 500MX and that was the best bike I owned to that point.  Fast forward more than 25 years and now I bought this 2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro.  

At 325lbs it is the heaviest bike I have owned by almost 60lbs.  It is also the most powerful at 74HP, 10HP more than my KTM.  I wanted a dual sport so I would not have to haul it and because I wanted to explore some roads that require licensed vehicles.  I like the idea of just riding from my house.