Adam Chandler on Motorcycles - Building The Husqvarna 701 Enduro LR

29 days ago, I brought home a brand new motorcycle, my first in about 3 years. I talked a bit about that in this newsletter post. In that post, I talked a bit about my buying experience and getting it home but it wasn’t the complete story.

The motorcycle was purchased mid-January but I didn’t get it home for about 8 weeks. I figured it would save some money during the dead of Winter to have the dealer take it apart during the pre-delivery inspection (PDI) and send out the shocks to a WP Service Center to have spring rates adjusted for my weight and valving for my riding style. Unfortunately, I called the first week of March and the dealer had my shocks all boxed up but never mailed them to the suspension center. I called the suspension center and they couldn’t fit me in until mid-April at that point.

The reason I buy motorcycles between November - January is because I heavily modify all of them and get them setup for my kind of riding but more importantly, I try to make it where I won’t have any downtime during riding season. Basically, the bike is ready to ride by April 1st and aside from maybe an oil change in September if I ride enough, the bike ‘needs nothing’ until November when I put it back in the basement again.

Taking delivery of the LR the 2nd week of March has meant that everything is taking forever and all of the stuff I needed for it was suddenly not available or back ordered as the rest of the world starts getting their bikes ready for riding season.

Since bringing Big Cheez home 29 days ago, it’s spent every day on a lift in various levels of disarray as parts are strewn about. The rear section is finally re-assembled but now the clutch cover is off getting an updated shift kit spring and bearing to make shifting easier and have less false neutrals along with a Rekluse and new clutch slave which is prone to fail on this bike after just a few miles (thanks KTM). The only backordered parts left are:

A lot of people, primarily on YouTube have commented in their own way about how many modifications are going on but really it’s just that I’m posting a new video every day and I think people have ‘farkle fatigue’. The issue really is the ultra-tight schedule we’re working with the bike build. Usually, I grab a bike in November and finish it up in March and so you’ll get a few videos a week but it’s bigger this time around because it’s my usual 40-50 modifications but they’re all being done very fast with little downtime. After my first round of modifications mid-March, I had videos queued up for the next 35 days and I don’t dare post more than 1 video per day as people will start rioting. The 701 LR playlist on YouTube which is all modifications so far is now at 43 videos with at least 8 more before the bike is done.

As of this writing, April 12th, there are still about 20 days worth of videos left to post and now that we’re in riding season, the actual riding content of the channel is getting unseated and pushed back due to the build series.

The goal of this bike’s build is to have a bike that is not hampered by the emissions restrictions so removing the O2 sensor, replacing intake and exhaust are necessary.

In addition, I wanted a bike that could haul plenty of gear for a 1 month TAT trip next year so sub-frame reinforcements, luggage and bags were needed.

I wanted electronic creature comforts so a power module, heated grips, USB ports, LED lighting and a Garmin / iPhone mount were added.

I needed the bike to take on my weight and my luggage weight so spring rates were modified and steering damper added.

Then comfort and ergonomics to account for my large frame and size 13 feet so seat, pegs, shifter, levers, risers were added.

Finally, protection in the form of skid plates, hand guards, various other guards that should have value outweighing the literal added weight.

There’s the elephant in the room that some people bring up and that’s cost. My opinion on this has been that most people end up adding thousands of dollars in farkles to their bike builds but they do it over 3-4 years and therefore, the cost of a hundred dollars here or there doesn’t get measured as a cumulative figure. $150 a month in farkles is going to be hitting $6,000 in just 4 years and that’s ignoring the high ticket stuff nearly everyone does such as seats, lighting, risers and luggage.

Some people get it and some don’t and those that don’t really have been twisting the knife lately and I see a rising contempt for the build now with about a dozen people criticizing it as being a waste of money. My build, not yours and as long as people are entertained, the YouTube videos are doing their job :)

When will the bike be done? I’m estimating it’ll be rideable in about 2 weeks. That’s how long before the last part from Vanasche Motorsport will take to reach me. By then, I’ll get a couple of rides in before I have to yank off my seat and mail it to California so Renazco can replace the foam & cover to something better suited to me. Like every other seat maker for the Long Range, there aren’t replica pans available and so they’re going to modify my OEM pan to make this work which is a bummer.

Our Class IV and Class VI trails don’t open until 1st week of June anyway so while it would be nice to break in the bike properly, I’ll be ready just in time for dual sport riding season.

Of course, there’s a bigger elephant sitting on my shoulders that keeps whispering in my ear, “what happens if one of your modifications doesn’t work and your engine blows up?” Yeah, that Rottweiler fuel dongle or electronics power module or Rekluse could cause issues. I could have shorted something out or pinched a line and will take hours to find out the issues. Anything could happen given how many things were added to this bike without testing after each addition. IT’s a risk! I look forward to sharing that with you when it happens.