Say Hello to the Big Cheez, My 2020 Husqvarna 701 LR - Issue #8

After 18 months of research, deliberation and saving, on January 13th I purchased a 2020 model year Husqvarna 701. This bike is special in that it comes from the factory with a $2500 add-on (only $500 if you order the bike as an LR spec) with a tank that increases the range to 300 miles.

This motorcycle was announced at EICMA 2019 and I had been looking at the 690/701 platform for about a year before that as a possible bike that would sit between an eventually 2-stroke trail bike and my big GS Adventure. The 701 platform is incredibly popular, not without flaws but is a great mix of adventure off-road touring. It will end up being about 50-75 pounds heavier than my Beta 500 but its design allows me to finally carry luggage and the seat size will keep my butt comfortable on multi-day touring trips.

The bike was initially brought to the USA as sold orders only and started arriving June of 2020 as a 2020 model year bike. It is a standard 701 with a kit that includes:

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the LR stands for long range.

By November, I noticed that 35 of these bikes were listed on CycleTrader in USA. These orphan MRs were ordered but never purchased by their owners. By December, there were 25 left nationwide. I went to the nearest dealer that had one, 4 hours away and sat on it to see how the ergos felt. It need taller suspension, lower pegs, a taller seat and risers due to my large frame but overall, the stock configuration was already more comfortable than my Beta 500. January 12th, I cut a check for $12,500 which is MSRP and thanks to a great dealer, Edelmann Sales in Troy NY, they added no extra fees or markups and thanks to being an NH resident, I had no sales tax so my price above was the out the door price. It’s rare to find a dealer that doesn’t add on a few hundred dollars in fees.

While it took me 2 months to actually go and retrieve the bike, now there are less than 17 of these left in the country according to CycleTrader and Husqvarna has at least confirmed that there will not be a 2021 LR available. In fact, they’ve even pulled the accessory kit for the long range tank so people with $2500 to spend can’t purchase it anymore. At least for the next 12 months, those of us who grabbed one of these are in a select group and we may have the only factory extended range tank 690/701 for many years to come.

I have of course started a build series on YouTube & ADVRider. The bike build is paused as I’m waiting for Solid Performance in PA to return my suspension parts which I’ll talk about more on the build thread. The intended use for this bike will be local dirt-riding and long distance off-road touring. It will be ridden very similarly to my Beta where I trailer it for longer distances and avoid interstate highways. It will go with me to events like March Moto Madness and the Trans-America Trail but will not be the bike I take on the Trans-Taiga highway or to most of the BMW rallies because while I can tour on this bike, I don’t want to ride long distances just for a little bit of dirt riding. The GS is always the most capable bike I own capable of 1000 miles in a day followed by 2 days of hard off-road then I ride it home. The 701 is less capable than the Beta but so is the rider :)

The 701 LR is now dis-assembled and getting the full Adam Chandler treatment of about 40 modifications. It should be done in time for the snow and ice to melt on our trails up here. I’m looking forward to and aiming to put about 2500 miles on this bike in 2020.

PS: The beta is officially sold, more on that in a later post.