THE Husqvarna Nuda was a funny little bike, launched in 2012 and built while the Swedish brand was owned by the automotive giant, BMW.
It was powered by a modified BMW F800 twin-pot engine, pumped out around 100bhp and was renowned as being a bit of an animal. Not quite a supermoto, but more jacked up and bonkers than a traditional naked, it’s short production run basically cemented this machine as a nailed-on cult classic.
And fans of the original will no doubt be interested to hear that the model looks like its making a return to the range. The news comes from the German website Motorrad, which has posted some spy shots of the machine on its website and social media. It’s reporting that the bike in question is indeed an LC8c powered naked, that is getting set for a 2024 launch. Obviously, the underpinnings of the machine are very close to those found in some of the parent company KTM’s models, and the timing of the bike is interesting given the impending launch of the revamped KTM 890 SMT.
The original 2012 Nuda
What we have then is a trellis frame that looks closely related to the 890 Duke R, with slightly jacked-up suspension (possibly the same as the incoming SMT) and that trademark KTM cast swingarm. The headlight is one of the giveaways that this isn’t an ‘orange bike’, as it's not the same familiar shape as the rest of the Austrian brand’s machines, and bears more than a passing resemblance to the headlight on the Nuda of old - see top image. The second giveaway is the leathers of the test ride. Because, well, they say ‘Husqvarna’ on them. Miss Marple, eat your heart out!
While these are just spy shots and with no official word from the factory, it does look fairly well advanced, and in the final stages of product testing. All this leads us to believe it could well be a 2024 model that may be announced officially at the end of this year.
