Getting back on a supermoto again after a week in Colorado feels alien. Not to mention a little cool and damp. At Pikes Peak my KTM 690SMC was stripped of all its street gear and fitted with a full FMF race pipe, saving at least 10kg in total weight. By comparison this road-legal version is heavy and pathetically quiet but, being about 14 inches above sea level (as opposed to 14,000ft) means the motor is barbarous and power-packed in comparison. It still looks great, angular and aggressive, although it never fails to amaze me how ghastly numberplates and their respective hangers look on any motorcycle. Why can’t we just fit them under the fender like in America?
I’ve had a twelve-month love affair with Husqvarna’s seminal 510R, ever since I went on the launch in Benidorm. It’s beautiful, basic and nothing more than a motocross bike with some legal niceties bolted on. It weighs nothing (110kg), packs a genuine 55bhp punch and rides like a whippet on rollerblades. 40 miles is your absolute maximum operating range before your arse loses all sensation and, on anything more open than a twisty A-road, the Husky turns into a torture device of inquisitional proportions. As a practical device for covering distance it is catastrophically pointless, but as a point-and-squirt weapon for destroying B-roads, cities and anything in your path, it is quite without peer.
Next to the small but perfectly formed Husky, the KTM is brute and ugly. But as a practical motorbike for the UK, it can be used for more than just going mental in 30-minute spurts. You could actually commute to work on the KTM and not need a proctologist’s pliers to remove the bike from your rectum at journey’s end. The handling is neutral, allowing you to play with and adapt to the supermoto way of riding (elbows up and push it down underneath you), and the front Brembo brake is massively strong. The KTM is at least 30kg heavier than the Husqvarna – humping it around it feels as heavy as a ZX-6R – but this makes it smoother and less erratic than the timorous Italian: the Husqvarna feels fragile; the KTM built to last.
And yet I keep coming back to the 510R. Here’s an example of how impractical it is. After just 500 miles from new, the rear Dunlop Sportmax is shot; completely knackered. With no cush drive (the rear sprocket bolts directly to the wheel) all the slash and movement of the engine is transmitted directly to the tyre and, with the super-sticky, 150-section Dunlop fitted, it just saws through the tread.
This is after some seriously spirited riding, I hasten to add, but over the equivalent distance with the same riders on board the KTM’s rear tyre was barely touched – and it came cooked off a racetrack from a previous test while the Husky was boxfresh. A willingness to invest in £100 rear tyres is obviously part of the ownership experience and, given the Husqvarna’s hard-edged motocross background, one that’s entirely fitting. If we’re to take the 40-mile maximum rule, that’s twelve Sundays of entertainment (three months) before you need to replace the rear. Seen in that light, it digests consumables at pretty much the same rate as a supersport bike on the road.
Now, let me talk about wheelies, if I may. At 38 I’m a little old to be judging a motorcycle on its ability to keep the front wheel aloft – you’d think I’d have more important things to write about (and I do). But even my calloused hands could keep the Husky on its back wheel for well over a mile, all the way up into 6th gear just sitting there, happy as Larry. The balance point is very wide, meaning that at no point is the 510R in danger of flipping. And so you just balance it on the throttle, turning gentle corners by dropping in opposite handlebar and shifting your weight to the inside.
I’m guessing around 10% of all my 20-mile rides on the Husky were done at an angle of 45° from the vertical, slowing down on straights just to hoof the bike up in 3rd, pop it through the gearbox and overtake long lines of cars at a sedate 75mph and in perfect control. Reactions from other road users ranged from cheers of applause to wanker signs tossed out of truck windows; both of which never fail to make me laugh. The KTM’s weight means it can’t wheelie as effortlessly or for as long as the Italian bike. And in the weird world of supermoto, this is a mark against it.
The Husqvarna is quickest to 70mph thanks to its lower gearing and Lily Cole dry weight, but the Austrian hauls it in after that with its capacity advantage. 80mph cruising on the KTM is entirely possible and, with a slight crouch of the head, not even uncomfortable. Tank range on the KTM is workable, the underseat tank arrangement giving it a realistic range of around 100 miles; the Husqvarna is predictably hopeless with the fuel light coming on at 40 miles. But, as we know, you’re well and truly done by then.
Someone once said back in 1993 that supermotos were “the next big thing.” It may have been me. Yet here we are 16 years later and they’re still not there yet, at least in single-cylinder guise. Not every superbike owner has a supermoto bike parked up in his/her driveway, even though perhaps they should. Supermotos will always have a ringside seat next to the circus of mainstream motorcycling. As much fun as they are, they’re just too weird and focussed for the masses to buy in, and fair enough – would you really buy one of these when you can buy a 2008 Yamaha R6 with 3000 miles on the clock for the same money?
But for those rich or committed enough to buy into the concept, there’s no doubt that in short, solo bursts over the right roads (narrow, tight, twisty), supermotos are still the most fun it’s possible to have on asphalt. In this light, the Husqvarna is the better of these two. It’s so outrageously small, potent and agile that it makes the KTM feel like a Pan European by comparison. It’s also a thing of great beauty, it sounds incredible through its twin titanium pipes, the chassis can be leant over until your head explodes and the bike leaps out of 50mph corners like a thing possessed. But, had I been racing one at Pikes Peak, I’d have worried about reliability. There’s an air of fragility to the Husky that just isn’t there with the KTM. Over-engineered to the point of excess, the 690SMC is ballsy, brutish and entirely bulletproof. It’ll run forever on the occasional tyre and oil change and still deliver 80% of the lunacy of the singleminded 510R.
The heart says Husky, the head says KTM.
Specifications
KTM 690SMC
Price £6229 Top speed 105mph (estimate)
Engine 654cc, 4-valve, liquid-cooled single
Bore x stroke 102mm x 80mm Compression ratio 11.8:1
Power 62bhp at 7500rpm Torque 47 lb/ft at 6000rpm
Front suspension 48mm inverted WP forks, preload, compression and rebound adjustment Rear suspension Monoshock, preload, compression and rebound adjustment
Front brakes Four-piston caliper, 320mm disc
Rear brake Single-piston caliper, 240mm disc
Dry weight 139.5kg Seat height 900mm Fuel capacity 12 litres
Colour options Black/orange
Husqvarna 510SMR
Price £6595 Top speed 90mph (estimate)
Engine 501cc, 4-valve, liquid-cooled single
Bore x stroke 97mm x 67.8mm Compression ratio 12.9:1
Power 60bhp at 8000rpm Torque n/a
Front suspension 50mm telescopic forks, preload, compression and rebound adjustment
Rear suspension Monoshock, preload, compression and rebound adjustment
Front brakes Four-piston caliper, 310mm discs
Rear brake Single-piston caliper, 265mm disc
Wet weight 152kg Seat height 900mm Fuel capacity 9 litres
Colour options Red/white
