MCN Fleet: Husqvarna 701 goes the distance

I’ve made some far-from-sensible decisions throughout my life, but choosing to ride home to Yorkshire, then to Swansea the next day and back to Peterborough the day after that on the 701 has to be up there.

• 2015 Husqvarna 701 Supermoto review

That’s over 500 miles and 12 hours of riding in three days. On a supermoto. I am not a smart man.

The trip upto Yorkshire isn’t too bad, I’ve done it a few times already on the 701 – the arse ache only just starts to creep in at the very end. But getting back on the Husky the following day for six hours was horrible. The seat is rock hard, as you’d expect, and with my luggage solution I was forced to sit in the same position for the entire trip.

That luggage solution? An old tailpack balancing at the very front of the seat, bungee’d to the frame. Packed full of stuff it helped deflect quite a significant amount of wind blast, but it also forced me to sit further back than normal, meaning less room to move about and some strange wear on the rear Metzeler on the A1.

The positioning of the tailpack also meant if I tried to sit too far forward, the bag would knock the key and turn the bike off. This happened five times. I am not a quick learner.

When I finally arrived home after midnight on Monday I hated the Husqvarna. I hated the seat, the mirrors, the lack of wind protection. I never wanted to sit on it again. The next morning I had the opportunity to ride the Husqvarna at a go kart track, and I fell in love again.

Living with the Husqvarna is like that. It’s not smooth sailing, it’s either good or bad. So now it’s time to make it good again.