One for DavidS

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

If he likes it, it must be pretty good.

[DavidS]

Thanks Richard…I’ll have a look later.

[DavidS]

An interesting appraisal that seems very fair and concise.
To be honest, we are at the opposite ends of the riding spectrum as I want an adventure set up for road riding so some things that are compromises for him are not even on my radar but I am certainly encouraged/vindicated by my choice.

Interesting that the wind protection is better than the 890R so a look at an Expedition screen is going to be worthwhile…..when the weather stops being ‘elderly soft southerner miserable’ and I can finally get my first service booked and completed. That said, the 890R screen looks a tad smaller than mine anyway and his video makes the Exp screen look quite high but that may be due to the camera location on his chinguard.
I certainly don't want an early winter morning 2 hour ride to Bracknell.

[DanielS]

Am I allowed to comment too as my name almost looks the same as DavidS

The 901 (Non expedition) will be my next bike. Out of all the similar bikes I looked at and sat on at the NEC last year (Desert X, 890, Transalp and perhaps some more) the Nordon felt the nicest and I think the styling is spot on. It'll never do much offroad in my ownership (That's what my BMW X-Country is for) so something to do the miles and longer trips is what I am after. The Africa Twin DCT I recently sold was fantastic with the DCT but just so heavy. The 901 is so much lighter and lower down centre of gravity too.

I also saw that video last night (Which was odd as he must have filmed it in the summer as he commented on the summer heat) and I'm sold on it. Just with a bigger screen is all.

David, do you notice the "heat" that he spoke about?

When the prices on the classifieds or ebay start with a 7, then I'm going to be very tempted!

Saying all this, the new F900GS looks mega too and similar in some ways, especially the weight and the exact same power, but it's not yet out and will be a few years before I can afford one anyhow.

[DavidS]

Hi Daniel
The heat is the one thing that got to me when I got stuck on the Canterbury ring road, coincidentally when it was 28c.
I only had short summer boots and kevlar jeans, which didn’t help.
Absolutely not enough to be a negative but, once the warranty is over, I am told there is a Chinese mini-cat that can be fitted.
Or I will just keep away from busy built up areas!
The whole idea of the bike is rural B road riding. No touring or off road.

You may have read that my only other gripe is wind noise (but no buffeting) from the screen so I am waiting to try the Expedition screen once I can actually get to a dealer.
Again, not a game changer as I love the bike, even after only 480 miles.

If you want heat, try the Triumph Scrambler 1200
I also tried the new Transalp which ticked a lot of boxes but it was a bit gutless and the quickshifter wasn’t a patch on the excellent Norden set up. Very comfy though.
As you can see, I have my 690 for trail riding.

Because of my severely traumatic purchasing disaster, KTM UK gave me a set of the mini panniers. Not something I would have chosen as a better rack and detachable two helmet top box would probably have suited me more but I suspect I can live with them once I get into proper use.

[DanielS]

Excellent, thanks David.

[DavidS]

I forgot to add that we followed a guy on a 901 through around 15 miles of Yosemite back in October.
Apart from my sobbing, he looked like he was just having meandering fun through the forest, despite the traffic.
As the guy in the video said, the weight is low down so you can just roll it around at leisure.