Hi All,
Greetings from South Africa!
I collected my bike on 23 May and I'm really enjoying her more and more. She likes getting dirty - any excuse to hit the trails.
But back to the purchase ... last year I had traded my 2015 BMW GSA on a Kawasaki H2SX, which had me torn as I have always had an adventure bike in the stable and the big BMW is hard to beat as a tourer and pretty capable in the dirt. I still have my old KTM 640 Adv; not quite the comfy tourer but fun off road. I thought I could always get another GS at some point, ha ha.
I walked into the local bike dealership for something - they are a Husky dealer but also do Honda, Suzuki and a couple of other brands - and there at the entrance was the Norden looking so pretty. Had a chat with the salesman and after a bit of thought I was back the next week for a test ride. I was a bit concerned that the Norden would be a bit small for me as I'm 1.94m (about 6'4') and 95kg and that the bike would be a bit under powered coming from the heavy weight GSA. Well, both these fears were easily answered. A short trip down a dirt road, onto a bit of single track and over a flooded low level bridge confirmed this was a good bike. Sadly the salesman did not seem particularly interested in selling me a bike - maybe he was annoyed it needed to be cleaned? It kinda soured the whole experience and almost out put me off the Norden completely. So the money ear marked for the bike was used elsewhere.
Fast forward a couple of months and quite by chance (that's what I tell the wife!) I saw an ad for a Norden at a dealer some 60km away. Called and said I would take it. My daughter is studying at the university close by so she dropped me off to collect the bike. I took the long way home!
I've since discovered a Husky dealer closer to me - I knew they were a KTM dealer but had never been there as there is a KTM dealer close to our offices. Anyway, they have a great Husqvarna section!
Been on a few rides and this bike continues to impress me. And she proves that adventure bikes don't have to be ugly, ha ha. She's been dubbed the super model by fellow riders!
No issues so far but might need to get a slightly heavier spring for the rear shock. I kept my BMW navigator so have mounted this as the GPS. The bike has the explorer pack. Added headlight guard, arrow decat pipe, Rottweiler power plate prefilter and the top box. Like the rest of the world, accessories seem to be coming in slowly but keen on a centre stand and the single seat. I'm not sure on the wind deflector or waiting for a larger screen, however. I can put up with the wind up to around 130kph or so - our legal limit is 120kph - so I guess that is ok and I'm used to catching a lot of wind anyway!
Looking forward to some great trips on this machine.
![Tire Wheel Fuel tank Plant Vehicle]()
![Tire Wheel Sky Land vehicle Vehicle]()
Greetings from South Africa!
I collected my bike on 23 May and I'm really enjoying her more and more. She likes getting dirty - any excuse to hit the trails.
But back to the purchase ... last year I had traded my 2015 BMW GSA on a Kawasaki H2SX, which had me torn as I have always had an adventure bike in the stable and the big BMW is hard to beat as a tourer and pretty capable in the dirt. I still have my old KTM 640 Adv; not quite the comfy tourer but fun off road. I thought I could always get another GS at some point, ha ha.
I walked into the local bike dealership for something - they are a Husky dealer but also do Honda, Suzuki and a couple of other brands - and there at the entrance was the Norden looking so pretty. Had a chat with the salesman and after a bit of thought I was back the next week for a test ride. I was a bit concerned that the Norden would be a bit small for me as I'm 1.94m (about 6'4') and 95kg and that the bike would be a bit under powered coming from the heavy weight GSA. Well, both these fears were easily answered. A short trip down a dirt road, onto a bit of single track and over a flooded low level bridge confirmed this was a good bike. Sadly the salesman did not seem particularly interested in selling me a bike - maybe he was annoyed it needed to be cleaned? It kinda soured the whole experience and almost out put me off the Norden completely. So the money ear marked for the bike was used elsewhere.
Fast forward a couple of months and quite by chance (that's what I tell the wife!) I saw an ad for a Norden at a dealer some 60km away. Called and said I would take it. My daughter is studying at the university close by so she dropped me off to collect the bike. I took the long way home!
I've since discovered a Husky dealer closer to me - I knew they were a KTM dealer but had never been there as there is a KTM dealer close to our offices. Anyway, they have a great Husqvarna section!
Been on a few rides and this bike continues to impress me. And she proves that adventure bikes don't have to be ugly, ha ha. She's been dubbed the super model by fellow riders!
No issues so far but might need to get a slightly heavier spring for the rear shock. I kept my BMW navigator so have mounted this as the GPS. The bike has the explorer pack. Added headlight guard, arrow decat pipe, Rottweiler power plate prefilter and the top box. Like the rest of the world, accessories seem to be coming in slowly but keen on a centre stand and the single seat. I'm not sure on the wind deflector or waiting for a larger screen, however. I can put up with the wind up to around 130kph or so - our legal limit is 120kph - so I guess that is ok and I'm used to catching a lot of wind anyway!
Looking forward to some great trips on this machine.
