It seems that the only company to unveil anything new at the ongoing Paris Motorcycle Show is Husqvarna. Our man on the scene (Marc Cantin) files this report on the new Strada in between his wine and Brie samplings:
According to corporate bumph, the Strada (Street in Italian) is aimed at the youthful street market, with light weight (171KG), and the well established BMW 650 liquid-cooled mono we see in the G650-Series Bimmers.
Thankfully the motor has been “breathed on” by Husqvarna engineers to put it in a higher state of tune in order to taker on hated competitor KTM with their 690-engined models.
Along with the low weight, street-level saddle height and a competent suspension should make this bike a favourite for the under-30 crowd.
Husky is promising a 2012 launch for Europe, but stayed mum about pricing and North American availability.
[…] that sounds like deja vu all over again, you’re right; it was only three years ago (in 2011) that Husqvarna was talking about their new street-legal platform at the Paris […]
Seemingly discontinue (at least for NA it seems) the hardcore dohc 630 series and replace them with a mildly tweaked Rotax, in a budget parts bin chassis. Bean counters and boardrooms turfing dynamic offerings, for mainstream budget bikes, with bigger profit margins…Â
According to Wikipedia :
« The new G650GS is
essentially the 2007 single-cylinder F650GS brought back into production with
some minor modifications and with the engine assembled by Loncin in China instead of Rotax in
Austria, but still using parts manufactured by Rotax in Europe. The
finished engines are shipped back to BMW in Germany where the bikes are
assembled. G650GS models with the Chinese-assembled engines can be easily
identified as the engines are painted black while in the earlier
European-assembled engines were finished in silver. For a short period prior to
discontinuation of the bike in 2007 the engines were assembled by Kymco in
Taiwan. »
LIKE !!!
I like it
too, and I am well above 30.