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Riding the rare Husqvarna Nuda 900R; R1 owner shares his impressions

2nd August 2024, 10:03 by Rahul Nagaraj

Considering how rare the bike was around the world I had no hopes that I'd even see the 900R in person in India.

BHPian krishnaprasadgg recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Husqvarna Nuda 900R- Initial Impression

Ah, where to begin. The Nuda has been a motorcycle that had my fancy for a very long time, from the time it was released the radical design it had always was something I was captivated by, which confused me because I didn't quite understand why I liked it that much, the exhaust was on the wrong side, the front mudguard design was confusing and the headlight design also was something I was not used to, but still, all put together I just loved how quirky the design felt. I was a huge fan of the color scheme though, the red white, and black mix was just right! Then came the legend Royal Jordanian, RJ as he is known well around the biking circle, for those who don't know is a through-and-through hardcore biker who has multiple number of naked bikes in his collection and he posts videos of his commutes around London as "Daily Observation" videos where he just films himself riding around, no talking, no attempt to selling you anything, no lecturing, nothing, just pure riding and the icing on the cake is all his bikes are modded to his personal taste which somehow worked pretty well for me too considering I am not a huge naked bike fan, the other thing was that all his bikes sounded just epic! That's where the real love for the Nuda 900 started for me. The intoxicating sound on the bike just made me a fan and considering how rare the bike was around the world I had no hopes that I'd even see the 900R in person in India, during my college days I knew there was one Nuda 900R that came to the state and just as fast as it came it was sold to some other state as well, funnily enough, I got to know that this was the same Nuda that at one point in time was in Kerala.

Anyway, long story short, I was on cloud nine when I had the opportunity to ride the 900R because as I said, for something that's this rare in the entire world, and having thought I'd never be able to see one in person, I was suddenly given the opportunity to ride one.

I think the smile is pretty evident even with the helmet on

I had the chance to ride along with the bike for a good 100-150 km so I quickly realized that it was a tall bike for sure.

Never imagined I'd be able to get this view ever

So before I threw my legs over the bike I asked my friend what I needed to know before operating the bike, because I had it in my mind that the Nuda being a 900cc twin would be a torque monster for sure. I was told nothing special to keep in mind, it had traction control but no ABS. And I remember quickly thinking, Oh that's exactly like my R1, TC but no ABS. Made a mental note of that and tried mounting onto the bike, that's when it did really hit me, man this bike is tall. I was barely tip-toing on the bike (which is evident from the pic posted somewhere in this post).

Took a minute to understand where all the controls were on the bike and cranked the bike, man, I was giggling like a child, even for a stock exhaust the bike sounded good, nothing special but the rumble is definitely felt and made the feeling you get while on the bike special. Took it pretty chill for the first 4-5 km, tapped the brakes a few times to understand the braking bite and feedback, it was definitely impressive, the Brembo M4 caliper feel is very familiar as it is the same caliper as on Xaos636's blade, albeit the difference being here its direct lines so you have more direct feel of what the caliper is doing and I just love that feeling.

During the first few kms, I also paid attention to how the throttle response was, The throttle response was insant when you are smooth on the throttle, there is no flat spot or delay in the power to kick in, it's just instant, even down low in the rpm, twins tend to be that way, but this gave me a false sense of calmess because I remember feeling, this is actually not too bad, pretty neat and managable, oh boy how wrong was I because a bit later once I got comfortable on teh bike I started to give it a bit more throttle and that when the bike showed its real character, remember when I said there is no lag or dead spot down low, well, actually there is no dead spot almost anywhere across the rpm range, if you are linear with the throttle the bike just pulls and pulls and pulls and almost isntantly you are well beyond highway cruising speed and then suddely a wall of wind blast hits you and you look at the speedo and. that when you realize how fast you are going. This was fun, but if you are a bit braver with the throttle and twist it with some anger that's when the sudden rush of torque that I had known to associate with the nuda from all the videos I had watched about it showed its face and after a split seconds surprise an evil grin took over, the bike is a through and through hooligan.

The only thing that took me by surprise was how the front end handled it, I was aware of it being a tall bike, and I got on assuming it would be to an extent similar to riding a naked bike, but that's what took me by surprise, it didn't if I'd explain it to anyone who is going to ride the Nuda for the first time I'd say don't assume the bike handles like a naked bike, because the front end is much more floaty while the rear is rock solid. It has to do with the front forks, it has much more travel than a typical naked bike and it shows, while the front forks don't really dive on braking like an adv might it does dive enough to catch you by surprise and how you load the front while negotiating corners also needs to be adjusted appropriately. If I had to pull a parallel I'd say it felt similar to riding a supermoto, but just the front end of it.

I say this because I had the opportunity to ride a Suzuki DRZ400 a few years back and I remember the front end feeling similar, it was like riding on top of a cloud, that's the best way I can put it. So why it gets a bit weird is because while you are negotiating a corner and giving it throttle to exit the corner the rear stays rock solid but the front end is floaty and moves around more than what you are used to (much much more coming from a supersport, lesser so but surely evidently enough than a naked as well). So if you don't take care of this then you will end up on the ground for sure.

So overall to sum it up I'd say, it's nothing short of a torque monster, the 900cc Twin has every bit of torque you'd expect a twin to have and then some. Power delivery if you are gentle is very linear with almost no flat spot, pull like a freight train and speed builds up quick, whack open the throttle and it'll unleash all its got. Handling is not something you'd expect the front end is a bit floaty while the rear is rock solid so definitely the bike commands respect from the ride while riding and if you are not careful it will not think twice before spitting you off. The brakes are amazing, and the M4 calipers does a beautiful job of stopping the bike with little to no drama, but there is no ABS so again, if you are not careful and are used to grabbing a whole lot of the front brake strongly like you can afford to do on ABS equipped bikes, the handling dynamics will throw you another curveball before the wheels lockup and you find yourself on the ground. All in all it's every bit a hooligan it shows itself to be on paper, but if you are a smooth rider it rewards you to no end. I hope this exert gives everyone reading a feeling of how would be to ride the Husqvarna Nuda 900R. I am looking forward to riding it more in the future for sure.

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Now to the unboxing of the box of parts that has arrived for the R1.

A few posts back you'd remember me saying the 2 side panels below the tank where your knee rests were cracked and the left side was fully broken also the mounting screws for the same were stripped off so the replacement panels and screws have arrived.

Tank side panels and the mounting screws

Along with it a brand new thermostat and the thermostat housing O-ring have landed so now during the next service which is due soon, the old thermostat can be tested and we can finally solve the coolant boiling issue we had which to date has been running on a temporary fix of a higher pressure rated Radiator cap.

Brand new Thermostat