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Brief encounter: Husqvarna Nuda 900R

Husqvarna Nuda 900R 7

Born from a short-lived and rather uneasy marriage between Italian and German parents, which eventually ended with a slightly awkward divorce, the Husqvarna Nuda 900R and its lower-spec sibling, the Nuda 900, appeared in 2012 and died soon afterwards. They’re actually very good models that owners adore, even though the back-story behind is hard to believe. It’s all true though, and that’s what makes this naked bike so unique.

Husqvarna Nuda 900R 3

It goes back to 2007, when BMW Motorrad bought Husqvarna from the Cagiva Group for a reported 93 million Euros, a sum that must have left Cagiva boss Claudio Castiglioni rubbing his hands in glee. Castiglioni had owned Husky since 1987 and brought it under the Cagiva Group’s umbrella, which also included MV Agusta (which he subsequently sold and bought back for 1 Euro twice, first to Proton and then Harley-Davidson) and Ducati (which he sold in 1996 to the Texas Pacific Group). Not everyone was happy about the move from Husqvarna’s birthplace in Sweden, to Italy, and some former Husky employees left and set up Husaberg, which was bought by KTM (more on them later...) in 1995. But anyway, back to Husqvarna.

Having purchased Husky, as the brand was commonly knowm, BMW took the decision to keep the company at its manufacturing plant in Varese, Italy, rather than relocate it to Germany (or indeed back to Sweden). After pumping an estimated 60 million Euros into the factory to completely modernise it, and bring its manufacturing process up to BMW’s exacting standards, all was looking rosy for BMW and Husqvarna’s new arrangement. There were even a few new bikes on the horizon and in 2012 the most exciting new models arrived – the Nuda 900R and Nuda 900 – which were later followed up by the fairly poor TR650 Terra and Strada, which we best overlook for now.

 

Husqvarna Nuda 900-217

 

The Nuda 900 models were a tantalising glimpse at what BMW’s plans for Husky involved. Desperate to attract a younger buyer into the BMW Motorrad brand, Husky was to be Motorrad’s ‘cool’ arm in much the same way Mini was for BMW cars. Able to push the boat out when it came to both styling and performance, in areas the more conservative BMW brand wouldn’t allow, Husky’s future looked bright. And as the Nuda 900 models proved, they could certainly make an appealing bike.

Built and styled in Italy, the Nuda 900 was conceived as a crossover between a naked bike and a supermoto, which instantly distinguished it from BMW’s existing naked bike, the F800R. And that wasn’t the only change.

 

Husqvarna Nuda 900R 2

 

Despite being powered by the same F-Series parallel-twin engine as the F800R, Husqvarna’s engineers worked with BMW’s boffins to give it a few unique touches. As well as significantly increasing its capacity from 798cc to 989cc, Husky also altered the engine’s firing order, swapping its 0-degree crank off-set to a 315-degree angle to give it a bit of character. Add to this bigger fuel injectors and larger valves and it all added up to a far more aggressive and performance-targeted engine, which made a claimed 105bhp with 100Nm of torque. And it could be distinguished by its smart red rocker box cover, a feature common to all Husqvarna models.

 

Husqvarna Nuda 900R 4

 

Moving onto the chassis, Husky chopped 50mm off the F800R’s streel trellis frame’s length and then added a stiffer steering head tube and sharpened up its geometry. And made two versions, the standard Nuda 900 with its fairly basic Sachs suspension and the R which came with uprated Sachs forks and an Öhlins shock, as well as higher-spec Brembo monoblock calipers. With final touches including aggressive red/white paint on the R and more subtle options on the base Nuda 900, all looked very promising. And they rode well, too.

 

Husqvarna Nuda 900R 5

 

Fun to ride and with much more spirit and aggression than the fairly dull BMW F800R, the Nuda models were generally very well received. But there was an issue, and that issue was price. The Nuda 900R cost £9295 where the base model was £1300 less at £7995, which was noticeably pricier than rivals like the £7550 Triumph Street Triple R. And then things started to turn sour between the marriage of Husky and BMW and a quicky divorce was arranged...

 

Husqvarna Nuda 900R 1

 

In early 2013, BMW announced that they were selling Husqvarna to Pierer Industrie AG (Austria), which caught everyone by surprise. According to the official press release, BMW had decided to concentrate on ‘realigning its urban mobility and e-mobility’, which basically means management had decided that off-road wasn’t the way forward and they had cut their losses. There was never an official word about how much KTM’s parent company paid BMW for Husqvarna (which included the fully-refurbished Varese factory) but it was heavily rumoured to be just 1 Euro as a token payment – a pretty poor return on BMW’s estimated over 150 million Euros investment. With no interest in the products built when BMW were in charge, the Nuda and Strada models were quickly discontinued by Pierer Industrie and after a period of reflection, a whole new range of KTM-powered and developed Husqvarna models arrived in showrooms in 2018. What a strange old story.

Today Husqvarna continues with a range of reengineered KTMs, such as the 790 Duke-derived Svartpilen 801. BMW managed to shed its staid image under it’s own brand, delivering some stunning bikes like the M1000RR and F800R with the famous propellor badge. No-one has heard from Claudio Castiglioni for quite some time…

Specs:

Engine: 898cc, liquid-cooled, 8v, DOHC, parallel twin

Power: 105bhp @ 8500rpm

Torque: 100Nm @ 7000rpm

Seat height: 875/895mm

Weight: 195kg (wet)

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